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Reports from the Field - Helium In The Wild, Hackathon Train

· 5 min read
Nik
Nik
Site Owner

"The job right now isn't to make IoT easy. It's to make it work".

As I look across the Helium ecosystem in early December of 2022, I'm starting to see the emergence of working businesses built on Helium. Baxus may be the most recent example; a company tracking all the conditions of items as they move around, though mostly focused on their storage conditions. They're starting with whiskey casks and wine barrels and what they're demonstrating is what we saw on the Hackathon train: Helium still requires technical expertise, but it works.

Whether you're figuring out how to use a people counter, a temperature and humidity sensor, or have an idea that the world hasn't yet explored, the time to build is now.

In contrast, if you're looking for an easy "Apple/Mac" experience, Helium isn't yet the place for you across the board. That's not to say it doesn't exist, and the leading example is Trackpac, built by longtime Helium community member Neil Skoglund.

After spending 18 days traveling around Europe and talking to people across the Helium space, one of the key takeaways is that this is what I think of as "the blind period" in the growth of an industry. "Blind" because it's hard to know what's going on. We just came through a massive burst bubble of unhealthy growth. HNT went from less than $2 up to $55, then back down to $2. The fallout from that is felt across the Helium community as those who rushed into this for "on the couch profit" get shaken out, sometimes very vocally.

Many people I met had the question: Is Helium dead? I can see why they'd ask that; especially if they came into Helium, like many, from the access point of mining crypto.

In the graph above (not to scale), at stage 1 we had Helium Inc casting about in the wilderness for years, trying to figure out what it would do. Helium was always about IoT, so that was their North Star. During that time (2013-2019) nobody really knew about them. They they stumbled on the idea of hooking IoT to a blockchain, birthing an industry with exquisite (and probably completely accidental timing. It still took a year to fire; it wasn't until sometime around late 2020 that things started to go parabolic.

That brings us to stage 2, which transformed the company and the community from a few engineers with a geeky idea to several hundred thousand mostly cryptocurrency enthusiasts who were speculating during the great boom of '20-'21. For a while, you couldn't lose. Like all booms, that went up, a few lucky ones (no one I know, and as far as I can tell, no one at Helium Inc) got off at the top, and the rest of us rode the wrong side of the parabolic curve back down to where we are now.

That brings us to the beginning of stage 3. The beginning is the blind period. In the curve above, it's probably the period between the beginning of the stage up until where you see the number 3. Now keep in mind, this curve is just a prediction. And the time scale is funky. Seriously funky. I could be completely wrong about it.

However, what I saw on the Hackathon train, and in Lisbon before that, and London, Paris, and Barcelona after is a period of growth ahead that goes steadily upward, though not at any kind of "change your life" rate for a while. The whole time we're stage 3, the only noticeable improvement will be measured in months at a minimum. Hours, days, or even weeks aren't particularly useful.

Of course, stage 4 is when everyone will want to pile in again. I don't have any predictions worth sharing about when that will be.

In the meantime, the important takeaway from the Hackathon train experience in particular is that NOW is the time to be head down and building.

Find a place you can learn, whether that's a friend, a group of friends, or Helium's #sensor-dev channel on Discord. If you want a first project, start with Joey's IKEA sensor project. There's plenty of info online about it and the community in general is well versed in it.

Just by getting one sensor on board, from soup to nuts, my feeling is that you'll be vaulting yourself well past the "blind spot" on the graph above and be well on your way to capitalize on the growth when it comes.

Here's to your ongoing success in this incredible project, LFG!

Helium Deployed: The Network In Action

· 12 min read
Nik
Nik
Site Owner

Our pilot project is complete, and boy have we learned a ton from this one! While many are still focusing on earning HNT for Helium Hotspot deployments, the obvious move for those of us interested in longevity is actually USING the Network.

Over the course of a week, supported by Tommy and Ryan at Lonestar Tracking, Matthew at Digital Matter, Travis at Helium, and Jeremy C (@jerm on Discord), I deployed 2 off-grid Helium Hotspots high in the mountains of Utah (one at over 8,000' and one above 11,000') to track 30+ paragliders as they flew during the annual Red Rocks Fly In as well as raced during the inaugural X Red Rocks Hike & Fly race.

I've written about the prep for that here, as well as how paragliding got me into Helium. For now, let's follow along with what it looks like when you actually deploy Helium Hotspots for real world usage.

It started with the usual last minute scramble to get everything ready for a big project. The night before I was out in the shop cutting masts and prepping enclosures to make sure I had everything ready for a big week! During the past year, I've learned a bunch about getting these things out in the wild. The latest improvement I learned from a client (thanks Dave H!) was using these little tripods for a "plant it anywhere" setup that's easy to carry.

When you get where you're going, just fasten the tripods into the ground with long lag bolts and you're set!

The trackers I used were Digital Matter Oyster trackers, about 160 grams and the size of a few phones stacked on top of each other. The advantages these trackers have is that there aren't any buttons to turn off or on, the battery life is measured from weeks to years, and they're pretty rugged. Originally designed to track vehicles, they were an excellent step in the direction of tracking far less predictable things. A paraglider has the entire sky within which to move.

I arrived late Friday night into Monroe, Utah, then met up the next morning with Stacy Whitmore, president of the local flying club, CUASA. We jumped in my truck (which is pretty easy to pick out in a crowd) and headed up to place the two Helium Hotspots, one at Cove Launch, and one on top of Monroe Peak.

Cove was first up, and after a 40 minute drive up a rough road, we arrived at a truly glorious place to put a hotspot. With a view of the Sevier Valley to the north and south, it was an excellent first step.

https://youtu.be/qsoJ-\_zuxrU

As you can see in the video above, these 2 hotspots weren't the only ones providing coverage. Since pilots can get up to 18,000' (the legal limit) the trackers have a clear line of sight..everywhere. We were seeing 80+ mile sensor communication to the gateways, which is impressive!

With the gateways set up, it was time to start flying!

https://youtu.be/ijnTEm6Mrf8

As I handed out trackers to paragliders and watched their progress through the sky, a few things became clear.

First, the Network works. While the tech can be complicated and the whole thing is not yet push-a-button easy, it does work. That's rad.

Second, the deployment pattern of Hotspots becomes far more important when you start to optimize for Network coverage and not just earnings. I jumped at the first two locations because both were high and had great views. It worked, but there were plenty of coverage holes that I could've filled in with a different pattern. When I cover this event next year, I'll use 2 or 3 more hotspots and place them in a ring around the valley rather than on just one side. I'll also use Kudzu to estimate coverage, which was something I'd wanted to do but ran out of time.

Third, using vehicle trackers to track paragliders is an excellent start, but free flight pilots in general (paraglider and hang gliders) need a few options that we hadn't configured in the trackers. Here's an example of the day in the life of a tracker, from the time I handed it out in the LZ (landing zone, which is where pilots in Monroe usually meet to start the day) all the way to the end of the day when the pilot went back to their hotel.

Before going further, I want to make it clear that this was a pilot program. This is NOT what the end product of a free flight tracker will look like. The goal of this project was to see what was possible and where we needed to improve.

Most of the improvements can come from better Hotspot placement and configuration settings within the tracker. Some improvements specific to free flight will come from hardware modifications. We started off with 2 minute intervals and eventually got 'em down to 30 second intervals by the end of the week. While that pushes out more *potential* data points, if you don't have coverage from a Hotspot it doesn't matter how much data your sensor is pushing out; it won't get seen.

A bunch of things can go wrong. The interval is important; if you set it for an hour you'll have a battery life measured in years, but for a 2 hour flight you'll only get 2 data points, like this:

Here's another pilot who did that same flight but had a tracker with much shorter intervals. You can see the difference it makes!

The configuration settings presented an additional set of challenges. For paragliding, I wanted a tracker that could be found if the pilot either had an emergency and landed conscious (and able to push a button), or landed and was unconscious. These trackers were set up for long battery life, so once they stopped moving for a period of time they went to sleep. That's very useful for tracking vehicles on land, but not very useful for paragliders flying in adventure country.

Keep in mind that these trackers only report their positions if they can communicate with a Hotspot. No Hotspot, no comms.

Going to sleep once movement has stopped presents the issue of not being able to be found if a pilot crashes and is unconscious or just not able to move. The solutions for solving that could be creating an on/off button for the tracker so that you can conserve battery at home, when you don't need to be tracked, but push out signals every 2 minutes when you go flying.

The rad aspect of creating off grid Helium Hotspots is that you could put a Hotspot in a helicopter and fly a search pattern with a very wide "bubble" of coverage. As long as trackers are on and pinging, you're very likely to find them. This creates another potential solution for "crash detection" in trackers where they'd continue to ping at 1 or 2 minute intervals if they detected a sudden stopping of movement.

Finally, this project brought to light the usefulness of an "emergency" button, just like you have on an inReach mini.

You might ask, "What's the point of having another device that does the same thing?" Well, there are three good reasons. First, when working in high consequence environments, a basic rule of safety is "Two is one and one is none." Having a backup can be the difference between being found within hours of a crash and not being found for days.

Second, because these two devices work using different technologies, they offer a wider spectrum of "findability." While an inReach can be found by communicating with satellites, if it's deep in a canyon and doesn't have a clear "view" of a satellite, it becomes less useful. A LoRa tracker, on the other hand, puts out an omnidirectional beacon at a minimum range of 60 meters in dense brush and a max range of 80+ miles with clear line of sight. A helo carrying a mobile Helium-compatible Hotspot can fly around and provide a bubble of fairly focused coverage, greatly speeding up the tracking possibilities.

Third, as gruesome as it sounds, if you auger in and hit hard, the impact is likely to break not only your bones but also the electronic tracking devices you're carrying. If those electronic devices are on opposite sides of your body, it is more likely that at least one of them will not bear the full force of the impact and will remain trackable. I know, ugly and terrible, but also practical.

Practicality is the watchword here. The long term health of the Network is based upon the usability of it. Projects like these, where we put sensors and gateways (Hotspots) out into the wild and see how they do, go a long way towards all of us leaning how to use this fantastically cool technology to improve our lives.

If you'd like to see the presentation I gave at the 2021 Red Rocks Fly In about Helium for paragliders, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsNQa0fL0WI

My entire involvement with Helium started with a lost paraglider, but finding lost paragliders is just a beginning. I am super pumped to be on this journey and to share as much as I can with you, so that together we can build a superbly useful tool for whatever problem you want to solve. Here's to safe flying, to useful Networks, and to advancing our knowledge and understanding that this giant new realm of IoT opportunity available to us all.

To life!

Resources​

Feel free to reach out to any of these companies for help with your projects, and of course, tell 'em the Gristle King sent ya! :)

Lonestar Tracking - Based out of Texas, Lonestar makes it super easy to buy devices and start tracking whatever you'd like.

Digital Matter devices

Helium Network

CUASA - Central Utah Air Sports Association - If you have hotspots you want to place off grid, this crew is way open to having you put them up on high sites around the Sevier Valley. Reach out to Stacy or Jeff to see if you can work with them.

If you're looking for work in the Helium ecosystem, please check out this rad project I'm a part of called Helium Jobs. You can post and find jobs there, help support the ecosystem by making it easier to connect professionally, and let the world know that YOU exist and want to help contribute within the Network. Rock on!

Archived Comments​

Mario - 10/10/2021​

Inspiring. Dreaming of the day when I finish setting up my helium miners (for good) and start to think off, how can I, using Helium network, make other people's life easier/better. :)

Joseph Campos - 10/12/2021​

Great job Nik! Your passion shows and it is awesome that it is aligned with helping keep people safe. Good job in the presentation video, you do a good job of explaining what can be a complicated subject sticking to the "why" the group would care.

Nik - 10/12/2021​

Thanks Joseph, much appreciated!

Reports From The Field: Tracking With Helium - Gristle King - A Guide to Helium - 11/2/2021​

[…] up was to pro­vide cus­tom track­ing for race par­tic­i­pants. Hav­ing recent­ly done the very first paraglid­ing track­ing event up in Utah, for the X Red Rocks race, I man­aged to avoid a few mis­takes, repeat a few more, and learn a […]

Precios Louzado - 11/8/2021​

great job. Is it possible to integrate 3rd party appliances on helium devices as a hub for transacting on the blockchain.

Nik - 11/8/2021​

You should be able to use just about any sensor. Helium maintains a list of "Helium ready" ones here.

Cody - 5/5/2022​

You are doing incredible work Nik. Appreciate you sharing.

Nik - 5/6/2022​

Thanks Cody!

Gristle King On Helium Uplink

· 2 min read
Nik
Nik
Site Owner

It's been a heck of a ride so far, from the beginnings of looking for a better way to find lost paraglider pilots all the way out to being featured by Helium as a top hotspot optimization expert.

Travis Teague and I just did an episode of the Uplink, which Helium releases to showcase how the community is developing. A very cool show to do and a real honor.

We went through the genesis story of of the Kiwi SAR, through the first hotspot and my experiences building DIY hotspots back when the alpha code program was still open. That includes a few mountain deployments, a few urban deployments, a few suburban deployments and more consults with rad folks like you than I can count.

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9E-3qOFDzo

While I aim to make enough information freely available so you can go through this blog (and the rest of the internet) and figure out how to optimally deploy your hotspot, if you'd like help with

  • Maximizing the opportunity to earn HNT with a well placed and well set up hotspot
  • Deciding whether or not it's the right time to jump
  • Figuring out what the next step is in the Helium network

Please consider hiring me to help you out. I'll put all of my knowledge and experience at your disposal to make sure you make the best of what you can and don't miss any big opportunities. No matter what you decide, I wish you the best of luck with your Helium journey, and I can't wait to see what you do with it!

Learn How To Use The Helium Network

· 22 min read
Nik
Nik
Site Owner

While many of you are hammer and tongs at the game of deploying hotspots, the real opportunity is beginning to shift from *building* the network to *using* the network.

One of the best ways to learn something is to do it. Let me show you how, for about $40, you can add your first sensor to the network and visualize the data.

Before we get there, let's think about why this is important, and how knowing how to do this will give you a competitive edge. This'll go into strategy and theory plus my own predictions, so if you just want to skip theory and get started, jump here.

Strategy and Theory - A New Network​

Helium is participating in a movement that is the single largest jump in human evolution for the past 10,000 years or so. If you would wind back in time 10,000 years to the pre-agricultural era and talk to a hunter-gatherer, the information they knew about the world would melt (or at least temporarily re-form) your brain.

From odd aspects of sensing the world, like ocean navigators dipping their scrotum into the sea to feel very slight water temperature differences that indicated what current or part of the world they were in, to Native Americans who knew where the animal they were going to hunt and kill that day was well before they left camp, humans had a highly developed internal view of the world. This was based on paying attention to senses so finely tuned as to be unbelievable today.

That view is almost entirely lost, and any individual human will probably never experience it again. We will experience something even richer.

With the help of edge computing, a wide deployment of sensors and sensor types, and the burgeoning ability to both visualize and use data, we humans are beginning to re-understand our world. Helium is a part of this.

When you deploy a Helium hotspot, you're probably aiming to maximize your HNT earnings. That's cool, so am I, and on top of that I'd love to help you with it. Still, the thing you may not be thinking about is what's beyond the HNT earnings. What are the opportunities that are popping into existence just by you and a few thousand others building our own network that moves data from invisible to visible?

The simplest explanation is that by increasing the "data density" of a business, then by showing them how to use that extra data, you give them a valuable competitive edge. In some cases that edge will save them money. In some cases it will make them money.

This data density is the "new and improved" version of how we humans sense the world. As a quick (and non-monetary) example, imagine the hunter-gatherer from 10,000 years ago. She knew where to go that day to find the best food because of her individual sensory connection to the weather and season, but she couldn't really share that knowledge with you, other than to tell you where to go.

If you deploy a weather station network of 20 units over, say a few thousand acres, you will have created a far denser sensor network than any standard weather station deployment, and ANYONE IN THE WORLD can have instant access to that data. If you decide to help people visualize that data, now you have added tremendous value that is available to anyone who wants it. Maybe you charge for that data. Maybe you don't. Maybe you share it in a way that other experts can help you refine your understanding further. Whatever you do with a sensor network like that, you are contributing to elevating our human understanding of the world, and that's pretty damn cool.

Now, you can apply this data density idea any where you can imagine, so start imagining.

Is it useful for the local trucking company (or an Amazon DSP) to know where their vehicles are at 12 second intervals? Is it useful for your local restaurant to know the inventory levels in an off-site kitchen, and for every other company who shares that off-site location to also know their inventory levels based on weight-plate sensors?

Will FedEx see a use for tracking individual packages, or pallets, or trucks, or airplanes? Would a supplement company benefit from tracking the provenance of it's supplies, so you know the high-end collagen you bought actually came from animals humanely treated, and if you wanted to you could track from cow to coffee? You ARE putting collagen in your coffee, right? Wait, that's another article.

How about your local government? San Diego sure could benefit from knowing when wildfires were starting way before they get reported by human senses. Deploying a network of air quality sensors might save BILLIONS of dollars if we can stop a wildfire when it's only covering ½ an acre.

When it comes to deploying sensors, the only limit to creating and using data density is your imagination

So, how do you go about adding to this data density?

Let's get started!​

Here's a broad overview of how the whole thing works:

  • Buy a sensor
  • Sign up for a Helium Console account
  • Provision your sensor (this just means you claim ownership of it digitally, so that you're the one controlling the data flow)
  • Connect that sensor to some kind of data visualization platform
  • Deploy the sensor

Step 1: Buying a Sensor

I suggest starting with something simple and cheap. I've deployed a bunch of the Dragino LHT-65 temperature and humidity monitors. I use them to act as a double-check on monitoring whether or not a hotspot is up. They're usually under $50 with shipping and don't use much data. Do NOT throw away the box with the DEV EUI sticker on it. You'll want that info. We'll see a quick tip to see a long list of sensors in the next step, Provisioning.

Step 2: Provisioning the Sensor

You'll need to set up a Helium Console account. Helium has an excellent set of instructions on their site for how to do that, head over there and follow the steps to get yours going. Helium has also done a great job of walking you through adding a specific device.

Since you already bought the LHT-65, we might as well follow the steps for that one, here. Yes, typing in the DEV EUI, APP EUI, and APP KEY is a PITA. The only shortcut is using the QR code on the device to give you the DEV EUI, which you can then copy/paste.

Ok, now that you've got a sensor, a Console account, and you've provisioned the sensor, you'll need to activate the sensor. In this case, that means you push the only button on the device for at least 3 seconds. Yeah, it's that easy. Here's the manual if you want to dive in deeper. It may take a few minutes for it to show up in Console. I recommend getting the LHT-65 outside and within direct Line of Sight to your nearest hotspot just to ensure this first process goes smoothly.

You can watch as nearby hotspots pick it up. Scroll down to the Event Log, open up an Event, then click on Hotspots. That's the hotspot that's "hearing" your device.

Now let's talk about integration with data visualization platforms.

Step 3: Connect & Visualize

As you've probably seen after following those steps, Helium Console is not built for the average person to just look at and visualize data.

For that, you'll need to connect your Console account to another platform. If you want the easiest version, just follow along with Helium's LHT65 instructions and use myDevices Cayenne. It's free and easy.

You can use other tools to visualize the data as well. From your Helium Console window, click on the Integrations menu on the left side and then look for all the pre-built integrations. Let's try Datacake.

Head over to the Datacake website and set up an account. Once you've got that, go back to Helium Console and look for Integrations on the left menu. Click on that, then choose Datacake. There's a full set of instructions on how to do this, so at the risk of sending you to the Helium site, you should go check those out.

Ok, the next step is confusing. With the LHT65 provisioned in console, you have to tell Datacake AND Console what you've done. In Datacake, look for the blue Add Device button, then choose LoRaWAN --> New Product from template-->then search for LHT and click on the Dragino LHT65 radio button. Like this:

Next they'll ask you to choose the Network Server you want to connect. Look for Helium, then click next.

Now you'll need to put the DEV EUI in. Hot tip: Use copy/paste to pull it over from your Console account. It will look different than the DEV EUI you've typed in, don't worry. Just copy/paste. Trust me on this one.

For this first device, choose the Free plan and then connect away. That's it.

I've found that it usually takes a while to start actually SEEING the data. Be patient. It'll come.

Now the fun part starts: Deploy the sensor! A sensor is just one more tool in your toolbox as you help build this new world of IoT interconnectivity.

How will you use data to change your world?

Get 'em!

Archived Comments​

Cristian H - 5/20/2021​

Hi Nik, thanks for always sharing great content with the Helium community, I really enjoyed this post. In theory any LoraWan sensor is compatible with Helium, as far as I understand. But, is there anything in particular that I should look for other than the 915 (US) frequency band? Thanks!

Nik - 5/20/2021​

I don't think so. Still the Wild West a bit, but 915 is my north star for now. :)

Gary Boudrie - 5/24/2021​

Hello Nick, I am just getting started and waiting on my FreedomFi hotspot for delivery. My question, related to to question above, do the current models being or getting ready to be shipped come in at 915 default, or is this something you need to state and pay extra for in said configuration and components? One more quick question, I have a second hotspot on order also from Helium and FreedomFi, should I cancel the second hotspot and just put my money to better use in the system on other components? Thank you, Gary

Nik - 5/24/2021​

Hi Gary, not sure about the FreedomFi, none of those have shipped yet and don't look like they will for a while. Should be pretty straightforward re. 915. As far as a 2nd FreedomFi hotspot, I've seen those slots on the waiting list are selling for a boatload on eBay. Tough call.

Ian c - 6/2/2021​

Hi Nick, I have enjoyed your projects with the helium network. I live in the north bay area, and I have access to a mountain top. I would like to pick your brain on your mountain project deployment with the helium network, I'm currently following your setup as far as I can tell from your videos.

CHRISTOPHER FOOTE - 6/9/2021​

Hi Nik; thank you for the great content. Im awating 2 of the bobcat miners that i have ordered and I have been thinking about how it is not enough for me to just put up the miners, but that the real longevity and acceptance will be centered on Using the network/finding ways to show potential users how they can use it as well! the temp/humidity sensor is something that I will buy as a use case scenario in order to show people the potential. I live in a small town, and most of my "neighbors" would be better served if I could show them a way to use it. We have a lot of people who are constantly "losing" their pets. I have been thinking that if i could find a device that they could attach to their pets collars, that would help them find their kitties and doggies, then I would be better able to promote the network as well as find volunteers to host my miners. Do you know of an application that is on the market that would meet this requirement? thanks for your help and for sharing your knowledge!!! chris.

Nik - 6/9/2021​

Hi Chris, There's nothing super small and simple *yet*, but it's coming. Def. keep an eye out for new sensors. I'll write more about the ones I'm working on bringing online once I've got 'em up and running. You're def on the right track though, keep learning & exploring!

Greg - 7/12/2021​

Another brilliant article. Definetely going to purchase a couple of the LHT65 units. Do you have any experience with the LSN50v2-S31 — LoRaWAN Temperature & Humidity Sensor? While larger, its only £15 more expensive but seems like it could alert you if your hotspot was in danger as it claims to have instant mode. Thanks again for directing me here!

Nik - 7/12/2021​

I haven't seen those, but test 'em out and let me know what you learn. Neat!

Mo - 8/2/2021​

Nik, Thanks for the great content. Is there any returns/rewards/economics for deploying sensors within the helium network yet?

Nik - 8/3/2021​

Well, there's a cost in data credits to deploy sensors, but you can charge for access to that data, or to make sense of that data.

Marco Martins - 9/5/2021​

Don’t you have to pay for the “traffic”?

Nik - 9/5/2021​

Yes, you have to pay for the data on any sensors you "provision". If your hotspot is processing that data, it's basically a net zero cost. If someone else's is, you'll pay. If you turn around and charge a margin to the customers you're providing a service for, that's how you'll turn a profit.

Marco Martins - 9/5/2021​

Does that mean that if I have hotspots running I can use my earned HNTs to pay that traffic directly from my earnings or I do still have to buy credits? How much does a device like this reporting every 10 minutes would “cost”? Thank you

Nik - 9/5/2021​

Sure. You'd have to sign up for a Helium Console account and buy DC with HNT. I've had one running May 2nd to Sept 5th which has used 8,532 DC.

Marco Martins - 9/12/2021​

That’s basically free ?

Nik - 9/12/2021​

depends on what you call "free." :) It's definitely cheap, and especially if you're earning HNT off a hotspot, easily affordable to run lots of data.

Ben Swim - 11/25/2021​

Anyone know what network PurpleAir uses? There’s a lot of those here in Ca. I’d be willing to put out the $ for it if I knew it would use my hotspot. Do you know of any other sensors that are already in high deployment that use our hotspots?

keith - 12/4/2021​

is there a way i can see what sensors are in my area? is that on the console or another app? i. still waiting for my bobcat, but would like to see what sensors are in the area or what data would be flowing into my hotspot….. thanks Nik

Nik - 12/4/2021​

Not sensors as far as I know, but you can see data flow in an area here.

Road - 12/5/2021​

Ben, I have a couple of PA sensors, some for work, and they work pretty good compared to professional dust monitors. They are using local wifi of the customer. They're not cheap either, almost $300 a piece. When I use them remotely, I have to use a battery/inverter, and then use my cell as a hotspot. It would be cool if they made something that utilized the Helium Network.

James - 12/7/2021​

Under integration and status in Helium console while running the temp sensor should it say no-status? I did set it up and added to data cake and it is being found by a hotspot

Nik - 12/7/2021​

Hi James, I'd check over in #sensor-dev in the Helium Discord, although if you're getting data you're probably fine.

kyle p - 12/9/2021​

hi nik Is there anyway to get your dc to the helium app?

GEORGIOS STYLIANOU - 1/11/2022​

hi there, i have already installed LHT-65 and placed on the exact same outdoor box that is used for my bobcat. after 30 transmitted packets my miners has not heared any of them being 2 cm away from the sensor while at the same time 9 of them are heared by a hotspot many km away. is there any distance restriction ?

Nik - 1/11/2022​

Hi Georgios, you may have the sensor in a "dead spot" not covered by your Hotspot's antenna. Try moving it away from the Bobcat box a bit (and shielding it from other directions.)

Bruno - 2/2/2022​

Hey Nic, Do you know if there is a lag in the sensor data propagating through the network? I’m looking into using Dragino door Lora sensors for a home security setup, and transmission time would be important for that. Thanks Bruno

Andy - 4/29/2022​

So, from what I've been reading, you wont earn enough HNT to even offset the cost of these sensors. Basically, the only reason to add sensors is to help the Helium network grow?

Nik - 4/29/2022​

That's not how it works. Sensors will cost you money (in data credits) to use the Network. The reason to add sensors is because you have something that is profitable to measure.

Mr. Smith - 5/7/2022​

Just thought you'd like to know that there are already some dead links on this (so, how do you use the helium network) page already: "Dragino LHT-65 temperature and humidity monitors" isn't truly dead, but it produces: Search results for 'LHT65' Your search returns no results. "follow the steps for that one, here" is dead and "Helium’s LHT65 instructions" is also dead.

Nik - 5/8/2022​

Thanks Mr. Smith, will get those updated!

Erin - 5/9/2022​

Nik, could you go into a little bit more detail. On how it sensor would earn income if I deployed just one or two in my own yard or do I need to spread them out and multiples across my city. To earn a second passive income. Suggestions of sensor's like proximity sensors for vehicles needing reporting back to homebase. Or just temperature moisture dust. Also It sounds like using the network is going to cost a variable amount depending upon the data being collected from the sensor and cost to sent it. Also now I need to market the information to earn something by selling the data to someone. This all-seams extremely vague on how to do that now. Do you have any insight to those questions.

Nik - 5/9/2022​

Hi Erin, It all is super vague for now; this is the next step of Helium and no one has it dialed yet.

Paul - 5/25/2022​

I'm interested in connecting some items like a Sonde receiver or an AIS receiver. Currently have a LORA 433MHz receiver , using "custom" firmware, collecting data on Sondes to at least 120Km away. The antenna was tuned on a VNA , it is about 2"/5cm stubby antenna. However my interest is installing another receiver 150Km away to detect Sondes coming from another launch station. They have a low data rate and are only transmit for 2 hours twice a day. Any ideas on a practical LORA interface to Helium. I haven't set up a Helium hotspot of my own ,yet.

Nik - 5/25/2022​

Check out the work Starwatcher aka Matthew Patrick over at NovaLabs (formerly Helium Inc.) More on him here.

Marlan - 8/3/2022​

Hello Nik (and his followers as well), Have you ever heard of a situation where no matter what you do you can't get a sensor to provision on the network until you power-cycle (not a SW reboot) your basestation? I'm a lone wolf out in the country with a Bobcat 300. The sensor is LDS02 Dragino door sensor.

Nik - 8/3/2022​

Hi Marlan, I haven't seen that, but you might check in on the Helium Discord #sensor-dev channel, as they may have some better answers for you.

Lior Kvatinsky - 12/9/2022​

Hey Nick! Great work in Europe. Me and my business partner followed you for awhile and learned a lot from your content. We heard your advice for finding ways to use the Helium network. We are building a company which provides IOT sensors to small businesses (currently restaurants are our main target). Our first client asked for 10 sensors and is very happy with our service. Unfortunately, both of us doesn't have a lot of technical knowledge, and everything took awhile to figure out.. But now we face a new challenge: Helium Console let us operate only 10 devices and one organization ? We try to go over our options for increasing the limit but it's very technical and complicated (running our own server). Do you have any idea what should our best course of action should be?

Nik - 12/10/2022​

Hi Lior, Three options: 1) Short term you can reach out to Helium Foundation and ask for access to a Console with more devices. 2) Reach out to Paul over at disk91.com and ask about pricing for running this for you; that's his expertise. 3) Dive into Chirpstack and be ready when Helium makes the switch. That'll be a longer term play. Best bet if you're not technical is probably Paul. Good luck with it, and if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know!

Lior Kvatinsky - 12/12/2022​

Thank you my friend I appreciate your response! - I'm trying for weeks to reach the Helium Foundation and no response/: is there a specific person from the Foundation you know I can contact? - I assume that there's some I'm not aware of: What is the switch you mentioned? Does the console gonna merge or discontinue?

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