Network by Amazon Sidewalk
Your IoT & LoRa Network by Amazon Sidewalk.
For those of you interested in Amazon’s Sidewalk program for IoT, then you came to the right place.
Amazon Sidewalk is an Amazon project where Amazon, more or less, put LoRa gateways in several devices. They put LoRa access in Ring spotlight and floodlight cams, some Echo devices, and maybe some other devices.
What is LoRa?
It’s a wireless protocol that is used in IoT devices. Low power, ok range, and low data applications
LoRa is short of Long Range and has a better range than Wi-Fi. It operates in the 915 MHz spectrum in the US.?
In rural areas, they say you can get up to 10 miles range, but I haven’t seen that. It goes pretty far, maybe a few miles reliably. When you get to the urban areas there is so much RF that this low-power device can go up to a mile, more if you’re lucky. That’s what I have seen.
The protocol is a standard, which is great when buying devices because it will work on any LoRa-certified gateway, like all those Amazon Sidewalk devices I mentioned.
Learn more.
LoRa Pros:
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LoRa Cons:
Why do 5G people care?
To be honest, many don’t, but here's my take. (It’s my article, I’ll care if I want to.)
Offloading! This is a great way to offload all those pesky IoT devices from the 5G network, whether it’s private or commercial. Let’s put smaller devices on a free network in which people have no interest in paying a monthly fee. Let’s offload to a “free” network.
If we offload devices and traffic then small data usage devices are not a worry or a problem. Let’s put the important things on 5G.
We can put in even more LoRa gateways and have the backhaul connected to 5G if you want to extend coverage.?
Keep the problems in mind. Less secure, low data throughput, and spotty coverage. My biggest fear is if someone is relying on this network and the device can’t communicate. If it’s mobile, then you have a good shot at tracking it.
I also worry that it could be a security risk. Think of what lengths some hackers go to when hacking a network. This could be a hole. I don’t know how, but it’s something we have to consider.?
Offloading is good if it’s done with care and security.?
Finally, you know people are already connecting to 5G networks for backhaul with these devices connected to their network in some way. That may be a problem for the reason I mentioned above. I would like to think that 5G is secure enough that it’s not an issue, but maybe I am a little insecure and need some reassurance. That’s all.