Talking in depth to IoT Insider on the latest episode of IoT Unplugged was Amy Garland, Business Development Manager at the Helium Foundation who spoke about decentralised wireless networks and its intersection with blockchain technology.
Then-named Helium Systems, the creators of the Helium network, was founded in 2013 with the aim of making wireless networks more accessible and, “less convoluted,” Garland said. “It wasn’t until 2019, when blockchain became more of a household word, that it clicked this could be a way that solves the problem of how to grow a network to the point of where it’s useful and reliable.” Consequently, Helium launched the Helium project and two years later, the Helium Foundation as a nonprofit entity to address issues around governance and decentralising processes. Helium Systems has since rebranded to be a service provider.
“A question we got all the time is, ‘Why do you need blockchain and why did you choose to use it?’” Garland said. “What it does is enable the ability to have a network of hundreds of thousands of gateways operated by, for example, tens of thousands of users autonomously managed so the blockchain facilitates millions of micro payments every day.” Another point, according to Garland, is “it allows for this distribution of ownership in a way that’s borderless and permissionless.”
The decentralised wireless network model differs from conventional networks by allowing anyone to participate in the growth and ongoing operations of these networks. “Within this model, any participating entities can be rewarded for the value that they’re providing to their communities and to users around them,” she said.
As an example, if IoT users need coverage in a particular area where it’s lacking, they can create their own infrastructure, and the network they create in turn is publicly accessible. “This disrupts the way it’s been done in the past,” Garland added, in reference to the traditional telecommunications model.
“It can also be a model that’s deployed in collaboration with telcos [telecommunication operators], either for similar reasons of quick deployment, or to address the increasing demands for higher bandwidth and lower latency,” said Garland.
For IoT connectivity, Helium Foundation follows the LoRaWAN standard, a LPWAN network that is best suited to applications like smart cities and asset tracking. “Since we’re interoperable with that [standard], we can tap into a huge ecosystem of hardware sensors, gateways and software built for IoT,” Garland explained.
There have been moments where projects using Helium Foundation’s decentralised wireless networks have demonstrated to Garland what can be enabled using this model. “One that comes to mind that was relatively recent isa a project with the city of Valencia, which is working on a project to combat energy poverty,” she said. In the city wanting to prove its work tackling energy poverty is making a difference, Helium was used to set up a public network to provide an Internet connection for sensors set up in homes to collect environmental data.
“We’re always excited to talk about how decentralised wireless [networks] are being used to improve connectivity. This is an exciting time and being part of this shift, too,” Garland concluded.
There’s plenty of other editorial on our sister site, Electronic Specifier! Or you can always join in the conversation by commenting below or visiting our LinkedIn page.
