Wingbits, The DePIN FlightRadar24, ADS-B setup review

Wingbit is a new DePIN blockchain whose goal is to collect ADS-B information provided by aircraft in flight to enable precise tracking, similar to what we know from FlightRadar24, but with a more massive, dense, and global approach. The underlying business model is the resale of this information to companies interested in exploiting it. It remains to be seen how large the demand for this will be in the long term.

However, this project is quite engaging, centered around a topic that resonates with many people, even outside the blockchain and geek spheres. Since it involves radio reception, the choice of hardware is an important consideration when starting the project. As a result, I conducted a small benchmark of various easily accessible equipment to design an efficient, low-cost receiver.

This article will interest anyone who wants to receive aircraft information (ADS-B), including for other projects, as Wingbit has just closed the possibility of building your own receiver.

Continue reading

TheThingsConference 2024

On September 25th and 26th, the new edition of TheThingsConference was held, the must-attend event of the LoRaWAN ecosystem and, more broadly, LPWAN. Even though the event, which was very open, is naturally becoming increasingly focused on TheThingsIndustrie’s solution and thus LoRaWAN, it remains an opportunity for numerous discussions in many other areas.

The organization was, as always, perfect, with ample space for side events that provide great opportunities for networking.

There were few announcements this year beyond the arrival of TheThingsIndustrie’s “plug & play” gateway and the introduction of trackers in the form of solar-powered tags, which seem to confirm the trend of IoT in this form factor, following RAK Sodaq and many other ongoing projects.

Continue reading

IoT slide deck 2024-09 Update

Here is the update of my IoT slide collection, which now approaches 400 slides that you are free to reuse. In this new edition, you will find technical elements on Meshtastic, Mioty, DePin, LoRa updates throughout, and a few introductory slides on blockchains. However, on this point, my new deck, published a few days ago, is more relevant.

As usual, to go further, you can find video content on my Youtube channel, like my new MooC about Block Chain and my IoT MooC (long version) posted this year.

Continue reading

Blockchain – Building digital trust

In this course, I explore the transformative technology of blockchain, a revolutionary system that has redefined how we think about digital transactions and trust. Blockchain is more than just a buzzword in tech—it’s a secure, decentralized way to record, verify, and transfer data.

My goal is to help you understand the underlying technology behind blockchain, its key components, and the reasons it has become a cornerstone of digital trust. By eliminating intermediaries and ensuring transparency, blockchain allows for secure and immutable transactions. Throughout this training, I will explain how this technology works and how it creates an environment of trust in an increasingly digital world.

By the end of this course, you will have a clear understanding of the potential of blockchain and its applications, empowering you to use this technology with confidence.

Read more to get the slides

Continue reading

Critical Analysis of the Meshtastic Protocol

Meshtastic is a mesh protocol (peer-to-peer, network by proximity) based on LoRa technology. LoRa is not LoRaWan, just as WiFi is not IP. It is therefore possible to use LoRa for networks without infrastructure.

Meshtastic was designed for communication outside of any public infrastructure, with a survivalist spirit of autonomous and (more or less) secure communication.

Due to its structure, it is difficult to estimate the size of such a community, but the map seems to indicate that more than 10,000 nodes are currently active. However, it seems that there are actually around 40,000 active nodes, with strong participation from the global ham radio community. In practice, the network is composed of clusters of nodes communicating locally with each other and expanding as clusters become visible to one another. In reality, without linking infrastructure, it won’t be possible to connect from one cluster to another but some MQTT relay features exists.

The use and development of the network require very few resources, as simple DIY nodes based on widely available devkits, such as the T-beam, are sufficient. The user interface works via a mobile application interacting through Bluetooth. The investment is just a few dozen euros. In a previous Meshtastic blog post, I detailed its implementation with small LoRa modules.

Continue reading

Meshtastic another way to use LoRa

You may be familiar with LoRa, not that girl, but the LOng RAnge communication solution that is used for long-distance, low-power point-to-point communications. It was invented by the Grenoble-based company Cycleo in 2009 and later sold to the semiconductor giant Semtech.

You might have heard more about it in its usage with an infrastructured network: LoRaWan, which allows public or private networks to connect thousands of sensors. In this blog post, I am going to talk about another implementation of LoRa, this time in a mesh architecture named Meshtastic. Multiple mesh, LoRa based solution are rising, this is one of them.

Continue reading

The Hidden Side of LoRa

While I was working on a blog post about Meshtastic (which will be online soon), I started questioning the time on air in a non-LoRaWAN context, where the online simulators I usually use did not work. This led me to investigate the LoRa frame format (not LoRaWAN, just LoRa, the underlying layer), and to confront the “sync word”, the functioning of a chirp… a whole range of concepts for which I expected to find abundant documentation. After all, in the LoRaWAN world, the open nature of the technology has been emphasized since its inception. However, after quite a bit of research, I still remain somewhat uncertain about the basic workings of LoRa, which at the very least calls for a blog post to compile the information I have found.

I invite those with a solid understanding of the subject to enrich this post with comments, and I will incorporate the key elements accordingly.

Continue reading

Take aways from 2024 LPWAN days at Pau

LPWAN Day is an annual conference for university research in the field of LPWAN. This year’s edition was held in Pau. The event provides an opportunity to review the state of research on technologies such as LoRaWAN, Mioty, Wirepas, and satellite experiments, fostering technical, detailed, and inspiring exchanges.

This year, about sixty participants attended, mainly from academia but also from industries like Semtech, Wirepas, Schneider, and Kineis. As in every edition, we had many very in-depth and passionate discussions. The organization was flawless, and the hospitality in Pau was exceptional. However, I must admit that our visits to Glacier Giorgios may have skewed our perceptions.

In summary, it was two wonderful days, with beautiful weather and exceptional people. Here are my key takeaways.

Continue reading