(Presentation made during the web2day.co 2015 in Nantes, FR) When designing a connected solution, picking the right connectivity is key. You can't have it all : * Cheap * Autonomous * Heavy data exchanges * Long battery life * Long range Choose wisely :)

1. Pick your connectivity
solution
Nicolas Lesconnec — @nlesconnec

2. And do it wisely
• Choosing your connectivity is more than deciding
between two commodities
• It will impact overall cost, autonomy, ease of
configuration, user adoption

3. You cannot have it all
• Cheap
• Autonomous
• Heavy data exchanges
• Long battery life
• Long range

4. Independance
• Is the device linked to a hub ?
• Or does it communicate independently with the
outside world ?

5. Range
• How close must my device to its hub or receiving
station ?
• A few meters or a few kilometers ?

6. Energy
• Battery-powered or plugged ?
• Autonomy in days, weeks, months, years ?

7. Operated network ?
• Do you need your own network ?
• Are you ready to handle deployment/operations/
maintenance ?

8. WiFi

9. Basics
• LAN : Local Area Network
• ~100m
• Operates mostly on 2.4GHz (or 5GHz)
• High bandwidth
• Rely on a hub connected to the Internet

10. Benefits
• Rely on the user’s Internet connection, no
additional subscription
• Lot of data can be sent from & to the device
• Can support several devices on one hub

11. Constraints
• WiFi is not everywhere !
• Configuration can be a nightmare
• WiFi Hub can be off or offline

12. Constraints
• Cost a lot of energy. Not suitable for really
autonomous devices
• Not so easy on the developer side.
• Not scalable : a single WiFi hotspot can only
handle a finite number of objects

13. Where to use
• Connected solutions in the home or the office
• Target population is already connected
• Device needs to talk a lot
• Battery life is not an issue

14. Where not to use
• Mobile solution
• Device autonomy is critical
• Needs to be plug & play

15. Bluetooth / BLE

16. Basics
• « Classic » Bluetooth is becoming more & more
rare
• Bluetooth 4 introduced Bluetooth Low Energy

17. BLE Basics
• Bluetooth Low Energy
• Short range communication : ~20m
• Lingua Franca of today’s connected objects
• Operates on 2.4GHz

18. Benefits
• High speed : up to 1Mbps
• Cheap
• Easy to set-up
• Compatible with every smartphones

19. Benefits
• Low energy : ~15mA
• Enable battery-supported devices lasting days or
weeks

20. Constraints
• Rely on a nearby hub (a.k.a The Almighty
Smartphone)
• Real world speed vs advertised 1Mbps
• Not so easy on the developer side
• Hub cannot handle a great number of active
connections.

21. Where to use
• Companion solutions
• No need for independent communication
• Moderate data transfers (avoid video …)
• Target autonomy in days/weeks

22. Where not to use
• Device need to send data even when there is no
smartphone/hub around
• Heavy data transmissions

23. Zigbee &
Z-Wave

24. Basics
• Solutions designed for building mesh networks
• Z-Wave : Sub-GHz, proprietary solution, Local Area
Network
• Zigbee : 5GHz, Private Area Network

25. Benefits
• Mesh networks : devices communicate with each
other
• Development modules widely available

26. Constraints
• Need to set up, configure, and maintain your own
local radio network
• Still need a hub connected to the internet
• Fragmentation

27. Where to use
• Home automation
• Monitoring installations you own & control
• Used to handle radio stuff

28. Where not to use
• Need for direct connection to Internet
• No interested/skilled in maintaining your own
network
• Looking for plug&play solutions

29. GSM

30. Basics
• Available (almost) worldwide
• Proven use in M2M solutions

31. Benefits
• High Bandwidth, ever increasing
• Availability
• Maturity

32. Constraints
• Costs
• Interoperability / roaming
• Battery life is shorter than a butterfly’s
• Evolution : new standards are pushing older ones
out

33. Where to use
• Mobile solutions
• Need to transfer a lot of data
• Energy not an issue, not battery-supported

34. Where not use
• Battery-supported devices
• Looking for optimized costs
• Devices are not talking that much

35. Custom solution

36. Basics
• Because why not ?
• You can build your own protocol on free-to-use
frequency bands
• Be prepared for trouble !

37. Sigfox

38. Basics
• Operated network (LPWA), dedicated to the IoT
• Main focus : energy efficiency
• Small messages every now and then

39. Basics
• Operates in ISM bands : 868MHz in EU, 915 in US
• Ultra Narrow Band : ~100Hz
• 12 bytes messages, up to 140 times per day
• Indoor & outdoor use

40. Energy efficiency
• ~25mA in emission, during a few seconds
• No registration on the network, no negotiation :
power on, send, power off is the default behaviour
• 99% of the time, connected objects are not
connected !

41. Two-way communication
• Communication is always initiated by the device
• Explicitly ask for response, then stays awake for
~30 secs.

42. Coverage
• As of May 2015
• Nationwide in France, Netherlands & Spain
• UK : 10 largest cities
• San Francisco
• Citywide coverage : Dublin, Prague, Seoul, Bogota,
Santiago, Milan, …

43. Hardware
• SIGFOX is not a hardware vendor
• No technology licensing model
• RF transceivers & modules available from a variety
of silicon vendors: Texas Instruments, Atmel, Silicon
Labs, Axsem, ..

44. Benefits
• No hub needed
• Very low energy cost : up to years of autonomy
• Indoor / Outdoor
• Operated network
• Cheap subscription : a few euros per year

45. Constraints
• Short messages : up to 12 bytes
• Up to 140 messages per day from the device
• Up to 4 messages per day to the device

46. Where not to use
• Multimedia
• Permanent communication

47. Questions ?
Nicolas Lesconnec
SIGFOX Developer & Maker Evangelist
nicolas.lesconnec@sigfox.com
@nlesconnec