Amazon Sidewalk is a low-bandwidth long-range wireless

communication protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics (computer scien ...

developed by

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. It uses

Bluetooth Low Energy Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications in ...

(BLE) for short distance communication, and 900 MHz

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and other frequencies for longer distances.

History

The idea of the Amazon Sidewalk wireless network originated from a startup called Iotera, founded by Rob Barton and Ben Wild. They launched the idea of a crowd sourced mesh network through a Kickstarter campaign in 2014. Iotera was acquired by Ring Home Security in late 2017 and after Ring was acquired by Amazon in 2018, the Amazon Sidewalk project began building on top of the Iotera technology. In September, 2019, Amazon announced the Amazon Sidewalk network and a domestic pet collar called Fetch (developed together with

Tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

) as the first device which would use the network. The network is composed of existing customers' Echo smart speakers which act as the bridges between Sidewalk and the Internet. In September 2020, Amazon started seeking hardware developers to partner and develop devices for the network. In May 2021, Amazon and Tile announced plans to use Sidewalk to compete with the

AirTag AirTag is a tracking device developed by Apple. AirTag is designed to act as a key finder, which helps people find personal objects (e.g. keys, bags, apparel, small electronic devices, vehicles). To locate lost items, AirTags use Apple's crowds ...

tracker device and associated location service from Apple
CareBand
starts a pilot with Amazon Sidewalk to support people living with dementia in smart neighborhoods. Amazon launched the network in the US on June 8, 2021. In March 2023, Amazon opened the network up for outside developers to access, providing free test kits for developers to build Sidewalk devices. Amazon stated that more than 90% of the U.S. population was covered by the Sidewalk network.

Reception

Amazon Echo devices have Sidewalk enabled by default and do not inform their owner about it. The feature can be disabled via the official app. A number of prominent news publishers, including ''

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'', expressed concern with opt-out nature of the network and published guides how to disable Amazon Sidewalk. Amazon stated that "the maximum bandwidth of a Sidewalk Bridge to the Sidewalk server is 80 Kbps, which is about 1/40th

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of the bandwidth used to stream a typical high definition video." This comparison is misleading for

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ...

connections with upstream bandwidth more limited than downstream bandwidth: 80 Kbps approaches 20% of the capacity of a 448 Kbps uplink.

Technology

Amazon Sidewalk amalgamates multiple physical-layer wireless networking protocols and presents them into a single application layer they call "Sidewalk Application Layer". Transmission technologies: *

for short distances and battery efficiency *

for long-range low-power communication *

Frequency-shift keying Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal. The technology is used for communication systems such as telemetry, weather ball ...

at 900 MHz, intended for interacting with legacy home appliances like garage door openers

Devices

The following devices support Amazon Sidewalk: *

Amazon Echo Amazon Echo, often shortened to Echo, is an American brand of smart speakers developed by Amazon. Echo devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service ''Alexa'', which will respond when a user says "Alexa". Users m ...

devices *

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doorbells and cameras
CareBand
wearables for people living with dementia * Fetch, an upcoming pet collar from

External links

Amazon Sidewalk Privacy and Security Whitepaper FAQ

CareBand and Life360 tap Amazon technology to help people stay connected

References

{{reflist Wireless Mesh networking Networking standards Amazon (company)

History

Reception

Technology

Devices

See also

External links

References