This document provides an overview of Sigfox and examples of how it can be used. Sigfox is a global network that allows low-power devices to communicate small amounts of data over long ranges using ultra-narrowband technology. Examples shown include using Sigfox to track assets and manage parking spaces. The document also demonstrates how to set up and code a Sigfox device using an Arduino MKRFOX1200 board, including sending messages, parsing payloads, handling downlink responses, and monitoring device events.

1. Getting started with Sigfox
Techshop Paris – April 2018
aurelien.lequertier@sigfox.com
@aureleq

2. What is Sigfox?

3. Sigfox: Global LPWA network
Low power,
to provide autonomy
Global,
to be used everywhere
Low cost,
to address everything
Easy to use,
and adopted quickly

5. CONFIDENTIAL 5
Parking space management
• Improve parking policies
• Obtain turnover information in real
time
• Guide drivers more efficiently
• Have greater control over special
permit spaces
• Save resources through fast
implementation
• Decrease costs through easy
maintenance
• Generate additional revenue
• Decrease CO2 emissions
Fastprk is an intelligent Parking
Management System that
allows cities and operators to
manage parking resources more
efficiently and parking
operators to generate additional
revenue.
Fastprk offers information about
parking availability to the drivers
within blue and green spaces,
and also on loading, taxis and
disabled parking bays
Problem solved
Optimize parking spaces in the city
BenefitsSolution
LIVE

6. Sensolus offers an end-to-
end tracking solution.
It notifies Airbus about its
assets’ trips and give insights
on supply chain optimization.
The device embeds an
internal memory to record
data when outside of
coverage.
Problem solved
Track spare parts between the headquarters
and the sites of its suppliers
BenefitsSolution
▪ Cross country tracking
without high roaming fees
▪ Real-time visibility on the
asset during transportation
▪ Automation of the supply
chain
Industrial asset management
GPS + BLE tracker for indoor
and outdoor geolocation
LIVE

7. Home Alarm System
CONFIDENTIAL 7
Alarms are traditionally connected through GSM to central system and
burglar intrusion can be facilitated by GSM jammers. There is a need
for effective backup connectivity to ensure more robust alarm
transmissions.
▪ Robustness of solution is a
commercial differentiator
▪ Continuity of service
▪ Soft deployment via over the
air update - no HW swap. No
user impact
▪ Network available to handle
millions of devices
Sigfox has upgraded Securitas
Direct’s alarm systems to provide a
back-up connectivity in case
jamming is detected.
The upgrade was possible over the
air as a Sub-GHz chip was already
inside.
Challenge
BenefitsSolution
Alternative partners for this application
LIVE

8. Stolen Car Recovery
CONFIDENTIAL 8
Locate and recover stolen assets through a small and
discrete GPS tracking device.
▪ Peace of mind that assets
can be tracked or
recovered
▪ Complete solution with
added services
▪ No jamming
Small sensor : 2/3 of the size of a
cigarette pack
Connected with the Police 24
hours / 7 days
Autonomy : 3 to 5 years of use
Internal antennas (UHF and GPS)
Tracking through GPS and UHF
Geo-localization active in
underground carparks
Challenge
BenefitsSolution
LIVE

9. WHAT DO WE PROVIDE?
A network for connected objects transporting the data from your device to your IT systems
CONFIDENTIAL 9
Customer ITBig Data
analytics
platforms
Object data
Partners with
specific
applications for
your business
Data storage
and
intelligence for
verticals
Identification
and
authentication
integrity
0 to 12-byte
messages
optimized for
sensor data
High capacity
network: over 1
million messages
per Base station
per day
0 to 140
messages per
day per device
Transmitted
through its radio
protocol on the
public spectrum
Global
network
SIGFOX
cloud

10. CONFIDENTIAL
10
1 % duty cycle for Objects
Up to 6 messages/hour
UPLINK
12-Byte payload
- Sensor data
- Event status
- GPS fix
- Application data
DOWNLINK
8-Byte payload
- Action / actuator trigger
- Device management
- Application parameter setting
10 % duty cycle for Base Stations
4 guaranteed downlink msg/day
SIGFOX
CLOUD
SMALL MESSAGES
to answer the cost & autonomy constraints of remote objects

11. ULTRA NARROW BAND
CONFIDENTIAL 11
868.034 868.226
f (MHz)
192 KHz wide
100 Hz
Currently spreads on a 200KHz part of the spectrum
High spectrum efficiency 1bit/s = 1Hz of bandwidth
Each message is ~100Hz wide
✓
✓
✓

12. RANDOM ACCESS
CONFIDENTIAL 12
Unsynchronized transmission between the network and the device
The device transfers a small amount of energy on a random frequency with no protocol overhead
(frequency hopping)
SIGFOX Base stations permanently listen to the spectrum and interpret received UNB signals
The same frame is sent 3 times enabling time and frequency diversity
Frame1 @F1
Frame2 @F2
Frame3 @F3
Uplink message
t1
t2
t3
2.08s for 12B payload
Frequency
Time
✓
✓
✓
✓

13. CONFIDENTIAL 13
Anti-jamming capabilities due to UNB intrinsic ruggedness coupled with spatial diversity of the base stations (+20dB)
HIGH RESILIENCE TO INTERFERERS
robust to operate in the public ism band
For the same technical reasons as above, UNB is extremely robust in an environment with other spread spectrum signals.
However, Spread spectrum networks are affected by UNB signals. Ultra Narrow Band is therefore the best choice to
operate in the public ISM band
8 dB needed for
the signal to be
received
Jamming signal
✓
✓
Interference
impact

14. CONFIDENTIAL 14
PLATFORM INTEGRATION

15. Sigfox device
journey

16. Build
• Evolutive online platform to support device makers and solution
providers at every stage of their journey
• Centralized document resource center
• Support for device development & tooling
• Simplify certification process

17. Hardware
• Sigfox is not a hardware vendor
• Components sourcing from multiple
partners

18. Modules Module Cluster Module Maker Reference Extra-Connectivity
Multi-connectivity
Combo
Wisol WSSFM20Rx GPS, BT, WIFI, Acc
Telecom Design TD 1204, TD 1205 GPS, Acc, Antenna
Innocomm SN20-1x BT, GPS, WiFi, Acc
PyCom S01 (SIPY) 14dBm / 22dBm BT, WIFI
Dual-Mode muRata LPWA Lora/Sigfox dual-mode
Sigfox
w/ Secure Element
Jorgin WS2119-A0 BT, Secure Element
Sigfox only
with SDK
SMK WF923
Radiocraft RC1682-SIG / RC1692HP-SIG
M2COMM UPLYNX RC1 / RC2/4
Telecom Design TD 1207, TD 1508
Telit LE51-868 S
Liteon
muRata
Sigfox only
AT Modem, no SDK
Innocomm SN10-1x
Wisol WSSFM10Rx
Telecom Design TD 1207R

19. Radio zones
• RZ1: Europe, MEA
868 MHz, +14 dBm
• RZ2: North America, Brazil
902 MHz, +22 dBm
• RZ3: Japan, Korea
920 MHz, +14 dBm, LBT
• RZ4: South America
920 MHz, +22 dBm

20. Let’s play !

21. Download the slides
https://bit.ly/2q44zxe

22. Useful Resources
• Build : http://build.sigfox.com
• Board info: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main.ArduinoBoardMKRFox1200
• Questions? : http://ask.sigfox.com

23. About the MKRFOX
Arduino+Sigfox starter kit

24. Overview
Product released spring 2017
Full sigfox service included
Cortex M0 MCU
Sigfox chipset : Atmel/Microchip ATA8520

25. Atmel/Microchip ATA8520
Compatible with Sigfox RC1 (Europe + S.Africa)
Addressed using SPI
Datasheet: http://atmel.com

26. Setup the Arduino IDE
Select your board using the Tools > Port menu
Set the board as Arduino MKRFOX1200
If board not present, add it using Boards Manager =>
search for MKRFox and install Arduino SAMD boards

27. Setup the Arduino IDE
Install the following libraries (Sketch => Include Library =>
Manage Libraries)
• Arduino Sigfox for MKRFox1200
• Arduino Low Power
• RTCZero

28. Retrieve your board information
Copy the code from http://github.com/sigfox/mkrfox-init

29. Upload to your board & open the monitor

30. Online onboarding
http://backend.sigfox.com/activate/arduino/
Provider: Arduino
Country: France
ID/PAC: Retrieved before

31. Hello World

32. Hello World
https://github.com/nicolsc/mkrfox-hello-world
#include <SigFox.h>
void setup() {
SigFox.begin();
short valA = 7700;
float valB = 654.32;
SigFox.beginPacket();
SigFox.write(valA);
//SigFox.write(valB);
SigFox.endPacket();
}
void loop(){}

33. Message received ?
http://backend.sigfox.com (check your e-mails to get
credentials)
Navigate to the devices menu in the top bar
Click on the ID of your device
Enter the messages menu from the left navigation column

34. Check device messages

35. Callback setup
Device Type menu
Click on your device type name
Enter the Callbacks menu
Select new default callback

40. Callback status
In the Devices > Messages panel, you have a indicator of the
callback status (an arrow)
Black : in progress
Green : Callback OK
Red : Callback KO (at least one of the callbacks failed)
Click the arrow to display details.

42. Frame parsing

43. Sigfox payload display feature
Using a « simple » grammar, you can ask Sigfox to parse
your incoming data
This is done at the device type level

46. Parsing the Hello World sample
Modify the sketch to send 3 values in a same message
short valA = 7700;
short valB = 128;
float valC = 654.32;
SigFox.beginPacket();
SigFox.write(valA);
SigFox.write(valB);
SigFox.write(valC);
SigFox.endPacket();

47. Set a custom grammer
valA & valB are shorts : 16 bytes
valC is a 32 bytes float
valA::uint:16:little-endian
valB::uint:16:little-endian
valC::float:32:little-endian

48. Downlink Callback

49. How does it work?
Downlink flag included in Sigfox message
20 sec after first frame transmission, the module wakes up
and waits for downlink response (25 sec window)

50. Downlink Callback setup
Automatic callback: Device Type > Informations > Edit
Set Downlink mode to DIRECT
Enter an 8 bytes value

53. Sample code
Simple change
SigFox.endPacket(); to
SigFox.endPacket(true);
This will request a response from the network

54. Handle the response
https://github.com/nicolsc/mkrfox-downlink
void loop(){
while (SigFox.available()) {
Serial.print("0x");
Serial.println(SigFox.read(), HEX);
}
}

55. Geolocation

56. Geoloc callback
Simply create a SERVICE > GEOLOC callback,
and receive latitude + longitude + accuracy

57. Geolocation Callback
Create a new
Service > Geoloc
callback
Use following URL
to center the map:
https://maps.googleapis.com/map
s/api/staticmap?center={lat},{lng}
&zoom=13&scale=1&size=600x300
&maptype=roadmap&format=png
&visual_refresh=true

58. Event monitoring

59. Monitor break in sequence number
New Event: Device > Event Configuration > New
Select Event Type « Out of message sequence »
Select « EMAIL » as channel and enter your email address
and email content

60. Monitor break in sequence number
Remove the antenna to simulate a coverage issue
Send a message
Re-attach the antenna and send a new message
Check reception of email notification