Amazon Offers Free Sidewalk Test Kits as It Boasts of Wide US Coverage, Incoming Third-Party Devices
Semtech boasts of powering the first third-party Sidewalk products to hit the market while Amazon claims 90 percent US population coverage.
Amazon has announced availability of free Sidewalk connectivity test kits, as it works to convince developers that its long-range low-power wireless network should be at the heart of their Internet of Things (IoT) projects.
"We've rapidly built out a long-range, low-bandwidth network that now covers more than 90 percent of the US population, and this is an open invitation for developers to put it to the test," says Amazon's Dave Limp of the test kit launch. "Many types of connected devices have been limited by the range of Wi-Fi and the cost of cellular technology, which has hindered the ability to connect devices like environmental sensors, leak detectors, and smart locks. Sidewalk is designed to provide a secure, low-cost way to invent and connect a whole new range of devices, and we can’t wait to see what developers build."
Unveiled back in 2019, Amazon Sidewalk is a sub-gigahertz low-power long-range wireless network based on LoRa and targeted directly at the Internet of Things — focusing initially on Amazon's own entries in the ecosystem but now with broader goals. In January last year the company showcased the Sidewalk Bridge Pro by Ring, a network device which it claimed could offer "professional-grade connectivity," and now the company is claiming the network covers an impressive 90 percent of the US population.
Coverage is nothing without usage, of course, and it's here Amazon is hoping to do better. The company has announced availability of free Sidewalk connectivity test kits to back its coverage claims up with hard data. Developed by Amazon subsidiary Ring, the test kit hardware takes the form of a small puck which continuously transmits its location to Amazon's servers over the Sidewalk network — reporting signal strength from each location as it does so.
While the test kits are being sent out for free, though, they're not available to all: the company is offering them at no cost to developers interested in building products and services atop the Sidewalk network, but says they are "not available to the general public" simply looking to confirm coverage before investing in Sidewalk-connected devices of their own.
At the same time, Amazon has been working with Nordic Semiconductor, Silicon Labs, Texas Instruments, and Quectel to build Sidewalk software development kits (SDKs) for their respective LoRa transceiver devices, with Semtech boasting that it powers the first third-party Sidewalk products from Browan, Deviceroy, Meshify, and New Cosmos. Finally, Amazon has showcased native integration between Sidewalk devices and its Amazon Web Services for IoT Core platform, along with a new smartphone app for diagnosing and debugging connectivity issues in-the-field.
"The integration of AWS IoT Core and Amazon Sidewalk marks a significant milestone for developers, manufacturers, and customers, streamlining the design, connection, and deployment of Amazon Sidewalk based IoT solutions," claims Amazon's Yasser Alsaied. "Now, with AWS IoT Core for Amazon Sidewalk, developers can access more than 200 AWS services to build scalable solutions on top of a highly reliable, secure, and free-to-connect wireless network."
Developers interested in getting started with Amazon Sidewalk can request a free test kit on the official website.