Slides of my presentation at the Paris Hackers meetup (Oct 2014) Overview of what Sigfox is about, its benefits & constraints. Use cases, alternatives, et al From an outsider point of view ;) I joined Sigfox several months after that

1. Sigfox
Why all the fuss ?

2. What is Sigfox ?

3. not only a buzzword

4. more than a buzzword

5. Buzz Buzz Buzz
•Raised €15M this spring (3rd round)
•Anne Lauvergeon appointed as head of
the board of directors in april

6. Anne Lauvergeon ?
•Former CEO of Areva
•Member of the board of EADS, Total, ..
•Good political connections

7. Anne Lauvergeon ?
•Former CEO of Areva
•Member of the board of EADS, Total, ..
•Good political connections
•#bigcompanies #bigmoney #influence

8. So, what is it ?
A radio communication network.

9. Technology

10. Ground-breaking
technology ?

11. Ground-breaking
technology ?
No.

12. Basics
• Radio waves
• Free-to-use frequencies : 868MHz in the EU,
902MHz in the US
• Ultra Narrow Band
• Upstream only

13. Basics
• Radio waves
• Free-to-use frequencies : 868MHz in the EU,
902MHz in the US
• Ultra Narrow Band
• Upstream only for the moment

14. Basics
• Subscription model
• 140 messages per unit per day
• 12 bytes per message

15. Basics
• Broadband
• Broadcast
• Polling
• NONE OF IT

16. Basics
• Broadband
• Broadcast
• Polling
• NONE OF IT

17. Pros / Cons

18. Bandwidth
A message contains up to 12 bytes
Definitely not suitable when you need to
transmit heavy loads of data

19. Quantity
Standard contract allow up to 140
messages per day (~1 every 10 mins)
To be discussed with them if you need
more frequent transmissions

20. Transmission Ack
There is none.

21. 2-way communication
Should be coming *very* soon.
!
Won’t be a real 2-way communication, as it would ruin
the energy-saving model.
!
Basically, your device will keep “listening” for a few
minutes after emission instead of getting back to sleep
mode instantly.
This will allow to send back a Ack or a tiny piece of info

22. Energy
Chip is not active unless a message is sent.
Great deal when battery life is an important
concern.

23. Subscription costs
Up to €15 per unit per year

24. Coverage
• France
• Spain
• Netherlands
• UK
• München, Milano, Warszaw, ..
• San Francisco (coming soon ?)

25. Coverage
• France
• Spain
• Netherlands
• UK
• München, Milano, Warszaw, ..
• San Francisco (coming soon ?)

26. Coverage
Rely on Sigfox’s own network/
antennas, or on the implication of a
partner (SNO)
Range ~15km

27. Callback
When registering on the Sigfox platform, you
can provide a callback to be called when a
message is received
Quick to set up & plug to your own backend.

28. Security
Radio communications are not secure by
nature.
Man in the middle can read your
communications.

29. Security
Replayed messages should be rejected
by Sigfox’s platform
A device private key is used to sign
messages

30. Security
If your message bears a strong value,
you must implement some encryption on
your side before sending it.

31. Alternatives ?

32. Wifi
• High bandwidth
• No added cost
• Important energy consumption
• Availability unknown
• Configuration is not user-friendly

33. Wifi
• High bandwidth
• No added cost
• Important energy consumption
• Availability unknown
• Configuration is not user-friendly

34. BLE
• Buzzwords fight
• Low Energy, but consumption is still
higher than Sigfox
• No added connection cost
• Needs a smar tphone, with BLE
compatibility

35. GSM / GPRS / M2M
• More advanced coverage
• Similar network reception issues
• More expensive
• Energy
• Subscriptions
• Relative complexity

36. Zigbee
• Local radio communications
• Mesh networks
• 2.4GHz (crowded ..)
• No internet access

37. LoRa
• Local radio network
• Mesh networks
• No internet access

38. Competitors

39. Competitors
• Not so much … yet
• Latest announce : Orange POPS, using
the cellphone network, with low-power
devices. Don’t know much more than
that right now :)

40. Use cases*
*That I was able to think of

41. Where to use
• Low-powered devices
• TinyData (pending ©)
• No need to “listen” the network
• Frequent communications, but no
permanent broadcast

42. Where to use
• Low-powered devices
• TinyData (pending ©)
• No need to “listen” the network
• Frequent communications, but no
permanent broadcast

43. Sensors / Monitoring
• Pretty straightforward..
• Whatever you need to monitor
• Pressure
• Light
• °C/°F
• Volume
• Humidity
• Presence
• Gas / Smoke
• Name it

44. Get me a manager !
• Think ”Hotel Bell 2.0 IoT edition”
• Ask to be called back by Brand
Customer Service
• Contact emergency services right after
an accident (be it first aid, cops, your
insurance..)

45. After-theft
• Lots of Kickstarter projects around BLE
Locks
• Nice to prevent theft.. but useless after
• Coupling a GPS with a Sigfox modem
make a great after-theft solution,
monitoring the location of the bike, car,
pet, whatever..

46. Getting started

47. Large companies only ?
• www.sigfox.com is just a corporate
website.

48. Large companies only ?
• www.sigfox.com is just a corporate
website.
• developer.sigfox.com ?

49. Large companies only ?
• www.sigfox.com is just a corporate
website.
• developer.sigfox.com

50. NO. Keep trying !
Really easy to set up & start using …
once you managed to get a dev kit

51. Dev kit ?
Check out :
• Snootlab’s Akeru : Arduino clone +
Sigfox modem (~€100)
• TelecomDesign : Evaluation Board
~€150

52. How to Sigfox
TelecomDesign’s user guide is a good
starting point

53. How to Sigfox
1.Register a user account on Sigfox
platform (or TD’s own)
2.Plug using a FTDI cable

54. Transmission test
#Send two hex bytes: 0x54 & 0x44
!
AT$SS=54 44<CR>
OK

55. Message reception
http://backend.sigfox.com

56. Message reception
http://backend.sigfox.com

57. Stats

58. Location (unreliable)

59. Demo *
*May be not