Special hardware teaser for Discourse 👀

#1

Before we go into full PoL announcement mode, we wanted to share a little teaser here for our faithful forum members :slight_smile:

Can you name any of the components?

IMG_4969
IMG_4969.JPG4032×3024 2.02 MB

Keep up the great conversations!

Any news about the hardware?
#2

I’ll take a guess then: a Lorawan wireless module, a lora gateway on the right, using a raspberry, not sure which concentrator, a shield and an omni antenna and not sure about the other two modules🙂

#3

:heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

#4

Good eye! The gateway/concentrator hat is using a RisingHF RHF0M301 module, and the other two are STM32L0 LoRa discovery boards.

#5

Is there any info/timeline/testing on hardware coming SOON ? I mean VERY SOON. :smile:

#6

Are you sure you gonna “go into full PoL announcement mode” anytime soon ?

Lack of update on dPOL and hardware is confusing.

Any news about the hardware?
#7
#8

With regards to LoRa, do you have any comments on this?

Is Semtech licensing going to be a hurdle for FOAM network?

#9

Helium could be considered a competitor and is on a high level. We have very different approaches and philosophies. Starting off FOAM is a full stack spatial platform for web3 - from location encoding, visualizers and Proof of Location. We have a strong emphasis on smart contracts, interoperability and comparability across systems.

  1. Helium is building its own blockchain without smart contract support and 2. While doing their own GPS assisted “Proof of Location” the ultimate goal of their protocol is to provide “Proof of Coverage” for offering internet service to IoT devices.

They also are not using LoRa and recently published an article against it. However, they focused on the Things Network Community and the LoRaWAN MAC layer. FOAM and our partners at Haystack also are critical of LoRaWAN but there is great potential in the base LoRa radio and we are not as quick as Helium to dismiss it.

I know everyone is eager to hear more about the FOAM hardware. Work, research, simulations and testing was being done through 2018. We did not end up with the chance to properly organize to publish by the end of the year, but will be first in 2019 and will be our all out focus. A more formal comparison post to Helium will be posted as well.

#10

Do we know what frequency we’re going to be working with? I am going to order hardware for testing and I need some guidance.

#12

The goal of Proof of Location is to be able to run on consumer hardware. The point is to use off the shelf LoRa parts that anyone can buy. See the latest announcement post for updates on the hardware development.

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Tutorials/LoRa-frequency-bands.html

EU 863 to 870 MHz
US 902 to 928 MHz
China 779 to 787 MHz

#13

When can we run it on consumer hardware?

#14

Have you read the “Updates on FOAM” Post ? Ryan goes into detail on the what needs to be done on the Hardware here :

To be able to fully run the Proof of Location software, additional work is needed in expanding the functionality of the firmware. This work is being done in parallel to the Tendermint based simulations. The next step is to be able to run these simulations on the boards. Following that we will move forward with a reference design for a FOAM Developer board with a means of obtaining them and release the software so all can participate in field testing.

#17

In the meantime; https://link.medium.com/gaSHWmX7yZ

#19

Where can this post be found about the formal comparison between Helium and FOAM ? I can’t find it.