SIGFOX 0G TECHNOLOGY
Sigfox 0G Technology is rolling out the first global 0G network to listen to billions of objects broadcasting data, without the need to establish and maintain network connections.
This unique approach in the world of wireless connectivity, where there is no signaling overhead, a compact and optimized protocol, and where object are not attached to the network.
Sigfox 0G Technology offers a software based communications solution, where all the network and computing complexity is managed in the Cloud, rather than on the devices. All that together, it drastically reduces energy consumption and costs of connected devices.
DESIGN CHOICES AND BENEFITS
Sigfox has designed its technology and network to meet the requirements of mass IoT applications; long device battery life-cycle, low device cost, low connectivity fee, high network capacity, and long range.
STAR NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
A device is not attached to a specific base station unlike cellular protocols. The broadcasted message is received by any base station in the range, which is 3 in average.
SMALL PAYLOAD
An uplink message has up to 12-bytes payload and takes an average 2s over the air to reach the base stations which monitors the spectrum looking for UNB signals to demodulate. For a 12-byte data payload, a Sigfox frame will use 26 bytes in total. The payload allowance in downlink messages is 8 bytes.
LIGHTWEIGHT PROTOCOL
SIGFOX has tailored a lightweight protocol to handle small messages. Less data to send means less energy consumption, hence longer battery life.
ULTRA NARROW BAND RADIO MODULATION
Using the Ultra Narrow Band modulation, Sigfox operate in the 200 kHz of the publicly available band to exchange radio messages over the air. Each message is 100 Hz wide and transferred at 100 or 600 bits per second a data rate, depending on the region. Hence, long distances can be achieved while being very robust against the noise.
RANDOM ACCESS TO THE RADIO FREQUENCY RESOURCE
The transmission is unsynchronized between the device and the network. The device broadcasts each message 3 times on 3 different frequencies (frequency hopping). The base stations monitor the spectrum and look for UNB signals to demodulate.
HIGH NETWORK CAPACITY
The small footprint of UNB enables more simultaneous signals within the operation band, in addition Sigfox protocol cuts down the radio frames size. Those two features combined with the use of cognitive radio technology enables the Sigfox network to reach a very a high capacity.
HIGH ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Sigfox radio protocol cuts the radio frame size down and no synchronization with the network is required. Combining a low power emission level and short emission duration (less than one minute per day) allows maximum autonomy to devices.
VERY LONG RANGE
Low bit rate and simple radio modulation enable a 163.3 dB budget link for long range communications.
HIGH RESILIENCE TO INTERFERENCES
UNB intrinsic ruggedness coupled with spatial diversity of the base stations offer great anti-jamming capabilities. UNB is extremely robust in an environment with spread spectrum signals. UNB is the best choice to operate on the public ISM band.
HIGH QUALITY OF SERVICE
A device is not attached to a specific base station. Its broadcasted messages are received by any base station in the range, which is 3 on average, and there is no need for message acknowledgement. Spatial diversity coupled with time and frequency diversity of radio frame repetitions lead to high quality of service of the Sigfox network.
SECURITY OF THE SIGFOX NETWORK
Security comes with devices first. Security is also supported by radio technology. The communication between the base stations and the Sigfox Cloud, as well as the Sigfox cloud itself are secure, robust, trusted and scalable. At the chain end, IT platforms of customers are connected to the Sigfox Cloud using HTTPS encrypted interfaces.
LOW FREQUENCY ACCURACY CONSTRAINTS ON CONNECTED DEVICES
A device transmits randomly anywhere within the operation band. There is no synchronization between the base station and the device.
HIGH RESISTANCE TO INTERFERENCES
SIGFOX has decided to implement three types of diversity scheme in order to make SIGFOX transmissions robust: time diversity, frequency diversity, space diversity.
DOWNLINK CONNECTIVITY
The downlink process of Sigfox brings additional security robustness. When objects have their ears closed they can’t listen to anything that might be sent by a hacker. The fact that the objects choose when to communicate and at which frequency is protecting them from a hacker sending them a misplaced, unattended command.
Sigfox has gathered a team with lengthy experience in the industry that deals with all relevant aspects, from security by design to active operational measures. This addresses data protection in motion via measures built in the protocol (authentication, integrity, encryption, anti-replay, anti-jamming) data protection at rest via cryptographic storage of data and credentials in devices, base stations, and Sigfox Core Network.
