This was the more expected announcement for Sigfox Connect event: the availability of the micro-gateway: a Sigfox gateway you can buy, own and deploy on your own location.
This was expected to be introduce has it has already been disclosed once FCC certification made it public as it has been noticed by Nestor Ayuso on twitter some days ago.
This model is standard for LoRaWan ecosystem running on private network as on public network. For Sigfox it has always been possible to expend the network but it was a little bit complex because you had to rent the basestation from Sigfox and the basestation itself was an operator equipment: something made for being installed on a roof, not in your office.
Sigfox is now proposing the micro-gateway !
Sigfox now proposing the micro-gateway as a device you can buy and install on your own to extends the public network where you want. It has been designed for indoor usage like building, home, factories…
In my opinion the design is nice, white, simple… the antenna is included in the box. Personally i would have preferred an external antenna for a possible outdoor antenna usage but I’m not the main market target 😉 Design may have been the first choice.
It has been designed to be attached on a wall or on ceiling with an omni-directional coverage as much as possible.
That said the radio performance seems to be really good to offer a very large indoor coverage. Some are talking about more than a 1km coverage outdoor.
On the side you can see an Ethernet connector also use for powering. There is no other powering solution than providing PoE. This is standard for industrial deployment, no worries about this point.
The USB connector on the side is used for providing a 3G/4G connectivity thank to a Huawei stick.
The micro-gateway will be a complete element of the Sigfox network. I mean it can enter in the Altas gateways for computing location as soon as the position is trusted. This can largely improve the Atlas precision when you need it.
I hope to be able to soon test one to give you larger details on the capabilities of the really nice product.