Sigfox is a connectivity service, dedicated to the IoT ... And focused on very small messages, up to 12 bytes. How a few bytes can lead to Big Data ? Presentation during the IoT & Big Data Meetup :http://www.meetup.com/fr-FR/Internet-of-Things-Thinkers-Meetup/events/229862142/

1. Big data through
small messages
IOT & BIG DATA MEET UP - 2016.04.21

3. About Sigfox
Sigfox is not selling chips
Sigfox is not building connected solutions
Sigfox has invented a radio protocol
Sigfox operates a global network

4. Core concepts

5. Energy efficiency
The Sigfox protocol has been designed to maximise energy
efficiency
Tx: ~20-35 mA during a few seconds (25mW ; 14dB)
Key factor: idle consumption (unconnected 99.x% of the time)
Idle consumption: a few µA

6. Out of the box
No configuration, no pairing, no signalisation
The network is serving the devices, not the other way round
A message is picked up by several base stations ; validation &
reduplication are handled by the network

7. Very Long Range
Best case scenario
+100km between transmitter & receiver (base station)
Real life
A few kms (city) to tens of kms (countryside), depending on
the topography

8. Outdoor & Indoor
Sigfox works well indoor
Of course, you need to consider signal attenuation (~20dB)

9. Two-way communication
Devices can receive updates sent from your application server
Each communication is instigated by the device

10. Security
Each message is signed with a key unique to the device
Messages can be encrypted or scrambled
No keys exchanged over the network, no handshake
Security is an ever ongoing effort

11. Radio properties
Great tolerance to interferors
Jamming resistant
Interception is hard: UNB & frequency diversity

12. Jammers

13. Interferors

14. Low cost of communication
Small subscription fees
Short SW development cycle
Low cost HW components

15. Small messages
Useful payload: 12 bytes
Up to 140 times each day
100 bits/s

16. Payload examples
GPS coordinates (lat x lng) : 6 bytes
Temperature: 2 bytes
State reporting : 1 byte
Heartbeat, update request : 0 byte
And … who needs full bytes when 5 bits are enough ?

17. Payload examples
A (int): 17568 —> 0100010010100000
B (0-32): 17 —> 010001
C (state): 3 —> 10
Frame: 01000100 10100000 01000110
Frame: 0x44 0xA0 0x46
AT$SF=44A046

18. More !
816b1954 | 10000001 01101011 00011001 01010100
10000001 01101011 00011001 01010100 Active mode (Temp)
10000001 01101011 00011001 01010100 Temp. MSB & LSB
10000001 01101011 00011001 01010100 Humidity x2
Temp : 0110011001 = 409 . (409-200) / 8 = 26.125°C
Humidity: 01010100 = 84. 84/2 = 42%

19. Big Data with 12 bytes
SERIOUSLY ?

20. Small messages
… But a lot of them

21. Figures
7 million devices currently registered on the Sigfox network
2025 : estimates ranging from 25 to 50 billion IoT devices

22. Tools
Machine
learning
Analytics
Data

23. Why ?
Network Operation & Predicted Maintenance
New services

24. Example
Monitoring payload size distribution over time

25. Current

26. Trend

27. We’re hiring
Looking for Senior Data Scientist to join our Paris team
Get in touch if interested :)

28. Thank you !
Nicolas Lesconnec
nicolas.lesconnec@sigfox.com
twitter: @nlesconnec
Q&A time :)