Overview

  • 600 bps data rate, DBPSK
    • allows greatly increased link budget (150-160 dBm, 10-15 km range in urban)
  • Very long range, 10+km communication
  • Star-topology networks with always-listening gateways (any number of low-power end devices)
  • Uplink focused communication
  • Very low-rate metering
  • Unlicensed-band communication (902-928 MHz in US)
  • Ultra-narrowband 600 Hz channel bandwidth
    • Improves signal-to-noise ratio
    • Detection only needs to occur at very specific frequency
  • Downlink: 1.5 kHz bandwidth, 600 bps, GFSK

MAC

  • ALOHA style access control (send whenever, no Acks)
  • messages can be sent three times for increased reliability
+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------------+-----+
|Preamble |Frame    | Dev ID | Payload |Msg Auth Code| FCS |
|  (19)   |Sync (29)|  (32)  | (0-96)  |   (16-40)   | (16)|
+---------+---------+--------+---------+-------------+-----+
                  Uplink Frame Format
  • Up to 29 bytes per packet, payload up to 12 bytes
  • Preamble + Frame Sync are really a 6 byte field for radio sync
  • Auth: 2-5 bytes
  • Frame Check Sequence (FCS): 16-bit CRC We get faster bitrate in the US, since 600 bps 0.387 seconds in the air. The maximum dwell time for 915 MHz is 400 ms.
+---------+---------+-------+---------+-------------+-----+
|Preamble |Frame    |  ECC  | Payload |Msg Auth Code| FCS |
|  (91)   |Sync (13)| (32)  | (0-64)  |   (16)      | (8) |
+---------+---------+-------+---------+-------------+-----+
                Downlink Frame Format
  • Similar structure, 28 bytes total, payload up to 8 bytes
  • Larger preamble + frame sync of 13 bytes
  • Error Correcting Code (ECC) for increased reliability

Sigfox Status

Mostly abandoned the US. Filed for bankruptcy and purchased by another company.