Amazon extends Sidewalk IoT network beyond smart homes
The Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro by Ring is aimed at extending the benefits of the company’s Sidewalk network to businesses, municipalities, universities, and public services. The new device, says the company, enables organizations to address problems created by limited connectivity.
“Rolling out with select organizations in collaboration with Amazon,” says the company, “Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro will provide Sidewalk connectivity to devices like sunlight sensors, air quality indicators, and moisture sensors in places like commercial centers, parks, and wilderness areas.”
The new bridge device is optimized for longer range and greater capacity. It also has a ruggedized housing to withstand outdoor conditions and comes with the option to add indoor or outdoor antennas. Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro can be installed inside or outside and simultaneously connect to hundreds of devices over five miles away, while also delivering multiple layers of privacy and security protections built in to Sidewalk.
In conjunction with the product announcement, the company says it is also launching two new pilot programs: the first with Arizona State University’s University Technology Office (UTO) to benefit smart cities research and the second with IoT solutions provider Thingy to help first responders fight wildfires. In a proof-of-concept with Amazon, UTO will explore how the new professional-grade bridge can help on-campus connected devices – like sunlight sensors, temperature sensors, CO2 detectors, and particle counters – stay connected while providing data used by university faculty researchers to improve smart campuses and smart cities.
Amazon is also kicking off a new proof-of-concept with Thingy, a company that makes air quality monitoring systems, to provide critical information about wildfires to first responders. Wildland and bush fires often occur in areas that lack communications infrastructure. Given the limitations of Wi-Fi and cellular data in these areas, Thingy will begin testing with Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro using LoRa (Long Range) telemetry to transmit data to and from Thingy AQ.
This effort is expected to significantly increase connectivity for Thingy AQ and help protect public lands, homes, vineyards, and farms from catastrophic damage.
“We designed Thingy AQ for very remote locations, where power efficiency and range were critical for fire ground operations, and have been using LoRa since day one,” says Scott Waller, CEO and co-founder of Thingy. “Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro brings us the power of LoRa in a massive number of needed locations, easy integration with our existing applications in Amazon Web Services, and trusted security for the devices and applications. We are very excited to work with Amazon Sidewalk to measure air quality and wildfires with our sensors and help solve the connectivity challenges for these critical applications.”
The launch of the Amazon Sidewalk bridge Pro, says Amazon, is only the beginning of its long-term vision to provide low-cost, ubiquitous connectivity for billions of smart devices.
Related articles:
Amazon introduces long-range wireless network for smart homes
Silicon Labs, Amazon team on shared network for smart homes
Amazon Sidewalk privacy and security
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
