Helium is a decentralized wireless connectivity platform. It utilizes blockchain technology to create incentive for people to invest in LoRaWAN hotspots. Sensors coupled with a microcontroller and LoRa radio send small data packets to a hotspot up to a mile away. Hotspots post the data to the Helium cloud, and then you need to configure your chosen cloud service to fetch the data. You access your data by creating a free Helium Console account, adding a device, and then under Integrations selecting a destination for your data (Ubidots, Adafruit IO, HTTP, MQTT, AWS IoT Core, Azure IoT Hub, etc.).
In 2021, Helium and US LoRaWAN network provider Senet established a partnership, adding 175,000 LoRaWAN hotspots to the Helium network.
Name changed from Helium (or "The People's Network" to Nova Labs March 2022.
Connecting SenseCAP LoRaWAN to the Helium Network
Two types of hotspots exist, data only and miner. Data only hotspots are eligible for Network Data Transfer Rewards but not Proof of Coverage Rewards. A newer version of a miner hotspot or Full Hotspot is the Light Hotspot. Light Hotspots utilize Validators to participate as a Full Hotspot, but without the extra overhead of maintaining a local copy of hte blockchain.
Dragino HP0D Outdoor Helium Full Hotspot $600 how to configure
kerlink makes two Ethernet + 4G cellular gateways, the iStation and the iFemtoCell-evolution. | primary support page hotspot setup | The USA distributor is Cal Chip Connect who has the Kerlink Helium Network Compatible Wirnet iFemtoCell Miner for $449 and is headquartered in Warminister PA.
The Helium miners shop is located in Los Angeles CA. | CalChip Connect is headquartered in Warminster PA. | GetIntoMining Chicago IL | Products that include Ethernet connection: SenseCAP M1 LoRaWAN Indoor Gateway $429 LongAP Pro $439 ethernet for 4G/LTE (4G CAT.1) antenna N-female LoRa connector: SMA Female | BOBCAT MINER 300 $429, very low power consumption at 5W. WiFi & Ethernet. |
Helium miner antenna types by model |
Harrisburg PA running Bobcat Miner 300 earns $1/day as of 30 Aug 2021
28 Mar 2022 Digi-Key offers the SenseCAP M1 miner for $519/ea.
Nebra Outdoor HNT Hotspot Miner $489 from SparkFun
Helium over a cellular connection | You must configure your WiFi router to port forward requests over port 44158 to the gateway's private IP address (a static DHCP lease). However, a static IP is something you typically don't get with cellular hotspots. This has to do with how mobile carriers setup Carrier-grade Network Address Translator CGNAT. The solutions to this problem is 1) get a static public IP address from the cellular carrier (not easy), or 2) setup a Virtual Private Server (VPS)
The Helium Blockchain was built from the ground up to incentivize the creation of decentralized, public wireless networks. It is based on a Proof of Coverage algorithm and rewards hotspot / gateway owners with a token of the Helium blocckchain.
The code behind Helium is almost entirely open-source.
Helium LongFi is the same bands used for LoRa networking. 915 MHz (US) 868 MHz (EUR) 433 MHz (Asia) 915 MHz (AUS) Data packets sent via LongFi are between 5 and 20 kbits per second.
5 Steps to Connect LoRaWAN Sensor to Helium with Datacake Templates
Using LoraWAN and The Things Network with Feather
Adafruit IO and The People’s Network
Senet provides cloud based managed network services for LoRaWAN IoT solution deployments.
Based in Portsmouth NH, they have offices in Seattle and San Jose.
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