Fråga: Helium - vad är detta?

Har ramlat över detta tidigare och inte följt upp.

Verkar ligga i ett ingenmansland mellan IoT, decentraliserade nätverk, och även DeFi - krypto.

En snabb koll ger vid hand att det finns idag ett antal noder omkring Kalmar, det är alltså inte bara ett USA fenomen.


People-Powered Networks.
Start a Wireless Revolution
Powered by the Helium Blockchain, The People’s Network represents a paradigm shift for decentralized wireless infrastructure.

Från deras whitepaper från 2018:

Abstract
The Internet of Things is an $800 billion industry, with over
8.4 billion connected devices online, and spending predicted
to reach nearly $1.4 trillion by 2021 [1]. Most of these
devices need to connect to the Internet to function. However,
current solutions such as cellular, WiFi, and Bluetooth are
suboptimal: they are too expensive, too power hungry, or too
limited in range.
The Helium network is a decentralized wireless network
that enables devices anywhere in the world to wirelessly
connect to the Internet and geolocate themselves without
the need for power-hungry satellite location hardware or
expensive cellular plans. Powering the Helium network is
a blockchain with a native protocol token incentivizing a twosided marketplace between coverage providers and coverage
consumers. With the introduction of a blockchain, we inject
decentralization into an industry currently controlled by
monopolies. The result is that wireless network coverage
becomes a commodity, fueled by competition, available
anywhere in the world, at a fraction of current costs.
Our secure and open-source primitives enable developers
to build low-power, Internet-connected devices quickly and
cost-effectively. The Helium network has a wide variety of
applications across industries and is the first decentralized
wireless network of its kind.

 

Låter motsägelsefullt, blockkedjor är väldigt energikrävande och de hävdar att man ska komma bort från energikrävande hårdvara...

I min närhet finns det absolut ingenting så det känns rätt värdelöst här i glesbygd.

 

Via Helium explorer får man fram en hel del om nätverket, dock vad jag kan finna än så länge inte vilka som har satt upp noderna.

Men t.o.m. i lilla Högsby! (närmast mig) finns ett antal noder av märket Heltec, ett kinesiskt företag (förstås?), som skriver så här om sig:

1. Internet of Things -- The main line of products of IoT is divided into:

• Gateways and Nodes based on LORA/LORAWAN communication;
• Terminal equipment based on NB, IoT, Wi-Fi, and BLE;
• Lorawan cloud server and IoT overall solution;
• OEM and ODM for IoT products.

At present, the annual shipments of IoT products are about 200,000 sets, which are dominated by Lora nodes and LoRawan gateways. Our equipment is widely applied in the areas of industry, agriculture, smart city, safety protection, education, scientific research, and others. You can easily find that our products are used all over the world, even in Antarctica.

 

Notera:

"This hotspots breakeven time is 22.66 months."

Så, även i en liten håla som Högsby är det lönsamt att sätta upp en LoRa hotspot @ $500?