• 1
    Introduction

    Hey, what's up, Guys! Akarsh here from CETech.

    Today we have with us one of our old friends, The Dragino LPS8 Gateway. You can check the previous article on LPS8 Gateway from here and a video based on it from here. As we said in the introduction article of the LPS8 Gateway, we will be making some fun projects. So here we are back with the LPS8 8 Channel Gateway from Dragino and we are going to connect it with the Helium Network and after connecting it we will configure it to become a Light Hotspot. We also have a LoRaWAN Node with us which will be acting as a beacon and transmitting some messages continuously. When the whole thing is done, we will be able to see any message from our beacon on the Helium Console through the Gateway, which will act as a real miner but will not be able to mine Helium tokens on the Proof of Coverage Concept as such. Though in nearby future, Helium is planning to incentivize the data transfer as a Packet Forwarder which we are making here, and if everything goes by plan then you will be able to earn helium tokens based on data credits you spent or the number of beacons, etc, but this whole thing is under beta testing right now and nothing is finalized yet.

    Now let's get to the fun part.

  • 2
    Get PCBs for Your Projects Manufactured
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  • 3
    About Helium Network
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    Launched in July 2019, Helium is a distributed network of long-range wireless hotspots. The goal is to create a blockchain-powered network for the Internet of Things (IoT) devices creating what they call “The People’s Network”. Helium is a global, distributed network of Hotspots that creates public, long-range wireless coverage for LoRaWAN-enabled IoT devices. Hotspots produce and are compensated in HNT, the native cryptocurrency of the Helium blockchain. The Helium Blockchain is a new, open-source, public blockchain created entirely to incentivize the creation of physical, decentralized wireless networks. Today, the Helium blockchain, and its tens of thousands of Hotspots, provide access to the largest LoRaWAN network in the world.

    The Helium Network is a physical wireless network that succeeds based on the amount of reliable coverage it can create for users deploying connected devices on it. As such, it required a working algorithm that was built for this use case. Proof-of-Coverage takes advantage of the unique, undeniable properties of radio frequency (RF) to produce proofs that are meaningful to the Helium Network and its participants. Specifically, PoC relies on the following characteristics:

    • RF has limited physical propagation and, therefore, distance
    • The strength of a received RF signal is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the transmitter
    • RF travels at the speed of light with (effectively) no latency

    The blockchain is constantly interrogating Hotspots using a mechanism known as a “PoC Challenge” using these properties. The ultimate power of Proof-of-Coverage lies in the fact that the data generated by the ongoing proofs and stored in the Helium blockchain is definitive verification of the wireless coverage provided by Hotspots on the Network.