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View Code? Open in Web Editor NEWDetails of the DeWi Alliance Grant Program
Details of the DeWi Alliance Grant Program
Project:
HeliumReviews.io
Elevator Pitch
There is a need for a community review website in the ecosystem, currently the MoC deals with a lot of issues about bad business/hardware when this is not their job to manage. The problem is there isn't a one place for users to go and compare hotspots/antennas and more, and no off the shelf solutions to provide this type of site where user reviews are the focus.
What hotspot is best, which antenna is best or even which LoRaWAN temperature sensor is best? HeliumReviews.io aims to provide a trustworthy, unbiased, user driven review site for all things Helium. Make your next Helium purchase an informed one with HeliumReviews.io.
Total FIAT / HNT Ask:
£20,000
Name and Address:
Robert Putt
Github: https://github.com/robputt
Neil Skoglund
Github: https://github.com/bfgneil
Project Details:
HeliumReviews.io aims to provide the community with a trusted reviews site for products in the Helium ecosystem. Currently there is no “one stop shop” for Helium product reviews and the community must rely on vendor’s reviews which may be moderated or biased and word of mouth. HeliumReviews.io combats this by providing a review site specifically for Helium products. Products are curated and listed by the team. Once products are listed members of the community can submit reviews and ratings.
The site will feature the following elements;
Of course all these backend features will be paired with a professionally designed, intuitive UI for maximum ease of use.
HeliumReviews.io will be built using fully open source frameworks, primarily Python and Flask for the server side. Data will be stored within a MySQL database although the application will feature suitable caching for performance.
The project includes funding for the first 12 to 18 months of hosting depending on traffic levels in a high availability configuration within AWS. The site will be fronted by CloudFront for caching and performance optimisation. It is anticipated that long term hosting costs will be covered by non intrusive advertising (Google Adsense) and referral links for products on their respective pages.
Roadmap:
Milestone | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
15th April 2022 | Backend Application | Development of database models and Python Flask app providing application features with hooks for UI. | £12,500 |
1st June 2022 | GUI | Working with a design house to produce a user friendly and consistently branded UI. | £5,000 |
15th July 2022 | Launch | Site deployed in highly available configuration on AWS using CloudFront for CDN. Seeding initial review content from trusted community members. Marketing to potential users via community, Twitter and YouTube. | £2,500 |
Project:
Company Onboarding Pack
Elevator Pitch:
Success of the Helium Network depends on getting a large number of devices onto the network. High number of devices will come from large companies deploying devices to solve problems for themselves and for their clients.
At this time, it is very difficult for large companies to understand, assess and adopt Helium as relevant information is either hard to understand, missing, out of date, or on some Discord channel.
This project will create two sets of information to address their questions and concerns:
Total fiat/HNT ask:
$8,000
Name and Address:
Submitted to [email protected]
Project Details:
Create information that will make it easy for a large company to consider Helium for their IoT needs.
Currently, a person needs to go through various sites to understand how Helium works. Some of the information is out-of-date and incomplete. This creates a barrier for an organisation to on-board because it:
To make Helium a seamless experience Helium Docs should correctly describe the network, economics and the ongoing operation. Then it is up to hotspots, the network, the wallet and devices to consistently deliver on the described experience.
Two types of content are proposed: an infographic and an update of Helium Docs focusing on the on-boarding experience of a large company.
An infographic should be a sufficient overview of main concepts. It will be used as a one-page slide to explain the why, what, how of Helium. The goal of this infographic is to show the potential of the Helium network and entice a decision-maker to invest additional time into understanding Helium.
An update to the Helium Docs will explain various aspects of the Helium network that a company would want to understand. It is important to cover the economics, technical aspects, and address typical concerns that a company may have about adopting Helium.
Roadmap:
The project will be delivered in two stages. An infographic will be provided to solicit feedback at a first non-financial milestone. The final milestone will contain both documents.
One-page infographic showing relevant Helium concepts
Update of Helium Docs - https://docs.helium.com/
Milestones:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
9 Jan 2022 | Draft Infographic | Infographic - (without the Helium branding) covering the main topics | |
Final, 9 March 2022 | Updated Infographic; docs.helium.com updates | Infographic updated with DeWi feedback; Pull-request with updated docs.helium.com section for on-boarding large organisations | 8,000 USD |
Evergreen Miner
Your internet is in the hands of a few big players. They own your data, they earn the fees, and at any moment you could lose access. Helium and Chia have made unstoppable, peer owned networks where people own their assets and earn passive income by running a node. Evergreen Miner makes it dead simple to join these unstoppable networks. Earn passive income, store assets, and use Dapps across multiple chains from a single interface. With Evergreen you own your internet without intermediaries. Evergreen has sold $60,000 in product and $2,500 in MRR, and is currently scaling supply to meet new demand.
Total Ask — $87,000
Website
Social
@evergreenminer
@dylanmrose
[Dylan Rose](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-r-1887b5ba/)
6 Years founding wearable HW companies.
Started and built out new initatives at Amazon Ideas, under creator of Google Glass
UW EE Labs Sr Manager of 3 new initatives, customer discovery, and team management of over 20 people.
[Randal Schwartz](https://www.linkedin.com/in/randalschwartz/)
4X O’ Reily Published Author for Perl, Educated and trained thousands of developers.
Google Flutter GDE
35 Years Experience building and scaling software systems
[Robi Lin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-lin1/)
2 years Consulting at Bain
Former VC at Bloccelerate
4 years consulting for dozens of Seattle based startups on tech, growth, and ops.
Seeed Studio is manufacturing our devices, and we have several Chia team members and community contributors working on Hard Drive supply, and blockchain engineering.
We will deliver a hybrid mining device that allows users to mine Chia and Helium via HardDrives and a LoRaWAN module plugged into a 40-pin header.
The key objectives are
Today there are some unknowns around the SW piece with helium, we are going to clarify these details in the first phase of the project.
MVP software was made for the first batch, the next phase is around scaling the MVP
Please find an expanded project spec [here](https://www.notion.so/Project-Spec-73ed7ebfba824edca7068240bffb9826)
We have already been shipping and designing hardware for Chia customers.
Existing Prototypes, v2 (left) manufactured by Seeed Studio, 25 v1 prototypes up and running made by Dylan Rose
V1 Review by BrandonCoin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-ugNotzgck
Chia and Helium combined for over 800K nodes in 2021. Both of these protocols are focused on bringing users P2P internet where they can earn and support their communities. A device that bridges the gap and brings Daaps to everyday people will significantly help grow the network and strengthen the community. Chia, and other P2P networks need helium to get away from ISPs and I believe Evergreen will help route applications and assets between peers directly. This first year will give a glimpse at what a peer owned internet really looks like.
Multisig support for all transactions have been in blockchain-core for a while now. However, there are no easy ways to access the multisig capabilities currently outside of erlang and rust. By establishing conventions and exposing dev tooling in the JS for general multisig support, we will enable the developer community to build more secure products that serve the Helium community.
Multisig transactions allow developers to create custodial accounts that enable more secure/decentralized bridging to other chains. By enabling these bridges, it unlocks millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars of liquidity into the ecosystem currently dominated by only a few large, centralized exchanges.
Additionally, multisig opens up an array of possibilities that developers can build novel Helium products with (Example: Multisig addresses can be constructed from ecc_compact keys that miners currently use).
$16,000
JS Library support for these functions:
(Items struck through are completed in helium/helium-js#278, assuming that pull request is approved and merged)
Code demonstration that creates a multisig address, initiates a transaction to be signed by multisig members, collects signatures to create a multisig signature, and then submits the transaction successfully to the blockchain.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1 - 04/21/22 | JS Code | Implement project deliverables above in the helium-js lib | 13,000 USD |
MS2 - 04/25/22 | Demonstration | End to end demonstration as outlined in Acceptance Criteria above | 2,000 USD |
MS3 - 04/30/22 | Documentation | Update helium-js readmes to include documentation for multisig functions | 1,000 USD |
Miner Match
Miner Match is a community driven hosting marketplace that allows providers to advertise their hosting agreements and prospective hosts with a place to review their options and eligibility.
$125,000 HNT
Crypto Balloon LLC
3712 Ringgold Road #185
Chattanooga, TN 37412
Engineers
Miner Match is a community driven hosting marketplace that empowers hotspot hosting providers, both individuals and organizations, to list themselves in an informed competitive marketplace. Prospective hosts can input their available hosting locations to see providers in their area, compare different providers, and easily view hosting eligibility for multiple providers.
Using Helium API location data, the website will allow hosting providers to specify the types of hosts they are looking for and only advertise to those individuals. This simplifies the host-provider search for prospective hosts and provides a centralized marketplace for hosts to search for opportunities.
The base of the platform will be designed as an opensource platform and hosted as a for-profit service long-term. Hosts will be able to search available providers and apply to host for free.
Long term, the Miner Match service expects to provide user and integration-driven value for multiple parties within the Helium ecosystem. Miner Match will seek funding via affiliate marketing and other partnerships. In addition and as required, Miner Match will begin to charge nominal, lead-driven fees to providers for services provided. Miner Match intends to be the source for researching hosting viability and comparing competing offers for the foreseeable future.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Q2-2022 | User Experience Design and Signup/Demand Generation. | Create UX Mockup that illustrates user adoption flows. Generate 1000+ unique host signups (with location having one or fewer active hotspots) and 500+ provider signups. | 15,000 USD |
MS1, Q2-2022 | Provider signup/registration & landing page for hosts (coming soon). | Create project, initial infrastructure, basic modeling, admin. Build provider signup and registration flows. | 25,000 USD |
MS2, Q3-2022 | Basic public search functionality. | Create search client for prospective hosts that returns valid providers based on basic criteria. | 25,000 USD |
MS3, Q3-2022 | Add filters for hosts and providers to improve experience. | Add filters and search parameters for provider and host experiences. | 25,000 USD |
MS4, Q3/Q4-2022 | Full product launch, opensource base release. | Search for hosts and tooling for providers completed and released. Base platform opensource project released. Additional infrastructure/overhead for OSS release and SaaS. | 25,000 USD |
MS4, Q3/Q4-2022 | Full press release - blog posts, video collaborations, social promos. | Alongside and following release, deliver blog posts, videos, promos that outline and highlight the tool and its utility to the community. | 10,000 USD |
Environmental Monitoring: Sustainably Linked Parametric Insurance
Eutrophication of Paraguay’s freshwater lakes and streams, soil erosion, increased wildfires, and deforestation have created a system of compounded ecosystem degradation. Paraguay is a remote and rapidly developing country that generally lacks access to public infrastructure. This makes intelligent land management difficult if not impossible. In regions like Paraguay, low-cost LoRoWAN networks are vital for these types of dense monitoring solutions.
Dense field monitoring solutions are needed both to verify the impact of regenerative actions meant to prevent wildfire conditions and prevent soil loss. Additionally, early wildfire detection systems rely heavily on field monitoring data due to the serious limitation in remote sensing models for this application.
Total Ask:
$90,000
Team or Project website
http://athena.tech
https://www.opades.org.py/
Team or projects social:
https://twitter.com/athenaequity
The Team
Timothy L Carter - CTO - Athena Corp. - [email protected]
Timothy Carter Is an Environmental Data Scientist and Campaign Director with nine years of experience in project management and public health policy research. Timothy has successfully operated multiple large-scale field data collection initiatives measuring both human and natural systems. He has three years of experience as Director of Campaign Operations within the Public Interest Network where he has proven his ability to recruit, manage, train, and facilitate large teams of staff and volunteers to meet and exceed strategic goals.
Christian Casazza - CBO - Athena Corp. - [email protected]
Christian provided go-to-market strategy and product incubation for fintechs in the blockchain. As the first hire on the underwriting team at the fintech firm Yardline Capital, Christian built out the processes for a $10M+ portfolio nearly from scratch. There, Christian developed proprietary underwriting models based on analyzing metrics from multiple data sources.
Thomas Price - CEO - Avano - [email protected]
Thomas Price is a bilingual PHD candidate and founder of Avano. He has over 10 years of experience in environmental studies, sustainable development, climate change and GIS.
Kimberly Morrow- Account Exective at Touchpoint(Transitioning to Athena full time)
Kimberly Morrow has over a decade of experience bridging private and public interests for sustainabilty. Kimberly has organized and managed large-scale projects with hundreds of thousands of participants.
Christian Fretes - Co-Founder- OPADES - [[email protected]] The Paraguayan Organization For Conservation And Sustainable Development (OPADES) Was Founded On October 12, 2015. It Is A Non-Profit, Trade Union, Non-Partisan And Pluralist Organization, Which Brings Together Young Professionals In The Environmental Area And Enjoys Full Administrative, Organizational, Financial And Political Autonomy. Its purpose Is: to contribute to the sustainable development Of Paraguay, Promoting Respect For Nature And The Ecological Processes That Sustain Life
Marcos Mareco- Member- OPEDES- Marcos is a member of OPEDES with experience with IoT
Brian Chami- Project Advisor-Co-Founder of Agrobotic and Researcher
Dynamic and creative ML/IoT Cloud Solution Architect with over 5 years of experience in research, development, and producing
robust solutions. In previous roles, managed, built, and developed solutions along with teams at fast-paced production-cycle and testing environments.
Patent-pending: IoT/Edge AI (Custom Vision) Cloud Solution Architect solution over a Blockchain network
Andy Nadler -Project Advisor- Peak Hydromet Solutions-
Agrometeorological consulting, weather network establishment, IoT monitoring, parametric insurance. Andy has spent the past 20 years working with all types of weather equipment.
www.peakhydromet.ca
John Manoochehri - Project Advisor - Base2 - [email protected]
John is the founder of design technology firm Base2 and previously worked as an Industry Officer for the UN.
Michael Wasyl- Project Advisor - Co-Founder DeerCreek
Michael has extensive experience with scaling start-up businesses and developing new fintech solutions
Pelli Wang-Project Advisor - Co-Founder DeerCreek
Pelli has extensive experience investing in early stage start-ups as well as developing new fintech solutions.
Project Details:
Our deployment is coordinated with partners Colegio Nacional and a local regenerative action nonprofit OPADES. The data collected will facilitate the underwriting of parametric climate insurance that incorporate sustainably linked objectives. What this means, is the data collected will allow access to drought and flood insurance through informing statistical models with localized climate data. Simultaneously, the information can be used for early wildfire detection by sensing smoke, or for managing active wildfires through an understanding of wind speed and direction. Additionally, the data can be used to monitor regenerative wildfire mitigation practices; such as tree planting and regenerative agricultural practices.
Our deployment will also serve as an educational opportunity for locals on the processes of utilizing Helium in remote areas that lack access to the internet.
Deployment
Athena will use grant funds to facilitate the deployment of soil and atmospheric monitoring sensors in two separate study locations both situated between the protected forest ecosystem and agricultural land areas surrounding Ypycui national park in Paraguay. All of the listed sensors are by Decentlabs and can be found on their website.
Software
We will develop a web app for the purpose of configuring the sensors in the field as well as monitoring, aggregating, analyzing, and exporting the field data. The app will include the necessary features to fulfill the needs of HIP-19 for the purpose of configuring a Gateway and End Node on Helium.
Hardware
Total
3 x Off-Grid Helium Miner
2 x [11 Parameter Weather Station](https://www.decentlab.com/products/eleven-parameter-weather-station-for-lorawan)
12 x [Soil Water Capacity](https://www.decentlab.com/products/soil-water-potential-and-temperature-sensor-for-lorawan)
12 x [Soil Temp & Moisture Profile](https://www.decentlab.com/products/soil-moisture-and-temperature-profile-for-lorawan)
Station Types:
1 - Off Grid Helium Miner & Weather Station
2 - Soil Sensors of Both Types
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
Phase 1 Now - June | Phase 1 Now - April | Successfully Deploy Working Prototypes & Secure Transmission. | 20,000 USD |
Phase 2 July- September | Scale both sites to full intended capacity for the initial 30-day testing. | Determine Optimal Sensor Density for The Greater Area of Interest | 40,000 USD |
Phase 3 Septemer- December | Develop Software Application & Educational Materials | Coordinate a local lender to underwrite Drought & Flood Insurance. Expand Atmospheric Monitoring | 30,000 USD |
More on the applications of dense field monitoring data:
https://towardsdatascience.com/disease-informed-neural-networks-aa1f17f598a4
https://www.celent.com/insights/787141144
More on the degradation of the local ecosystem:
](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GMKU-cfEwua391Vq7D_xbVrko2KT3BwX/view )
Project:
Project Name
Elevator Pitch:
This is your opportunity to convince the community of the impact and importance of your ask. This should be a brief description of the project that captures both the value and deliverable in a few sentences (or a tweet) and why it's needed or matters.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
This is the amount you're requesting for the grant, not necessarily the total budget.
Name and Address:
Please provide your legal name and a link to the submitted issue to [email protected].
This will streamline the contract process and KYC. A lack of this information will delay the contract.
Team or Project website: (optional)
Team or projects social: (optional)
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
(In lieu of public repos, please list a short bio of the applicants.)
https://github.com/organization
https://github.com/team-member-0
https://github.com/team-member-1
https://github.com/team-member-2
Project Details:
We expect a clearly articulated final deliverable for the project.
If the project utilizes legacy or other codebases, please specify this and link to applicable repos. In addition list any specific IP licenses you are utilizing.
Where relevant, please include mockups/designs of any UI/hardware components, and API specifications of the core functionality.
It is often helpful to include an overview of the tech stack to be used, including any required dependencies. Documentation of core components, protocols, architecture or schematics to be deployed within or as the MVP is even better.
Roadmap:
This section should break out the development roadmap into a number of milestones.
Since the milestones will appear in the grant contract, it helps to describe the expected functionality and how it can be validated.
Whenever milestones are delivered, we refer to the contract to ensure that everything has been delivered. The level of detail must be enough to later verify that the project meets the specification.
MS/Roadmap EXAMPLE:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Date | Figma UI/UX | A figma ui/ux full tech stack defined, we estimate 40 developer hours | 5,000 USD |
MS2, Date | On-chain functionality | Core features implemented on-chain and deployed to HNT testnet, estimated at 20 developer hours | 2,500 USD |
MS3, Date | MVP | -Docker delivered to the DeWi foundation for mainnet testing. - repo is public - A Medium article and tutorial written on how to implement the new add-on which is published and linked in discord and forums, estimated at 25 core team hours | 2,750 USD |
Project:
Design Secure DIY Concentrator for HIP-22
Elevator Pitch:
We propose designing a 100% open-source DIY Concentrator hardware prototype for use as a reference implementation of HIP-22. This grant proposal would fund development of electrical schematics, PCB board design, firmware, and corresponding software changes needed to build a DIY Concentrator in accordance with the HIP-22 vision.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
61,000 USD
Team or key applicants:
Paul is a senior software/firmware engineer with a specialty in embedded systems and C and C++ programming languages. Paul has 15+ years of experience working professionally at several startups in the Boston area. Paul has written firmware for several novel hardware products including hand-held X-Ray and LIBS analysis devices and a hand-held X-Ray imaging product.
RAK Wireless is a leading provider of LoRa and cellular connected IoT devices. RAK willprovide engineering hours to help design the electrical schematic and board layout. RAK will alsomanufacture PCB prototypes.
[https://github.com/dinocore1](team member Paul github: https://github.com/dinocore1)
[https://github.com/RAKWireless](organization RAK Wireless)
Project Details:
Technical Objectives:
The new hardware architecture for DIY Concentrators is based on Semtech’s LoRa Corecell Gateway reference design. The major change involves the addition of a Secure MCU placed in between the communication path of the Host CPU and the SX1303. The Secure MCU’s primary job is to cryptographically sign RF data received over the air such that other nodes participating on the Helium network are able to verify the data is authentic and unaltered from it original form.
The MCU stores a unique cryptographic private key generated at manufacturing time in its non-volatile memory. It is important to note that the MCU’s private key is not the same as the Host CPU’s libp2p swarm key. The private key is considered a secret and stored in a special section of the MCU non-volatile memory used for secure storage. The MCU prevents read-out of secure storage using debugging tools and the like.
The secure MCU acts as a data proxy between the Host CPU and SX130x. It forwards SPI read/write commands passing data back and forth unaltered. In fact, most of the time, the MCU does not need to be aware of the contents or meaning of the data it is transferring. The exception to this rule is when dealing with received RF data.
When LoRa RF data is received over the air, it is temporally stored in a special FIFO buffer located on the SX1303 (RX DATA BUF DATA). Periodically, the Host CPU will send a SPI command to read the contents of the RX DATA BUF DATA. When this operation is performed, the MCU will also keep a local copy of the data in RAM. After reading the RX DATA BUF DATA, the Host CPU can send a new command to the MCU to read the digital signature of the the RX DATA BUF DATA.
There are some changes to the Helium blockchain transactions required to support the new DIY Concentrator architecture. When hotspots receive a PoC Beacon over the air, they respond back to the Challenger with a poc receipt v1 message via libp2p. To support the new architecture, the poc_receipt and poc_witness type message will need to contain the hardware signature of the RF data. Additionally, Validators will need to check the signature of each poc message type.
Proof of Concept with Software Emulation
To prove feasibility of the DIY Concentrator, Paul will write a thin software emulation layer to simulate the new hardware architecture. The functionality of the Secure MCU will be simulated in Semtech’s packet forwarder application. The modification would simply add the newly proposed hardware signature field to the JSON object for rxpk types exactly as a real Secure MCU would on a DIY Concentrator. The Proof of Concept code will run on a Raspberry Pi with a RAK2287 RPi HAT and RAK2287 Concentrator. In this way, software development to support the new hardware architecture can begin well before actual hardware is available. Also, because the emulation code will run on a Raspberry Pi device with a RAK2287 Concentrator, it can be used for real-world testing on the TestNet.
Paul will create a branch of the Semtech packet forwarder application on Github. When the emulation code is ready, he will issue a pull request to the official Helium fork. Paul and Helium’s core developers (and/or Erlang blockchain developer) will collaborate to make the necessary changes to Helium’s Miner project. The proposed changes are outlined in the document Secure DIY Concentrator Project (HIP-22). Paul does not have experience with Erlang programming language and will require Helium’s core developer (and/or Erlang blockchain developer) to write code changes. When this milestone is complete, it will be possible to run full Proof of Coverage hotspot on a Raspberry Pi + RAK2287 in TestNet.
Hardware Design and Prototype
Paul and electrical engineering resources from RAK Wireless will collaborate to develop electrical schematics, BOM, PCB board layout, and routing design documents. Collectively, these documents represent everything required for a PCB fabrication facility to build PCB prototypes. Paul and all other electrical engineers will use a shared Git repository to store all engineering documents. The Git repository will be hosted publicly on Github under the Helium account (https://github.com/helium). All engineering documents will be licensed under open-source MIT license or equivalent.
Paul’s primary responsibility related to this milestone are to oversee development of electrical schematics and PCB prototypes. Paul will create high-level block diagrams, provide technical requirements, and meet with the RAK engineering team on a regular basis. RAK’s primary responsibilities related to this milestone are to develop electrical schematics, BOM, create PCB routing and layout documents, and to build PCB prototypes. We anticipate needing up to three PCB revisions before finalizing the PCB design. Each revision will have its own design, fabrication, and testing phases. RAK will deliver at lease two PCB prototypes of each revision to Paul for firmware development and testing purposes.
Secure MCU Firmware Development
Paul will write the firmware for the DIY Concentrator’s secure MCU. The primary function and basic criteria for success of the firmware is to digitally sign LoRa data received over-the-air. Additionally, the firmware will implement secure storage of the private key and will implement secure boot and secure firmware upgrade. These security features are critically important to the success of DIY Concentrator and will be implemented on the final version of firmware. However, the security features will not be implemented until after the initial beta version of firmware is functional. The firmware will be written in C programming language and will make use of FreeRTOS. C language is an excellent fit for microcontroller firmware development due to its rich development tools and availability of example code and libraries. Paul will store all firmware source code in a Git repository hosted under Helium’s Github. All source code will be licensed open-source MIT license
or equivalent.
In addition to firmware development, Paul will also provide documentation needed for manufacturing DIY Concentrator including firmware installation instructions and key provisioning. The final version of firmware (and all future updates) will be digitally signed with the Firmware Key. The Firmware Key is considered a high-priority secret and should be under Decentrialized Wireless Aliance (DeWi)’s control only. Paul will work with DeWi resources to develop a secure process
firmware signing process.
FCC Certification
The final PCB revision will be submitted to a FCC approved laboratory for certification testing.
The lab will perform all necessary testing and handle the full certification process.
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, 3/15/22 | Hardware Design and Prototype | Develop technical requirements including block diagram and choose hardware components. Develop electrical schematics, BOM, PCB board design documents. Fabricate 5 or more working PCB prototype boards for each revision (up to three revisions) | 21,000 USD |
MS2, 4/22/22 | Proof of Concept with Software Emulation | Emulate Secure MCU in packet forwarder app. Modify Helium’s Miner project to support DIY Concentrator. Run new code on Raspberry Pi + RAK2297 in TestNet to demonstrate proof of coverage. We estimate 100 developer hours | 15,000 USD |
MS3, 5/1/22 | Secure MCU Firmware Development | Write beta version of firmware capable of signing LoRaWAN data. Write final version of firmware with all the capabilities of beta plus secure boot and secure storage. Write manufacturing documentation for firmware install. Develop secure firmware signing process with DeWi | 15,000 USD |
MS4, 6/1/22 | FCC Certification | Obtain FCC Certification of final PCB revision | 10,000 USD |
Project:
Hotspot Board
Elevator Pitch:
Many new comers configure their hotspot incorrectly (location, antenna gain, etc), effecting the earnings of the others around. Those effected try to reach to these owners at different mediums, generally ending unsuccessful. This project will create a free and public communication platform in between hotspots owners, to help improving the quality of the network setup by collaborative efforts of all owners.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
38,500 USD
Team or Project website:
Team or projects social:
https://twitter.com/HeliumGeek
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
Developers of the HeliumGeek platform (Discord handles)
Project Details:
This project aims to overcome the shortcomings of the existing communication solutions as below:
The system will be integrated with the HeliumGeek platform to
Key features will be
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Apr 2022 | Helium Wallet Deeplink Authentication | "Connect your Helium account" functionality will be added to the HeliumGeek iOS and Android apps | 5,000 USD |
MS2, Jun 2022 | Infrastructure, CRUD APIs, Mobile Board Screens | Infrastructure and database will be setup, authenticated CRUD APIs will be implemented. HeliumGeek iOS and Android applications will have "Hotspot Board" screens, to allow listing, sending messages. Hotspot owner will be able to delete messages. | 12,500 USD |
MS3, Jul 2022 | Push Notifications for mobile | Platform will be sending push messages to the users for a) New messages for your claimed hotspots b) New replies to the boards you participated | 5,000 USD |
MS4, Aug 2022 | Web | Hotspot pages, showing the messages. SEO assistance tasks. Listing pages to link to the hotspot pages, to allow discovery by bots. | 7,500 USD |
MS5, Sep 2022 | Inbox Capability for Mobile | Unread message indicator, marking unread messages | 3,500 USD |
MS6, Oct 2022 | Security Measures | Extra measures to ensure safe messaging | 5,000 USD |
Project:
Dor Foot Traffic Miner
Elevator Pitch:
Dor will sell foot traffic counters to users who will install the Dor sensor and earn rewards in DOR coin, which will be mined from the device based on the validity and length of the deployment.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$100,000
Name and Address:
Michael Brand
101a Clay St
#136
San Francisco, CA 94111
Team or Project website: www.getdor.com
Team or projects social: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
Team Bio
Name | Title | Skill Set |
---|---|---|
Michael Brand | CEO | Management, Sales, Business Development |
Alex Brandes | Director, Software Engineering | Software Development, DevOps, Architecture |
Trini Le | Full Stack Engineer | Software Development |
Camilla Bennett | Head of Customer Success | Customer success, Account management, Project roll-out management |
Michelle Lee | Customer Advocate | Customer support and success |
Ryan Casella | Operations Manager | Accounting, Finance operations, Payable/Receivables, Sales operations, business modelling |
Batu Apaydin | Head of Marketing & Partnerships | Marketing, partnerships, product |
Project Details:
Dor provides the world’s first battery-operated foot traffic counter. The end result for the project is to have Dor sensors deployed all over the world connected to the server via Helium’s network. Once the sensors are installed, they will collect foot traffic data and mine DOR Coin for the user. DOR Coin’s value will be backed by the foot traffic data collected by the sensors.
The Dor miner project will be launched through Constellation Network’s incubator program, the Lattice Exchange, and will be backed by the conglomerates’ feeless and infinitely scalable Hypergraph Network technology.
In connecting the sensors via the Helium network, Dor will bypass the need for our typical cellular connectivity hub and simultaneously contribute to largely expand Helium’s footprint.
Dor will contribute to the decentralized wireless ecosystem by open sourcing key developments for its application. This project is a unique use case because of the high amount of data and high bandwidth requirements for the sensor system. Our development will allow new types of sensor applications to be successfully deployed on the Helium network. Our open sourced projects will include:
Dor Sensor hardware specifications:
Size: 7.70 in x 1.92 in x 1.93 in (195 mm x 49 mm x 49 mm)
Weight: 0.80 lbs (363 g)
Power: ~3 months of battery life (dependent on frequency of foot traffic events), optional 5V DC
Battery: Replaceable D-Cell alkaline batteries
Optimal Door Dimensions for Installation: Height - Up to 12 ft (3.6 m) Width - Up to 8 ft. (2.4 m)
Network Connectivity: Helium Network
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
Prototype, Q2 2022 | Sensor prototype. Sample code source | Functioning prototype of Dor’s hardware. Large portion of the time will be firmware development | $70,000 USD |
First production run, Q3 2022 | Circuit board design. Firmware driver source | Fully implemented circuit board design ready for manufacturing and first build at the factory | $15,000 USD |
Mass production, Q4 2022 | Production of sensors. Test and validation scripts | Thousands of units in mass production at the factory ready for distribution | $15,000 USD |
IoT-Enabled Space Monitoring and Satellite Tracking supported by Helium based communications
This project will demonstrate how Helium can enable a distributed network of optical observatories to coordinate and report data in a highly resource constrained environment.
Grant request of $53,600.
Matthew Goodman, MEng Materials Science will be the project leader. Relevant work includes the founding, growth, and exit of 3Scan, a tissue imaging startup. The project leader is working in collaboration with several collaborators to build a network of observatories, collectively called The Exclosure. Initial versions of these have been fabricated and are operating currently in a limited geography.
The Exclosure has been working to develop and deploy a worldwide observatory network. This network consists of a large number of small observatories which are globally coordinated to image satellites and other near Earth objects. These observatories autonomously image space during the period before dawn and after dusk to capture images of satellites and refining a model of the objects around the Earth.
For this network to be successful, it is important to place these sensors in remote locations to avoid light pollution and atmospheric aberrations that make optical imaging more challenging. Additionally, sensors need to be deployed at a large number of longitudes for optimal surveying of the night sky. The need for connectivity in a variety of remote and low power environments makes the use of the Helium network an ideal target for this project.
Incorporation of LoRaWAN hardware and support for the Helium network will expand the areas in which these observatory systems can be deployed, and enhance the overall effectiveness of the network. Additionally, this will provide a mechanism by which observatory hosts can be compensated for keeping the client observatories and gateways in working order. This incentive alignment is intended to serve both as a boon to this specific application as well as a general template for the citizen support of environmental sensor networks.
This grant will aid in the development of two key hardware components:
There are three planned phases to this deployment:
Timelines and grant phases matching the above descriptions can be found in the table below:
Milestone - Target Completion Date | Description | Cost (USD) |
---|---|---|
Phase 1 - Q1 2022 | LoRa module integration | $16,300 |
Phase 2 - Q2 2022 | Small initial deployment and testing | $16,500 |
Phase 3 - Q4 2022 | Production Observatories Using Helium | $20,800 |
Please follow this link for a more complete breakdown.
The Exclosure is a Delaware corporation which is already sourcing and building the aforementioned observatories. Matthew Goodman will be responsible for the testing and integration of the hardware and software needed for Helium support in the next revision cycle.
All code and hardware developed to support of the Helium integration will be made available under a MIT licence. Similarly all hardware designs will be released in a fashion recommended by the Open Source Hardware Association. The standard for documentation will be so that this will be a used reference architecture for future IoT sensor implementations. Significant time will be spent at each stage documenting best practices and techniques for optimal integration with the Helium network.
This project will support the DeWi mission and the Helium community:
Project:
Oil and Gas Corrosion Monitoring Sensor
Elevator Pitch:
There are over 2.6 million miles of Oil & Gas pipelines in the United States alone, and external corrosion is one of the leading factors of leaks. Currently, the only available IoT sensors for monitoring are cost-prohibitive ($2500+ & $15-$25 monthly data fees) for mass adoption. With Helium and LoRa technology, I am building the industry's first LoRa capable corrosion monitor for as little as $500 w/ a $5 monthly subscription per sensor. This should help lead to mass adoption of better & constant corrosion monitoring of Oil & Gas pipelines and assets to help avoid leaks, save lives, property, the environment, and billions of dollars worth of damages. This sensor is just the first step to automating corrosion control using the Helium network.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
TBD, estimated $100,000
Name and Address:
Emailed to DEWI
Team:
Elite IoT
Brandon "Deke" Wright - Founder
Kevin King - Hardware Engineer
TBD - Mobile Developer
Team projects:
Deke Wright - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dekewright/
www.aimaps.com
www.elitecorrosion.com
Kevin King - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-king-6891b412/
http://www.kevinkingengineering.com/
https://www.radiopopper.com/
Team Bio:
Deke Wright: US Army veteran with over 15 years of experience in the corrosion industry. Founder of AIMaps, an asset management platform startup. AIMaps revolutionizes how corrosion assets and data are captured, visualized, and analyzed. Founder of Elite Corrosion, a technical services & construction company serving the Oil, Gas, and Utility corrosion industry. Always looking for a better and easier way to complete my job has led me down the path of creating new products to accomplish the task.
Kevin King: With over ten years of experience designing products, engineering consulting, launching products, manufacturing products, and solving new problems. My experience also includes Radio and Wireless RF Engineering, PCB Board Design, Altium Software, Design for Manufacture, Solidworks & Plastics Engineering, Sourcing Parts from Over Seas
7 Patents - Patent Writing and Patent Law Process. Invented RadioPopper in 2007. Working as a professional photographer at the time, I had the idea to create a radio bridge for the optical wireless communication system used by pro camera flashes. What began as a side project turned into a career. I never intended to produce them. I just planned to solder one up, tape it to the side of my flash, and go back to work as a photographer. The company was highly successful.
Using grant funds, Elite IoT will continue developing its current prototype sensor. We will look to add new members to the team to help speed up developing firmware, mobile app(for sensor setup in the field), securing a TagoIO account for beta testing with clients.
Overview:
Oil & Gas companies utilize very few IoT devices for corrosion monitoring due to the prohibitive cost. With Cathodic Protection equipment (rectifiers) being the most monitored asset in the corrosion industry and Test Stations being the least monitored. For a quick breakdown, Rectifiers are used to impress DC through an anode ground bed with the current flowing through the soil to the pipeline(cathode). Free electrons flow from the anodes to the cathode via a metallic path causing the anodes to corrode and the cathode to be protected. Test Stations consist of wires exothermically welded to the pipeline and are typically placed along a pipeline every 1 mile or at large highway crossings or bodies of water. These Test Stations monitor Cathodic Protection levels and ensure corrosion is being mitigated. Currently, Oil & Gas companies are only required to read these test stations once a year.
By creating our new sensor using the Helium network, we can significantly bring the cost of these devices down and expand the Helium network by deploying gateways, either full hotspots or data-only hotspots along pipeline right-of-ways. By allowing Oil & Gas companies to monitor corrosion year-round, we can offer our clients the ability to help mitigate costly leaks and possibly save lives. Our initial goal is to target and deploy these sensors in metropolitan areas already covered by Helium. We also have two possible beta clients that will allow us to prove our remote deployment strategy using our own placed gateways.
Data collected by the sensor will then be sent to our client's TagoIO dashboards. SMS & email alerts will notify the client of potentially low cathodic protection levels along their pipelines. Unlike our competitors, our device is designed to be used with every type of corrosion monitoring asset used by oil and gas companies.
Hardware Development:
The Elite IoT corrosion monitor sensor is being bootstrapped and has been under development for about three months. We have completed our first three PCB prototypes and are working on the firmware development and communication with the Helium Console. Once the prototypes are up and running, they will be configured and placed in the field for testing. With BlueTooth capabilities, we will also begin mapping out developing accessories that can bolster the usefulness of the sensor.
Software Development:
We will then begin developing our mobile app for sensor configuration in the field. Using NFC to wake the device up and write our configuration commands depending on the type of asset it has been attached to monitor. We will develop to have a high-quality UI/UX for a seamless and easy sensor configuration.
Deployment:
We will look at manufacturing around 100 sensors to install for a beta test with clients. This will allow us time to work out any kinks with TagoIO integration and find bugs within our hardware and software. After successful testing, we will begin bringing Elite IoT out of semi-stealth mode and looking for early adopters of our hardware, and begin mass manufacturing.
Future of Elite IoT Sensors:
Our goal is to automate the corrosion industry for Oil & Gas and build out the Helium network in remote areas. Utilizing the most affordable network and using LoRa technology has allowed us to design the industry's most miniature sensor and provide the longest possible battery life. This first sensor is just the beginning of the innovations Elite IoT can bring to the Helium network and our industry.
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, 3 months | Working Prototypes | 3 working prototypes ready to be deployed in the field for testing | 10,000 USD |
MS2, 4 months | Field Testing & Mobile Dev | Begin field test immediately after securing an agreement with a prospect, Hire mobile app developer & begin developing the mobile application for sensor configuration & testing | 30,000 USD |
MS3, 5 months | Large Scale Field Test, Secure TagoIO account | After securing an agreement with a client we will manufacture up to 100 sensors to deploy on a single pipeline. All gateways are on hand for deployment. * We will also be capturing this project from prototype to installation in the field to create a short video on the process. Showcasing how the Helium Network made it possible, how and what DEWI grants could be used, and the impact our sensor can bring to this industry. | 68,000 USD |
All project dates will be re-evaluated at each milestone to account for project timeline changes. Currently manufacturing lead times, scheduling outreach during COVID peaks, etc. are expected to be factored in timeline decisions.
Project:
hntscan.io - brand new open-source helium transaction explorer
Elevator Pitch:
The website hntscan.io will be a lightweight, reliable, and open-sourced equivalent to etherscan.io, solscan.io, for reviewing and analyzing transactions on the Helium Blockchain. It will provide the necessary redundancy needed to facilitate the decentralization of public access to the Helium Blockchain data.
Total fiat ask:
$80k
Name:
Daniel Andrade (@spillere#2661
- @dansku) / Lisbon - Portugal
Maxime Goossens (@Max RS#7311
- @mugoosse) / Lisbon - Portugal
Alexis Argent (@peixeboi#8903
- @aargent) / Lisbon - Portugal
Team or Project website: hntscan.io
Team or projects social: twitter.com/hntscan
Project Details:
hntscan.io will serve the purpose of decentralizing access to Blockchain data in a reliable, fast, and simple-to-use interface. Data will be served by ETL's that are not the same as the current official Helium explorer. This way, the community can still consult Blockchain transactions if the official Helium explorer is down/slow.
Our technical involvement with the Helium project dates back to the summer of 2020 with one of the first DIY miners in Europe. Since then we have covered entire cities with the people's network and subsequently launched hotspotty.net after thousands of dedicated engineering hours. We are confident that our experience can be leveraged to deliver hntscan.io to the community with success.
Roadmap:
Milestone | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
Infrastructure Setup | Have the base infrastructure deployed and configured so that the website can live on top. | The ETL server consists of two servers, one server that runs solely the blockchain-etl software which communicates with other nodes on the network and syncs all the information for each new block. The second server is the "stronger" server that will actually hold the whole data of the blockchain using a PostgreSQL database and serve its information initially using the blockchain-http API server. Setup the server infrastructure that will host the front-end and back-end for hntscan.io, this will also include setting up the project on Github, setting up deployment flows, and anything else that is required for the explorer website. (Also creating the discord channel for the project, so that people can follow the development of the project and also contribute, it’s open-source, after all). | $30k |
Design and feature set | Mockup website with all the end-point and pages planned and layed out | The wireframes are the initial step into having a good UX on any website. For hntscan, a study of similar projects will be required and a list of features will be implemented as part of this review. After having the wireframes defined, it's time to get started on the main design and build what was discussed and developed in the previous steps with a mock interface. The front-end will be implemented using ReactJS in Typescript. | $25k |
Front-end and back-end | Website goes live 🎉 | With the layout designed, at this stage we will start implementing the real data into the platform, where the front-end will actually pull real data from the blockchain. Besides the official helium-api software provided by the blockchain-http, we will also work on the development of our own API server to supplement the official API that will be written, most likely in Golang. This software will interface with the PostgreSQL database to process data efficiently and extract only the information needed to be shown by the front-end. | $25k |
Project:
SDRPF People Counter
Elevator Pitch:
The San Diego River Park Foundation, a local non-profit, has a large parcel of land at the end of a rugged 5 mile trail in the San Diego backcountry. This parcel is home to protected plant species. The entrance to the parcel is off of a heavily trafficked public trail, the El Cajon Mountain Trail. Current indicators (footprints, trash, etc) indicate some amount of trespass onto the SDRPF parcel.
Gristle King Inc, in conjunction with the San Diego River Park Foundation and Lake Street Software (creator of HeliumVision and a software provider) will source, assemble, install, and maintain a trail traffic system monitoring local trail use on public and private trails.
This LoRaWAN system will consist of "people counters" using either infrared or radar technology to count the number of people using any given section of the trail. These people counting devices will use nearby Helium Hotspots (gateways) to pass traffic through to internet in order to make the data available for interested parties, including private and government agencies as well as the public.
A successfully installed system will allow local public and private agencies to monitor authorized and unauthorized trail use and develop data-backed land management policies. Additionally, it will serve as a useful template for parks and Hotspot owners globally to collaborate in the planning and use of a people counting system to monitor trail traffic.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
US$14,000
To be used for purchase of equipment and development of software.
Gristle King Inc & installers will work pro bono.
Name and Address:
Gristle King Inc
3275 Adams Ave, Ste A
San Diego, CA 92116
Team or Project website:
www.gristleking.com
www.sandiegoriver.org
Lake Street Software: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhough/
El Capitan Country Preserver: https://www.sdparks.org/content/sdparks/en/park-pages/ElCapitan.html
Team or projects social:
@thegristleking on Twitter
youtube.com/c/GristleKing
https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoRiver
https://www.youtube.com/user/sdrpf
https://twitter.com/sandiegoparks
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
-Nik Hawks at Gristle King Inc was voted Most Valuable Community Member in 2021 and has worked tirelessly to promote Helium use and education.
-San Diego River Park Foundation is a mature local non-profit with the vision to protect and enhance the River’s valuable natural and cultural resources and encourage communities to embrace this legacy and to celebrate it with the creation of a river-long park system.
-Nick Hough at Lake Street Software developed HeliumVision.
Project Details:
Using grant funds, Gristle King Inc will purchase off the shelf people-counting hardware from vendors, prepare and install the hardware, and work with the SDRPF and LSS to provide useful information to SDRPF as well as local public gov’t agencies (San Diego County Parks) at 12 key points along the trail.
Trail use in San Diego can be heavy. Specific to this project there is a 4 way intersection deep in the park (5 miles up a rugged trail.) At this intersection, users can go 3 of the 4 ways legally. The 4th option is to trespass on private land. Currently, no one knows how much trespassing is being conducted. Trespassing puts visitors inside a protected nature preserve with rare species and plants, some of which (Lakeside Ceanothus) are found in the greatest concentration in the world on this specific preserve, and almost nowhere else.
Adding counters closer to the trailhead and along the trail will help assess how much use the trail gets and how far the average visitor goes. This is known as the most difficult trail in San Diego County. Putting numbers to that (not just the number of annual rescues) could help secure funding to make the trail safer and more accessible to future users.
This information would be made public through the LSS UplinkVision software. A very rough sketch of the dashboard might look like the following. The black line is the trail, blue marks are sensors placements, bar chart on top tracks traffic.
Once this project delivers objective trail use reports, both the SDRPF and the local County Parks agency can make informed decisions on how to best manage traffic patterns and trail use.
Images & Video
Current Helium Hotspot coverage of the parking lot area (S1 on the proposed dashboard above)
Proposed S2 spot on Trailside Information Kiosk
Proposed S5 spot to Measure Alternate Trail Use
Current Helium Coverage (via GLAMOS testing along the trail)
Storytelling
This project can serve as an inspirational and instructional model for other parks, both public and private. The free and openly accessible Gristle King blog will provide step by step instructions on how to approach landowners, what to offer and ask for, how to manage this type of project, and how to install, maintain, and make use of the Helium Network in a typical park "off grid" application.
In addition to a detailed blog post, Gristleking will craft a video for a wider, general audience that captures high quality images and video of the development process, deployment in the field, community impact, and illustrate the promise of the Helium's LoRaWAN network. Major content components of this rich content include:
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, March | Purchase Devices | Within 10 days of grant award Purchase of people counting hardware | $11,500 USD |
MS2, April | Hardware & Data Testing | Making sure hardware works and data can be onboarded & visualized in the LSS UplinkVision platform Est cost: TBD | $2,000 USD |
MS3, May | Mount hardware purchase (poles) and installation, Social Media content creation, Community outreach | Installation of hardware | $500 USD |
MS4, June | Report & Debrief | Gristleking blog article detailing what happened and how to do it yourself written and published on the project with accompanying social media push (Twitter, YouTube, etc) SDRPF article written (by Nik or SDRPF) for their website. Storytelling video about Helium's LoRaWAN network. | $1,000 USD |
Project:
Helium data analysis - HeliumAnalysis.io (to be secured)
Elevator Pitch:
The project seeks to provide consolidated data and analysis of network performance and statistics in an easy to understand format. By taking various existing and newly created reports it will build to provide clear and concise analysis of all aspects of performance on a daily/weekly/monthly schedule.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$80k
Name and Address:
David Akers
https://github.com/bigdaveakers
I have a keen interest in data analysis and have previously worked to expose large scale anomalies within the blockchain of another crypto project where millions of coins were minted illegitimately. Through detailed analysis these were traced through many transactions back to a handful of wallets on a couple of exchanges.
For the last 3 months I have been looking at the data available on Metabase and have created a number of reports and dashboards that have been published to aid the understanding of rewards in particular. Through this I have been able to identify patterns and drill in to the data to investigate macro issues affecting the network and earnings. I have also more recently looked at data around the denylist and been helping community members with specific questions they would like to see in Metabase.
Some examples of the Dashboards I have created
Rewards Distribution Analysis
https://etl.dewi.org/public/dashboard/12ec97c7-072c-470c-aef5-3979cf0e328c
Deny List Data ** Currently broken due to table name changes
https://etl.dewi.org/public/dashboard/f2c08d16-8a89-4910-b581-feae8f3a77e8
Robert Putt
Github: https://github.com/robputt
Project Details:
With the dramatic rise in hotspot users and the fluctuations experienced in rewards this project aims to provide data and analysis to the community in order to help
create a better understanding of the contributing factors.
By using reports already available in the dewi etl as well as custom reports the aim is to consolidate data to identify the factors that contribute to network performance and rewards. This data will not only be presented to users but will be accompanied by commentary and analysis explaining the reasons for the fluctuations on a global, regional, maker, etc level. It should be noted that this is not a proposal to provide a highly available ETL as a replacement for Metabase, but instead to provide highly available regularly updated static reports that are both visualised and machine readable.
The plan is to stand up a dedicated private ETL for use only by the project.
The data and summaries will be presented daily on HeliumAnalysis.io as well as on social media platforms.
At the end of each week an article will be written describing the state of the network and identifying any known issues or anomalies.
At the end of each month a report will be submitted to Dewi with the findings of the analysis for publication.
Over the last few months analysis of what is available in the dewi etl has shown that some reports give data that is misleading and in some cases wrong. By ensuring that the reports are maintained and correct as well as supplementing them with additional context it is anticipated that the community can be better informed and place less burden on the core team with common questions particularly relating to rewards.
As an example, the reports that have been created showing the distribution of rewards can be consolidated with the daily HNT production and beacons per day reports to identify fluctuations of rewards based on network performance.
Additionally reports can be generated from the data to identify potentially anomalous behaviour whether it be attempts to game the system or to identify groups of hotspots that may be experiencing issues.
Note, it is not the intention to analyse individual hotspots but the queries shall be designed in such a way that they are flexible for the community to be able to look at data for their own hotspots using other tools.
To engage the community it is proposed to provide a bounty system where people can submit new queries, ideas to be implemented, optimisations to existing queries, analysis and commentary.
Roadmap:
The roadmap is broken in to 3 main sections:
Infrastructure and analysis setup, MS1
Reporting Phase 1, MS2
Reporting Phase 2, MS4
With an additional item MS3 for providing small bounty payments to community members that submit useful contributions during the reporting phase.
It is anticipated that upon award funding will be made available for infrastructure setup (MS1). Initially this will be used to stand up a basic website with daily reports being provided as soon as possible based on already existing data from Metabase. These will likely be based on captures from Metabase and image based with commentary prior to the full design and implementation of the Website and migration of queries and visualisation. Development will continue to take place to provide a more user friendly UI and to design presentable visualisations, including migrating queries from Metabase to a private ETL. It is expected to be fully functional within 2 months from award.
Beyond this 2 milestones (MS2 and MS4) will be made up of deliverables including monthly reports that are presented to DeWi on the 1st of each month (or to suit the DeWi comms cycle) for the previous months data. These payments will also cover the interim daily and monthly reports that are used to educate and inform the community as well as any updates and additions requested on an ongoing basis by DeWi. It should be noted that the proposal is bound by hours estimates and while these are somewhat flexible it can not be expected for additional requests to be unachievable within these timescales.
Finally bounty payments (MS3) will be made to community members that provide support during the project. For example highlighting interesting issues, support with creating queries and visualisation, suggestions for improvements etc. Payments will be made, recorded and reported in a transparent way to both DeWi and the community to ensure full accountability and traceability.
MS/Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Award | Infrastructure, Servers, and initial setup | Setup of servers and infrastructure for serving data and storing reports for 12 months as well as tools and licences for software. Design and create website UI for presenting reports and visualisations. Design and create initial data queries to analyse performance data - estimated 150 hours + costs | 30,000 USD |
MS2, Award + 2 months | Monthly Reporting | Report monthly for initial 6 months to DeWi Foundation covering the monthly performance data and any emerging issues. Includes weekly written reports published on the website and social media as well as daily updates with a brief summary - estimated 200 hours | 20,000 USD |
MS3, Award + 3 months | Community Bounty | Community Bounty. Distribution of funds to community members for contributions 10x$100 bounties per month months 3 to 12 | 10,000 USD |
MS4, Award + 8 months | Monthly Reporting | Report monthly for additional 6 months to DeWi Foundation covering the monthly performance data and any emerging issues. Includes weekly written reports published on the website and social media as well as daily updates with a brief summary - estimated 200 hours | 20,000 USD |
Elevator Pitch:
To Prototype the utility of Helium Network based LongFi Protocol and Smart-Contract based Ethirium Blockchain Technology for quality tea production and systematic supply-chain traceability and Transparency Solution. The aim is to develop a futuristic smart model for agriculture and the food supply chain, which offers an innovative way for every stakeholder in the food supply chain to get complete transparency on data which cannot be corrupted or manipulated.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
We are seeking USD 10,000 to develop the hardware and software prototype for an end-to-end supply chain food traceability solution.
Name and Address:
Aeroshil Nameirakpam
Co-Founder
Nibiaa Devices Pvt.Ltd.
4th Floor, L.I Complex, Near Singjamei SuperMarket,
Singjamei, Imphal-795008, Manipur, India
Email : [email protected]/ [email protected]
Team or Project website: Website: www.nibiaadevices.com
Team or projects social:
Github : https://github.com/Nibiaa-Devices
Facebook link : https://www.facebook.com/NibiaaDevices
Mobile App store : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nibiaa.app
Promo video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL7ol4mcnVI
Mobile App video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVzxCnonio4
Twitter link : https://twitter.com/DevicesNibiaa
linkedln page : https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeroshiln/
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
(In lieu of public repos, please list a short bio of the applicants.)
https://github.com/Nibiaa-Devices
https://github.com/paresharma - 11 Years Software development experiance ,Specialties: Ruby,Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, MySql, MongoDB, Redis, NodeJs, HTML, CSS
https://github.com/Niranjoyyengkhom - 5 Years in Hardware Design and Development, Strong Understanding of Programming language C,C ++ , Python,) and on Linux Operating System and well Knowledge About Electronics Circuit Designing
https://github.com/ArunjitSanasam - 5 years in Mechatronics Engineering , Programming languages( C++, Linux). Capable professional with a keen eye for detail, exceptional multi-tasking capabilities, and advanced technical knowledge-seeking role as a Lead engineer.
https://github.com/aeroshiln 15 years of IT Management Consulting Business experiance. Worked i Big4 accounting Firm, Business Development, IT Solution Architect.
Project Details:
In the present world, the problem of health and food safety is deteriorating day by day because a proper food traceability system is not available. The biggest reason for food-borne disease is contamination which is hard to track in the conventional food supply chain because the mechanism is not visible .There are primarily two issues with reducing and reacting to food safety problems: poor communication and lack of traceability. Many companies rely on traditional paper-based tracking mechanisms, which are slow and error-prone. To make matters worse, those involved in various stages of the supply chain often don’t communicate with each other. This leaves blind spots in the supply chain.Hence,there is a pressing need for products tracking and tracing owing to globalized supply chain,diverse supplier, risk of counterfeit products ,verification of Geographical Indicator (GI) tagged products and customer demand for in-depth visibility towards product safety and sustainability practices Globally. The world is going towards Digitization, decarbonization and democratization even in agricultural practices and people want to know where the food they eat comes from.We need an integrated track and trace solution not only ensures supply chain efficiency, product safety and sustained brand value,but it also to save costs, time and effort while helping companies adhere to regulatory requirements and global delivery.
Nibiaa Devices is working on transforming the Package food industry supply-chain by bringing in Complete traceability and transparency in raw material sourcing, manufacturing and distribution related data through IoT, Blockchain and AI Technology. Real-time visibility and transparency can be achieved in the supply chain only through an integrated , end-to-end solution powered by the internet of things(IoT) and blockchain Technology- a solution that gathers granular data at all stages of the supply chain and makes it accessible at any time to all supply chain members. Digital product information such as farm details, batch numbers,factory and processing data, expiration dates, storage temperatures and shipping details that are digitally connected to trace every step of the processing of the food items.
Such detailed level insights on packaged food traceability and transparency was not possible earlier due to the constraints involving getting such data on a real-time basis. There were hardware constraints in the form of device capability like what kind of data to sense or device power-supply, network constraints to get these data from remote locations eg. wifi, bluetooth is not possible and Cellular Network is power consuming. There were other issues in the form of data corruption and data tampering even if the data is collected which could not be sorted easily to get a global level consensus. There was no availability of a global network where devices can roam free without restriction. But with the innovation in Hardware Technology and sensing capability , introduction of new connectivity solutions like LPWAN( Low Power wide area network) which consumes less battery and data can be transferred for miles in the absence of cellular connectivity. Introduction of blockchain enables world-wide distributed and decentralized telecom networks such solutions are feasible to be implemented at fraction of the costs then it was before hence making the solution more accessible to micro,small and remotely located enterprises. The Novelty in the solution is that we are building hardware specialized for agricultural data collection by making devices which can be installed in fields, devices which can be installed in factories, processing units and warehouses and devices which can be installed in transit.
A novel approach has been applied in this research and developed a futuristic smart model for agriculture and the food supply chain, which offers an innovative way for farmers to acquire information on crops. Refer research article on "IoT with BlockChain: A Futuristic Approach in Agriculture and Food Supply Chain" by Sabir Anwar, Sheeraz Ahmad, Fasee Ullah.
Deliverable Roadmap and Milestone :-
M1) LongFi Product Prototype development (3 Months)
- Equipments and material purchase
- PCB Design of 4-in-1 Sensor Node for outdoor usage , PCB Design of 2-in-1 Sensor node for indoor usage,PCB Design for I/O Sensor Node , PCB Design for GPS Tracking Node and RFID with LoRaWAN Node.
- IP67 Casing Design for outdoor 4-in-1 Sensor node, Node installation stand design, Casing design and development of 2-in-1 Sensor Node, I/O Node ,GPS Node and RFID with loRaWAN Node.
M2) Ethereum Blockchain Smart contract with Helium Network (4 Months)
-Development of Smart Contract based Ethereum Blockchain application for tracking and tracing.
-Complete integration testing of longFi based Helium Device, Helium Network and Ethereum Blockchain Application
-Reporting on testing of entire application development.
M3) Mechanical and Electrical testing of Prototype(2 Months)
- Unit Testing and Integration testing of entire solution
- Reporting on mechanical, Electrical unit and integration testing.
- Application for LoRa Alliance Certification, CE,ECC etc for sale in other geographies
- IP and Patent Filing of New solution developed.
M4) Validation of entire application with Pilot Project (3 months)
- Batch assembly and manufacturing for 3 Pilot Projects.
- Experimental field trails and Validation with Ticklai tea research Institute (TTRI), Tocklai, Assam regarding findings.
- Reporting on the findings and validation of solutions for market launch.
Prototype PCB Design for 4-in-1 Sensor Node Current Prototype
New Prototype Link : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PJ0dFCcb6zFBIqtciaGrLUys98_gfNL8?usp=sharing
Use-case of the product : https://drive.google.com/file/d/158kf0X50Pl8a3t6uS4Qv6w4iEK9HNBDW/view?usp=sharing
have done some preliminary work on developing LoRaWAN based 4-in-1 based IoT Node capable of capturing upto 4 different sensor data from the ground which will provide real-time data on soil like Soil pH, Soil NPK content in mg/kg, Soil moisture etc. The Same device has been retrofitted to measure Environment data Temperature, humidity, wind speed, Luminosity, Rain Gauge etc. The first prototype was found to be more power consuming so we are working on the PCB Design for our 2nd Prototype which will have much improved power consumption and longer battery life supported by solar power. We have also been able to integrate Our loRaWAN hardware to the Global Blockchain based distributed LoRaWAN Network Server called Helium Network which is world 's largest distributed Network and represent our data though an application server IoT Platform. Data on farms, factory and processing unit storage temperature etc. have already been demonstrated using the pilot projects and resulting data have been collected and analyzed. 3 pilot projects conducted in a Tea Processing unit, Pineapple processing unit and a meat processing unit. Now we want to try in Large scale commercial tea gardens and execute at least 3 projects. Various tea gardens demonstrate the end-to-end solution Technologies comprising LoRaWAN based IoT Technology, Smart contract based Blockchain Technology and On the ground level field data collection and validation and complete.
Existing IoT-based agriculture systems have a centralized format and operate in isolation, leaving room for unresolved issues and major concerns, including data security, manipulation, and single failure points. This solution proposes a futuristic IoT with a blockchain model to meet these challenges which can not only transform the tea industry but any food industry supply chain traceability and transparency in general. The project will try to solve some of the above stated problems with the following innovative solution :- a Tea Quality and Yield Improvement at ground level in Tea Gardens using LoRaWAN Based IoT Hardware and Software Decision Support System Solution. b Tea Processing and Production efficiency Improvement using LoRaWAN based Monitoring Devices for overall plant management. c Transportation and entire Supply-Chain Process transparency and traceability Improvement using Smart Contract based Blockchain Solution. Our Novel end-to-end Monitoring & control solution for tracking and tracing food supply chain using IoT, Blockchain and AI Technology has never been attempted before in the Indian Tea Industry.
Roadmap:
Through this project we want to provide a complete Hardware and Software solution for real-time visibility and transparency in the supply chain through an integrated, end-to-end solution powered by the internet of things IoT ,AI,Blockchain Technology. The solution will gather granular data at all stages of the supply chain and make it accessible at any time to all supply chain members. Digital product information such as farm details, batch numbers, factory and processing data, expiration dates, storage temperatures and shipping details that are digitally connected to trace every step of the processing of the packaged food items in-order to provide a holistic solution starting with Tea Processing then moving onto other crops. Scope The following objectives are targeted to be implemented :-
Data Analysis The following Data analysis will be performed to formulate the expected output and outcome of the project :-
Following are the milestones deliverable we are expected to accomplish :-
Milestone + Dates |
Deliverables |
Summary |
Costs |
M1. Date |
LongFi Product Prototype development |
PCB Design of 4-in-1 Sensor Node for outdoor usage , PCB Design of 2-in-1 Sensor node for indoor usage,PCB Design for I/O Sensor Node , PCB Design for GPS Tracking Node and RFID with LoRaWAN Node. |
4000 USD |
M2. Date |
Ethereum Blockchain Smart contract with Helium Network |
Development of Smart Contract based Ethereum Blockchain application for tracking and tracing solution.Complete integration testing of longFi based Helium Device, Helium Network and Ethereum Blockchain Application |
4000 USD |
M3.Date |
Mechanical and Electrical testing of Prototype |
Application for LoRa Alliance Certification, CE,ECC etc for sale in other geographies. IP and Patent Filing of New solution developed. |
1000 USD |
M4.Date |
Validation of entire application with pilot Project |
Batch assembly and manufacturing for 3 Pilot Projects. Experimental field trials and Validation with Tocklai tea research Institute (TTRI), Tocklai, Assam regarding findings. Reporting on the findings and validation of solutions for market launch. |
1000 USD |
Sensor Quickstart Guides
I personally know many agriculturalists who would benefit greatly from IOT monitoring and automation. The issue is that they are generally not very technically inclined and the procedures for onboarding sensors and bringing sensor data into a dashboard is not straight forward. I believe the technical roadblocks can be mitigated with step by step documentation and could increase the real world usage of the network.
$7900
Submitted to [email protected]
Discord @Chiumanfu
I propose to add a section to the devices page in the Helium docs called Sensor Quickstart Guides.
Each sensor would have a full page including
The setup documentation would be similar to my DIY Sensor Guide but with more detail like signing up for console, DC purchasing, etc. Instead of linking to other documents (eg. creating the integration) I would add all the information to the single page so that there is no bouncing back and forth.
The documentation would only be considered delivered after dewi has reviewed and approved the content. After the documentation is complete, I would hold informal contests in the sensor-dev discord channel to give away the sensors to the community.
The sensors would be grouped in batches to ease procurement.
Batch 1
Batch 2
Batch 3
Batch 4
This can be renegotiated at the appropriate time.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Jan 1 2022 | Batch 1 documentation | Upon approval of the grant, I would procure the first batch of sensors at my own risk. Payment would be due upon delivery of the documentation. ~50 hours | 2800 USD (2k for time, 800 for sensors) |
MS2, Mar 1 2022 | Batch 2 documentation | Delivery of Batch 2 documentation. ~50 hours | 2300 USD (2k for time, 300 for sensors) |
MS3, May 1 2022 | Batch 3 documentation | Delivery of Batch 3 documentation. ~50 hours | 2800 USD (2k for time, 800 for sensors) |
Advancing & Accelerating Helium 5G in Europe
Elevator Pitch
This project will pave the way for a successful Helium 5G roll-out in Europe by setting up Helium 5G pilot sites within current regulations, creating a constructive dialog around CBRS-like frameworks with regulators and setting precedent for business models with property owners and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). The end objective is to advance & accelerate the European launch of a full-scale Helium 5G network, by doing this in an open manner for anyone to test and build upon our work and learn from our journey.
Total fiat/HNT ask: 200,000-400,000$
Team or Project website: www.galiot.io/5G
Team or projects social: @galiot.io
Galiot-io Galiot, +500 Helium LoRa gateways deployed through a hosting-model. Several active commercial IoT-deployments. Have been consulting on Swedish authorities’ proposal on new regulations for the 5G-spectrum.
@marcusze, Marcus Zethraeus, Project lead - Co-founder of Galiot. Background in commercial & tech strategy consulting at Boston Consulting Group. Serial entrepreneur in Telecoms: A2P messaging application Cloudcom acquired 2017 and live sports event smartphone apps for Swiss Timing in 2010.
@donsjuan, Erik Lindstedt, Project lead - Head of Operations at Galiot. Entrepreneur with eleven years of experience as co-owner and vice-president of an IT-repair and reuse company with over $5M annual turnover. A member of Mensa, speaker at World Circular Economic Forum and manager of well over 100 individuals over the years.
@afo, Alexander Fred-Ojala - Co-founder of Galiot. Expert on emerging technology business applications specializing in AI, data science, and blockchain technology. AI and Blockchain Director of the Learn2Launch Program at UC Berkeley and former Data Lab Research Director at UC Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology.
@Panoukla67, Martin Ascard - Co-founder of Galiot. Serial entrepreneur with a diverse background ranging from electric car startup to exoskeleton R&D. DeFi expert and NFT connoisseur.
@mj0lken, Malcolm Horal - Co-founder of Galiot. Full stack developer experienced within signals intelligence and blockchain development.
Using a novel approach to promote & coordinate public infrastructure investments, the Helium community has built a global LoRaWAN network of +700,000 hotspots in less than three years, covering almost every major city in the U.S and Europe, with Asia & rest of the world close behind. We believe there is a significant potential for this approach to be a paradigm shift in how infrastructure is financed, built, maintained and benefitting society.
Helium 5G has a tremendous potential to complement and in some cases even replace current models of building cellular networks. The opportunity to carve out a piece of this lucrative market and the time to act is now, which is why we want to spearhead the Helium model and push for widespread adaptation in Sweden and then the rest of Europe.
Whilst LoRaWan is comparatively standardized, unlicenced and straightforward, building a 5G network is a more complex endeavor. Local regulations are on a different level, spectrum access is restricted and the technical difficulty is higher. If the Helium ecosystem can solve all of these challenges, the network could claim a large share of the mobile network 5G traffic alongside telecom companies.
The aim for this project is to accelerate the roadmap for Helium 5G deployment in Europe by identifying and tackling issues in four key areas: Regulatory, Spectrum access, Hardware and Software.
The fifth key area - Working out the Helium Network’s relationship with the MNO’s will not be part of the deliverable scope of this project but will rather be an ongoing discussion / exploration together with the Helium Foundation & Nova Labs on how to proceed.
We will approach the above mentioned areas by setting up Helium 5G pilots sites at two or more locations with real commercial potential in Sweden. Alternative options for site locations are Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany, depending on regulatory approval.
These pilot sites will eventually be fully operational Helium 5G hotspots, paving the way for a large-scale Helium 5G model in Europe by identifying, solving and publicly publishing all data and insights acquired over the entire span of the project.
Regulatory
Legislation and spectrum regulations in the EU & other European countries can differ significantly from country to country.
We will thoroughly map out the applicable regulations and methods required by the Swedish authority Post & Telestyrelsen (PTS) related to licensing and running a decentralized 5G network.
This map will then serve as a point of reference of what questions need to be resolved for anyone looking to do the same in other European countries.
Questions to be answered are:
Another part of this key area is lobbying for government bodies to allocate spectrum for public use and promote ease of regulatory burden. Galiot is working on this front in Sweden by being a consultant to PTS in regards to proposed new legislation.
Read more here: PTS Call for Consultation on Local 5G Licenses [in Swedish]
Spectrum access
This is the more technical part of the groundwork where we aim to answer the questions of what type of hardware is needed for operating in European conditions.
Questions to be answered are:
Hardware
Here we aim to test a number of different antennas, pico-cells and Helium 5G mining gateways in close collaboration with any makers or manufacturers interested in field testing their equipment.
Questions to be answered are:
Blockchain compatibility
This part is fairly straightforward. We want to ensure Helium 5G blockchain compatibility in the European environment by:
Milestone | Activities | Deliverables | Target date & Estimated Costs (USD) |
---|---|---|---|
Phase 1 Initial setup |
Researching laws and regulations as well as hardware. Apply for licenses. Order and install hardware. |
Spectrum license Test site approval Hardware installed Project website launched |
June 30, 2022 $25,000 - $50,000 |
Phase 2 Blockchain testing |
Have at least two test-sites fully equipped and working. Ensure blockchain integration and functionality on testnet. Run tests together with hardware suppliers, Nova Labs and Helium Foundation. |
Two pilot sites fully approved and equipped Connected to testnet and running data packet forwarder Prove data transmission functionality with an actual use-case Publish detailed progress & learnings so far on project website |
September 15, 2022 $50,000 - $100,000 |
Phase 3 Publicly published, open testing available |
Create reasonable availability at one or more pilot sites for third party testing of Helium 5G connectivity (e.g. for testing Helium 5G IoT-devices, cellphone solutions). Advance conversations with key stakeholders such as regulators & telcos. |
Make existing sites available for public testing & collaborators Fully detail all four key areas as well as publish outlines of current use-case collaborations Advance conversations with regulators & telcos Guide on how to connect, use and collaborate with us on test network published on project website |
November 15, 2022 $50,000 - $100,000 |
Phase 4 Enable large scale Helium 5G deployments across Europe |
Commence major roll-out by completing all testing, increasing coverage and addressing launch requirements in multiple countries. | Have meaningful coverage in specific areas in Sweden and/or other European countries Data routing and mining is fully operational and functioning Project website is completed with a detailed roadmap for 10+ European countries. |
EOY 2022 or early 2023 $75,000 - $150,000 |
The project scope and timelines outlined in this application is based on an average of two people working full time on this project from start to end. Marcus Zethraeus and Erik Lindstedt will take initial leadership and involve the broader team or bring in external experts as needed.
In outlining our milestones we have listed two different amounts for each stage. The lower amount is what we are applying for according to the organization above where on average two people work full-time on the project over the full duration.
The optional (higher cost) is for a scenario where we bring in more people from the start, acquire licenses and set up pilot sites at several locations, perhaps in several countries, at a higher pace. The reason for choosing the more expensive way would be to speed up the timeline with the goal of reaching P4 earlier, also giving the advantage of faster scale of the network.
Regarding the activities and deliverables we have kept it concise as we believe that many issues and challenges are hard to predict beforehand but will materialize as the project proceeds. The main point to keep in mind is the ultimate goal of the project which is to provide a clear and open roadmap for Helium 5G to go big in Europe.
Discussions are ongoing with the Helium Foundation, FreedomFi and Nebra as well as the Swedish authority for spectrum allocation, PTS. Five locations have been shortlisted as candidates for the first pilot sites and discussions with real estate owners are being held there as well. One of the most promising is a harbor in collaboration with a boating-company building a boat sharing service using IoT to automate their business. Another shortlist candidate is a high profile sustainability and tech focused office-hotel, making for good PR opportunities on both counts.
IoT and other use-cases: Galiot’s main goal will be to create the roadmap for rolling out 5G infrastructure in Europe through the use of the Helium model. While doing so we will do anything within reason to facilitate testing of 5G-IoT or any other use-cases applicable on our test networks and we will likely be running some tests ourselves but this will not be a core priority.
MNOs: At the later stages of this journey Galiot aims to find a model for cooperation or at minimum coexisting with local Telcos. Our intent is for this part to be backed by the Helium Foundation and Nova Labs. How, when and in what form these talks will take place will be an ongoing open discussion as the project progresses.
Proof of Coverage: Testing out Proof of Coverage-mechanisms is not within the scope of this project but we would be happy to assist in any way possible.
Cell-phone connectivity: The main value of 5G networks is mobile phone connectivity and we think that this is key to Helium 5G being a success. We will be experimenting ourselves and would like to extend an open invitation to anyone wanting to collaborate on building early models for this within a European context. This will be an important part of the project and we will publish any insights from the tests. However as it relies heavily on MNO-relationships we have decided to keep it outside of the deliverable scope.
Project:
Rural Expansion for Helium Network Usage
Elevator Pitch:
The world runs on Agriculture through food supplies, energy creation, and environmental sustainability but oftentimes technology applications are deployed last for farmers and rural communities. As input costs to manage our food and energy supply continue to increase it is vital that we find ways to add value to farm operations and rural communities in order to maintain production. We propose a Helium based in-field sensing system to add value to commodity corn and soybean crop operations, rural communities, and secure the transfer of farm information for every stakeholder in the supply chain.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$90,000 USD
Sarah Hinkley- CEO/ Co-Founder
Sarah is the CEO and Co-Founder of Barn Owl Precision Agriculture, a company providing farmers robotic operations support and artificial intelligence driven analysis to help secure our food supply and implement regenerative farming practices. She has held many different management and leadership roles within the food industry since 2008.Sarah was born in Colorado Springs but lived in Texas for her adolescence. She attended Texas State University where she received a Bachelors in Business Administration and Management and Colorado State University where she received a Masters in Healthcare Administration.
Bryan Stafford- CTO/ Co-Founder
Bryan Stafford is the CTO and Co-Founder of Barn Owl Precision Agriculture. Bryan has a passion for systems development and efficiency. His interest in agriculture comes from the restaurant industry where he assisted many operations in POS management, development and operational performance. He made his transition from table-to-farm to assist farmers through data management and robotic operational support.
Evan Kotara- Lead Engineer
Evan grew up helping on a central Texas family ranch, and got his Computer Engineering degree from Texas A&M.Evan specializes in embedded Linux, and has worked on ARM MCUs, and The Yocto Project. A strong believer in a sustainable future, he has a passion for developing frontier Ag technology. He enjoys binging progressive music, but can also be found on long e-bike rides, both urban exploring and on the trails.
Art Sedighi- Lead Engineer
Dr. Sedighi is a Wall Street Technology Executive with over 20 years of experience planning, designing, developing and having end-to-end ownership of large enterprise-wide solutions for the Financial Services Industry world-wide. His work focuses on areas of Cryptography, Security, High Performance Computing and Cloud-native architecture.
He was the founder and CTO of a dense-computing systems company, which was acquired by Univa in 2008. He led the engineering team at Noble Markets where he ran product development and engineering for an FX real-time clearing infrastructure based on Blockchain technology. He has designed and implemented trading and exchange platforms for the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and the American Stock Exchange. His focus areas are Financial and Regulatory Technology and its implications and impact on the Global Financial Markets, and behavioral economics vis-a-vis impacts in large shared infrastructures such as Cloud and Blockchain.
Dr. Sedighi received his PhD from Texas Tech University in Systems Engineering, holds a Masters in Bioinformatics from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Masters in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Project Details:
Barn Owl Precision Agriculture provides robotic operational support and A.I driven analysis for farmers to help them secure our food supply and rediscover the love for the job.
Barn Owl has developed an in-field sensing system with image recognition, called The Owl Perch, for farmers which allows them real-time access to field and crop information and is used to make earlier decisions in the crop cycle. Specifically, The Owl Perch is used in commodity corn and soybean operations to sense and alert farmers on soil properties, environmental conditions, crop stages, and insect and disease presence which when closely monitored allows for targeted inputs and crop loss prevention through early detection. The Helium network has a large presence and value creation to those users in urban areas throughout the U.S and world; however, availability is lacking in rural areas. This project will add Helium to The Owl Perch to secure data transmission, add value to farm operations, increase availability for potential Helium users in rural areas and start building the infrastructure for future collaboration with Ethereum for improved carbon credit tracking.
The data collected and transmitted from The Owl Perch supports farmers in daily operations as well as predictive analysis for better positioning in the supply chain. As a specific example, Barn Owl will deploy The Owl Perch as a hotspot in a given corn farming region. Additional units without hotspot capabilities are deployed around that hotspot for data collection and then transmission occurs through LoRaWAN to the hotspot. The data packets are sent through the chain to The Barn Owl platform which is then accessed and utilized to make decisions by the farmers, stakeholders in the supply chain, the commodities and carbon markets, consumers, and communities. The Owl Perch further acts as an in-field verification system for farmers looking to implement or quantify climate smart farming practices. With 915 million acres of farmland in the U.S and 90% of those acres divided between corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and hay this operational support system, with Helium, in data collection, secure transmission, and verification is going to assist in a more productive agricultural ecosystem worldwide.
Immediate Goals
The Owl Perch is already developed with initial soil sensors, environmental sensors and image recognition and are deployed in farms throughout Colorado and Kansas. This project will integrate Helium with the current hardware to 1) offset the cost of The Owl Perch for farmers and add value to their operations through mining on the hotspot and 2) increase the integrity, security, and verification of the data being collected from farm activities and crop yields for 3rd party users.
Long-term Goals
Once The Owl Perch is stable with Helium we will work with Nori, a carbon marketplace, to integrate the Helium and Etherium networks for more precise carbon credit management. This will further add value to the agriculture ecosystem through accurate counting of carbon reducing activities that are being performed on farms.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
Assign a full-time project lead, May 15, 2022 | Onboard the project manager | Integrate the Helium network to The Owl Perch for deployment 40 hours | 15,000 USD |
Coordinate Barn Owl and Helium engineer, June 1, 2022 | Start Helium integration | The project lead and Helium engineer will coordinate to start onboarding The Owl Perch 20 hours | Part of milestone 1 |
Deploy 1 Owl Perch, June 15, 2022 | Data transmission to Helium | Onboard 1 Perch hotspot to Helium for in-field testing 80 hours | 12,000 USD |
Update current Owl Perch, July 1, 2022 | Prove in-field functionality for 5 units | Core features implemented on-chain and deployed to HNT testnet for 5 units, 50 hours | 15,000 USD |
Regional Communications September 1, 2022 Date | Proof of regional value add for producers and stakeholders | Core features scaled on-chain with multiple Owl Perch in a farm region working together 100 hours | 22,000 USD |
Validation October 31, 2022 | MVP | Open-source case-study written and published | 7,000 USD |
R&D for Helium and Etherium integration, December 31, 2022 | Developer model for cross-blockchain communication | Project plan for cross-blockchain data tracking specifically related to carbon credit management | 19,000 USD |
Would you prefer us just to alter the template.md and do a PR or make a new sensibly labelled folder for our version of the template?
I don't mind either way, but a positives for putting our grant proposals in it's own folder is that we can upload images and files to support our proposal.
If we do make a new folder then the template should probably be labelled README.md as it would then show up automatically.
Not a big deal either way as images and files could be linked to from other sites. Can you reply with some confirmation either way.
Jeremy Ellis
Hello there @jamiew @wheresaddie @Scottsigel, how long do the grant approvals take, and how can one reach out personally for feedback and/or guidance, thank you
Project:
Official Helium API Python Library
Elevator Pitch:
Currently there is a JS library for the Helium API but no Python library. Adding this as an officially supported library would lower the barrier to entry for Python developers and allow a new community to get involved in the development of API tooling.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$50,000 HNT
Name and Address:
Crypto Balloon LLC - 3712 Ringgold Road #185, Chattanooga, TN 37412
Team or Project website:
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
Joe Cronyn
Joshua Miller
Project Details:
The Helium community will benefit from having an official Python library.
The final deliverable for this project will be a Python library that meets the following criteria.
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Q1-2022 | Build basic client using Open API Spec | Using the Helium API's Open API Specification, we will create a basic stub library for Python and wire it up as a usable package. | 10,000 USD |
MS2, Q2-2022 | Add functionality to meet JS SDK parity | Research and build on client from MS1 to bring into feature parity with JS SDK | 25,000 USD |
MS3, Q2/Q3-2022 | MVP Delivery - Complete any remaining other tasks (CI/CD, Testing, Etc.) | Python library completed and ready for community stewardship. All CI/CD and other goals completed and ready for final delivery. | 15,000 USD |
Project: Miner Match
Elevator Pitch:
Miner Match is a community platform empowering individual hotspot owners and hosts around the world to strategically partner with each other, maximizing network coverage and rewards.
New hosts are incentivized to complete beginner-friendly onboarding tutorials to prepare them for a successful partnership.
Once a partnership is established, the parties independently work out the logistics of the hotspot deployment and manage the terms of their agreement.
The platform is intended to curate a quality, trusted community where any member can rate and review hotspot manufacturers, vendors, hosts, owners and technicians in the Helium space. Establishing an independent hub for the community to rate and review hotspot manufacturers and vendors will foster transparency and integrity from all parties.
**Total fiat/hnt ask **
500 HNT and $30,000 USD
Name and Address:
Jennifer Ann Love
1533 SW 28th Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312
Project website: Minermatch.com
Social:
Discord: https://discord.gg/2mNaJ2zF
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/match_miner
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/minermatch/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jennifer.ann.love
Applicant:
Jennifer Ann Love
Jennifer was a community newspaper publisher in Hollywood, Florida for 14 years before the pandemic. In addition, she is a self-taught graphic designer and web developer, agency owner and managed wordpress hosting provider.
After closing the newspaper in 2020, Jennifer got really depressed, spent a lot of time on TikTok, went down the crypto rabbit hole, and tried a dozen or so side hustles. One of which led her to be the enthusiastic champion of the People’s Network that she is today.
Project Details
The Miner Match site is live, hosted on a dedicated server and built on WordPress. The functionality is hacked together using premium plugins (BuddyBoss, WPGeoDirectory, Learndash, WPVendors et al). It's not ideal, but works as a proof of concept.
The platform features:
Intuitive social media UX
Resource hub for the Helium community
A database and map of searchable listings for
available
-host locations,
-hotspot owners
-manufacturers/vendors
-hardware technicians
-software developers
Ratings and reviews system for all listings
A points system to reward frequent users for engaging and inviting others to join.
Tutorials to help hotspot owners quickly onboard new hosts.
Translations for all languages and accessible to all.
Marketplace to buy and sell used hardware.
Roadmap:
Milestone 1 // July 2021 //
Completed logo design and branding for Miner Match
https://minermatch.com/introducing-the-miner-match-platform/
Milestone 2 // August 2021
// Set up hosting, SSL and website
https://minermatch.com/
Milestone 3 // August 2021
// Set up social media channels and onboard a few users
Milestone 4 // September-October 2021 // Extensive user testing, code audits, collect desired features feedback from test users. Populate the platform with vendor listings for owners to claim. // $5,000 USD
Milestone 5 // October 2021 // Outline tutorial content; hire content creator to script and produce beginner-friendly tutorials for the platform. // $10,000 USD
Milestone 6 // October 2021 // Soft launch of the platform to friends, family and followers.
Milestone 7 // Late October // Goal of 5,000 users on the platform by Oct 31
Milestone 8 // November - December 2021 // Produce 2-3 marketing campaigns using content produced from tutorials. Creative will complement the Helium brand to reinforce and amplify the reach of the Helium marketing. // $5,000 USD for campaign concepts and $10,000 USD for 3 months of digital ad placement.
Milestone 9 // End of December 2021 // 15,000 active listings on the platform; 5,000 successful matches by Dec 31
Project:
Design Secure DIY Concentrator for HIP-22
Elevator Pitch:
HIP-22 is the next step in securing the Helium network. In addition to allowing DIY-hotspots it also increases the security of hotspots in general, removes the need for HIP-19 and prevents a number of cheating approaches.
Our intended design is unique in the sense that it doesn't interrupt traffic between the concentrator and the main CPU. The default lora-pkt-fwd software-libraries can still be used. The secure MCU monitors all the traffic and provides only certain signatures on the observed radio traffic, GPS locations and specific other operations. In addition to focussing on digital security, we will also propose physical anti-tampering methods.
We will select components that don't require an NDA and open-source the used firmware-code, schematics, layouts and manufacturing details
Total fiat/hnt ask:
90.000 USD
Name and Address:
HeNet B.V. (also known as LongAP)
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
https://github.com/henet HeNet B.V. is the company behind the LongAP Helium hotspots.
Project Details:
Design
The idea of this HIP-22 design is to have a secure MCU that monitors the SPI traffic that is used to receive and transmit RF-packets between the SX130x LoRA IC and the main CPU. This secure MCU will use a FIFO buffer to store any observed RF-packets with their properties. A ECDSA-signature can be requested of the observed packets in a format compatible to the blockchain. Basically the secure-MCU will be a replacement of the ATECC608 security IC, but it will refuse to sign any witness that it didn't observe.
Of course to be a full replacement, it will also support specific operations to support onboarding a hotspot. To (optionally) prevent location spoofing, the secure-MCU will also monitor the GPS UART and allow the observed location to be signed.
Development Board
To allow development of both the firmware and the integration of this HIP-22 concentrator in the gateway-rs software to start, a development board will first be designed and manufactured, possibly this requires a number of iterations. This development board has a mini-PCIe edge-connector to allow installation in most gateways. Most importantly it carries the secure MCU and the circuitry required to do the monitoring. As RF-frontend it will have a mini-PCIe "socket" to allow installation of readily available concentrators. Due to this socket, this development-board will be bigger compared to a full mini-PCIe form factor. However most gateways allow for bigger mini-PCIe PCBs.
Development Boards will be sold at cost-price to interested parties and will be provided to core developers. Please note that these development-boards are not HIP-22 compliant and are only intended for development. Lead-times of required secure-MCUs are high, so available volumes will be very low. All schematics and layouts will be designed in KiCad.
Secure MCU firmware
Using this development board we can start development of the secure MCU firmware to support the monitoring of the LoRA SPI and GPS UART interfaces and to sign specific messages containing data from these interfaces. The MCU firmware will be developed in FreeRTOS and open-source compilers will be used.
We will also develop a secure bootloader to allow over-the-air updates and develop the required procedures to allow for key-generation. Alongside the development of the secure MCU firmware, the required gateway-rs changes will be made. The source-code for the secure-MCU, any tooling and the changes to gateway-rs will be made open-source.
Secure Concentrator Design and Anti-Tampering
Based on the schematics of the development board, an actual secure concentrator will be designed and tested. This secure concentrator will have a full mini-PCIe form-factor, just like any other concentrator. This design may require a number of iterations. We will not only develop the concentrator itself, but also test the design in combination with a number of anti-tampering methods to make physical attacks on the board harder. This requires special attention because epoxy encapsulation normally used has an influence on the sensitive analogue circuitry as used on LoRa concentrators.
The schematics and design files of the concentrator will be open-sourced. We will also provide details about the manufacturing steps used to implement anti-tampering methods. By using a development board we can start the design of the secure concentrator while the software is still in development. All schematics and layouts will be designed in KiCad.
Tests according to the requirements of FCC and CE certification will be executed. However actual FCC and CE certification will be left to the manufacturers of the boards, as FCC and CE certifications cannot be carried over between manufacturers and manufacturing processes.
Roadmap:
Milestone | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1 | Development board designs ready. Development boards produced | The Development Board is produced and designs are available. After this milestone development of the firmware and software integration can start | 15.000 USD |
MS2 | Firmware and software that can be used together with the development board to run a HIP-19 approved light-hotspot is working and published. Including “surrounding” tooling for OTA updates, and provisioning. | The firmware and integration in the gateway-rs code is working, allowing a light-hotspot using the HIP-22 development board to operate just like a HIP-19 approved light-hotspot. | 40.000 USD |
MS3 | Secure Concentrator design files available and tested, including manufacturing instructions for anti-tampering. Including FCC and CE-like tests | The secure concentrator will be designed and verified. This will include anti-tampering methods. | 35.000 USD |
Project:
Public Helium API
Elevator Pitch:
This submission aims to deliver a high-performance, scalable and highly available endpoint for the public Helium API.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$50 000 as listed in the published contract work opportunity
Team website:
This service will be built, maintained and operated by Net Stack Ltd, the company behind PUSHR
Project Details:
This API service is built on top of pairs of bare-metal 16-core AMD Ryzen servers powered by NVMe drives. Each server in a pair is load balanced and has an proactive failover setup with realtime monitoring. All pairs are load balanced with proactive failover capability on per-pair basis. Scalability is simplified and there is no practical limit on the pairs of servers that can be added, as well as no limit on their geographical distribution. The API is proxied via a global network of edge servers with proactive failover in the event of edge failure. Custom Layer 7 attack mitigation and rate limiting rules are applied on the network edge.
This service is designed to be commercialized for heavy use.
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, 05 May, 2022 | API service start | Bring the service up with a single pair of API servers. Confirm operational state. Start tuning the configuration of the rest of the infrastructure | 0 USD |
MS2, 16 May, 2022 | Ready for demonstrative period | API servers and rest of infrastructure are ready to start a 3-month demonstrative period with public access for limited calls | 0 USD |
MS3, 16 August, 2022 | Ready for heavy use | End of demonstrative period. Service is ready to scale up to demand for heavy use. | $50 000 USD |
Project:
Helium Arduino PortentaH7 Lora Vision Shield Tutorial for Non-Engineers
Note: I have reduced the scope of this grant and removed the Sensor/Actuator and Machine Learning component to make this application more succinct.
Elevator Pitch:
The Helium People's Network needs everyday people to be able to use both the Hotspots and their own Devices. In my opinion only big companies with Mechatronic Engineers using ESP32's are able to create products that effectively use HNT.
I believe the network's success is centered on many people being able to make LoRaWan low power long distance solutions for their family and small business needs. The simplicity of the Arduino products is legendary and the PortentaH7 is a beast, with it's dual core, 160 pin base and shields for Vision, Microphone, sd card, Ethernet and LoRaWan. The PortentaH7 is the perfect choice for the technology capable Helium Hotspot owner.
I have the unique ability to simplify complex technology and the teaching experience to create a base tutorial to allow anyone to use the Helium Network to it's full potential.
Here I show my Bobcat Miner beside an Arduino Portenta with the LoRa Vision Shield attached using the 2 x 80 pin attachments and a 915 MHz antenna (for North America) powered by a regular cell phone charger. (LiPo or coin cell options are on the large breakout board not shown)
Total Fiat/HNT ask:
$5,000 USD to connect the Arduino PortentaH7 with LoRa Vision Shield to the Helium Network and to post an example PR to the Official Arduino MKRWAN (LoRaWan) library. I will also document the process on the Helium Docs, and include how to use the MQTT servers and Helium console that are an integral part of the Helium data collection techniques.
Code Repos of team of key applicant:
Final Product link on Helium Docs (Link listed when active)
Final Product code PR sent to Arduino MRKWAN library pulls here.
The actual example should end up here
Mr. Ellis: Teaching Robotics Github Link: Maker100
Mr. Ellis: Teaching Robotics Video Playlist: Youtube Maker 100 Videos
Mr. Ellis: Teaching Robotics Library for the Arduino IDE: portenta-pro-community-solutions
Mr. Ellis: Github Profile: Jeremy Ellis Github Profile
Project Details:
This snaps to the back of the PortentaH7 using 2 x 80 pin high Density connectors.
Problem (as of May 2021): Unlike many LoRa capable boards the Portenta does not give direct access to the LoRa module, making most LoRa and LoRaWan example code useless. The Arduino MKRWAN library can connect to the TTN (TheThingsNetwork) in Europe but has some issues connecting in North America.
Problem to Solve: Helium connectivity in North America does not work with the present May 2021 Arduino examples.
Connecting is only the first step, simple sensors and actuator examples are also needed.
Solution: I plan to simplify getting Portenta sensors and actuators working on the Helium Network.
First with basic connectivity, then simplifying Cayenne MQTT server presentation of the uploaded data.
(Update: Summer 2021) I have spent several months looking into solutions and now with recent improvements to the Arduino MKRWAN library I have 2 proven methods to connect to Helium in North America
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS#1 (Research) August 2021 |
Research about using the Arduino PortentaH7 dual core 160 pin microcontroller. Research LoRa and LoRaWan abilities for the Arduino PortentaH7 LoRa Vision Shield, using the Murata Module and the GrumpyOldPizza Library. Research LoRa and LoRaWan abilities for the Arduino PortentaH7 LoRa Vision Shield, using the MKRWAN Arduino Library |
Done Generic Portenta Github | $1,500 USD |
MS#2 (The Build) February 2022 |
Connect the PortentaH7 to the Helium Network. Create several examples (code and/or notes/images) of sending data on the US915 Helium network using multiple MQTT methods. Simplify Open Source code examples. Send a PR of main Helium example to the official Arduino MKRWAN (LoRaWan) library |
On Going helium-cayenne-us915 | $2,000 USD |
MS#3 ( The Docs) August 2022 |
Test introducing the above code to people with different levels of technological skills and make changes as appropriate. Update the main example of how to connect to the Helium network if needed. Send PR requests of a Tutorial to the Helium docs to inform a wider Helium audience of how to use the Arduino PortentaH7 with LoRa Vision Shield using HNT. |
Not Yet Started Helium Docs | $1,500 USD |
--- | --- | --- | Total $5,000.00 USD |
Maker100 Robotics Curriculum: https://github.com/hpssjellis/maker100
Maker100 Video Playlist https://github.com/hpssjellis/portenta-pro-community-solutions/blob/main/examples/a-portentaH7-examples/a-a-hello-blink/a-a-hello-blink.ino
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rocksetta
Website: https://www.rocksetta.com/
Youtube Arduino Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVIdH92dcqg&list=PL57Dnr1H_egtm0pi-okmG0iE_X5dROaLw
Robotics Curriculum with Video Series: https://github.com/hpssjellis/particle.io-photon-high-school-robotics
Arduino Portenta Solutions: https://github.com/hpssjellis/my-examples-for-the-arduino-portentaH7
Machine Learning using TensorflowJS: https://www.rocksetta.com/tensorflowjs/
I have taught coding for 30 years, taught robotics for 7 years, developed my own Robotics curriculum. I have a Chemistry Degree, An Education Degree and a Diploma in Counseling. I teach High School Technology including: Robotics, Coding, Animation and 3D Printing. I taught myself Machine learning. I am an Edge Impulse Ambassador https://www.edgeimpulse.com/ . I have a class set of the Arduino PortentaH7, with LoRa Vision Shields and Breakout boards for teaching Robotics during the next few years.
One Planet Education Network (OPEN) and OPEN Helium
IoT Sensor Network Systems and Related Curricula Development To Expand Helium Blockchain Network Through OPEN's Global Network of Schools & Sustainable Community Programs
OPEN has been a global education technology partner of Helium for over two years, and we believe it has been a mutually beneficial partnership. OPEN aspires to become the lead global education partner of Helium and advance the LoRaWAN, 5G and other future networks of Helium, integrating Helium as the network backbone of OPEN's global education technology solutions.
The expansion and extension of the Helium network for education begins with the development and utilization by our schools of IoT curricula to teach the teachers and students about sensors that connect to the network, how to assemble, program, 3D print enclosures and deploy in the fields and cities where they reside. Our courses are designed to demonstrate the value and importance of IoT, and impart data analytics knowledge to students across our 10 countries. Our off-the-shelf and DIY IoT LoRaWAN sensors we sell to the schools, farmers, Ministries of Agriculture/ Environment, along with the hotspots (LoRaWAN gateways) generate data from those school gardens/hydroponic systems, small holder farms and Ministry clients/partners research plots.
Without the courses that teach students how to build and program DIY and how to deploy those DIY and off-the-shelf sensors, learn about the network gear and Helium Blockchain backbone networks, and how to interpret the sensor data emanating from their school gardens, which traverse Helium networks to display on their Ubidots data dashboards, schools, ministries and other related users will not seek the solution and utilize the Helium network. It is an end-to-end solution we are providing with our courses, our equipment and software sales from Helium partners (RAK, Seeed Studio and Ubidots).
This all runs across Helium networks (hotspots) to and from and in between the schools and farms and Ministries, now in 3 countries, soon to be 10 in 2022 if all goes according to our sales projections. All will be encompassed in a highly customizable Moodle Learning Management System (LMS), which through this grant work we will be setting up and modifying to handle all our new IoT curricula/courses, and Hardshare sensor arrays, and feeds from our sensors and Helium networks we are deploying. The ease of adding all these courses and other learning applications to the system will allow us to support hundreds of classrooms and new classes of users going forward. This grant will help get this done faster and more efficiently and effectively with our various OPEN teams working in tandem with these set milestone and deliverable deadlines.
This DeWi funded work will lay a strong foundation for us and show the value of our IoT solutions to our customer base. This will in turn result in the growth of the Helium network, increase data traffic through hundreds and ultimately thousands of sensor end devices to these customers, all through the catalyst of current and forthcoming IoT education applications and our Moodle LMS.
As new schools and countries come online there will be ongoing opportunities for substantial PR, from developing nations, our UN, Government Ministries of Education, Agriculture, Environment, Forestry, Telecom partners. Many use cases and academic journal articles will be written as well, further enhancing the Helium Network story, and value to societies and the future generation workforce. This is already beginning with our education workshops with STEM kits with special needs schools in Nigeria – see TV press on OPEN homepage – link below, as well as PR from RAK-Wireless also on the homepage of OPEN.
Time is critical for OPEN teams racing to ready the IoT technologies, related education programs, and business development assignments outlined below, and to leverage our large-scale international sustainable community development and school STEM education opportunities that lie before us. For these and other related IoT education and business opportunities, OPEN has assembled a world class development team, a multi-country mix of government and NGO partners, and strategic business partners including Helium, RAKwireless, Seeed Studio, Ubidots, IBM Weather Computing (EIS), IBM Edge AI/ML, and Esri GIS Mapping Company.
Total Fiat Ask:
Grant request of $50,000
Name and Address:
Email sent
Team Website and Contact Information Social:
OPEN creates and manages STEM Project-Based Learning (PBL) programs that focus on local sustainable community development. Participating primary-secondary (K-12) schools, partner universities, ministries, NGOs, OPEN's interdisciplinary teams, and our IoT and related technology partners work together within developing countries and underserved communities, and link them across borders to collectively address common real-world community development challenges – such as food insecurity, water shortages/conservation, and ecosystem restoration efforts.
OPEN project manages small to large-scale projects, develops customized curricula, integrates IoT and other technologies, and offers its courses and collaborative facilities via one centralized online platform - the OPEN Moodle Learning Management System (LMS). OPEN and its education and tech partner teams offer schools ongoing teacher Professional Development (PD), and international distance learning events, and Women in Sci-Tech interview series and more.
OPEN currently has several county (akin to States in USA) and countrywide expansion projects pending in the DR Congo, Jamaica, Kenya, Hawaii, and Liberia. These projects are primarily focused on sustainable agriculture, forestry, and environment. Beginning sometime by the end of first quarter to middle second quarter 2022, we intend to deliver proposals for large-scale project funding for IoT Networks in partnership with Agriculture/ Forestry/Environment/Education Ministries in the developing countries.
Bungoma County, Kenya alone would represent a network of approximately 3,500 IoT sensors deployed on 100 schools and 100 farms agriculture research plots securely connected to cloud services by the Helium blockchain network. This would allow us to not only serve schools and expand our school network in these countries, but also to deliver Helium and partner IoT networks to the broader communities there, initially smallholder farmers.
Several small-scale IoT networks with Helium and related IoT partners are now in-place and are being tested in Southern France, Sydney, Australia, and New York City Schools, and soon also in an Australia Aboriginal community school.
These projects and related support work, curricula, and training programs currently in-process for supporting and managing these small scale clients in the coming months and years will be the foundation and template for our larger scale projects in Kenya, Liberia, the DRC, and Jamaica. Going forward in 2022 in Jamaica, in our above-listed countries in Africa, and Hawaii, this will initially include some commercial farms – for agriculture food crop and livestock monitoring, but also forestry, tree plantations, water and irrigation systems monitoring, security, air quality and climate change research applications.
As noted, in addition to Helium, other OPEN global partners now include RAKwireless, Ubidots sensor dashboard company, Seeed Studio, IBM Weather Computing (EIS), IBM Open Horizons AI/ML Edge Computing, and Esri GIS mapping companies.
Curricula and instructional videos for our OPEN-RAK STEM Lab IoT sensor kits are continuing to be developed. Focusing on environmental sensors (air quality, air temp, humidity, barometric pressure – weather stations for school gardens and local farms as well as city schools for air pollution monitoring). Our training and professional development workshops with teachers of special education schools for their students with learning disabilities – five schools in Abuja, Nigeria was a huge success. Please watch the short summary Nigeria TV news segment near the top of the OPEN homepage for teacher testimonials and closing ceremonies with US Embassy and Nigerian Education officials - https://www.oneplaneteducation.com
These OPEN-RAK STEM IoT DIY kits have also arrived at our NY City schools and soon to our Australia schools. There is growing demand for them in Hawaii schools, South Carolina, Indiana, a STEM Summer Camp in New York, and Jamaica.
These initial and forthcoming STEM IoT Sensor Kit instructional videos and curricula will also need to be further developed and along with associated curricula applications and all toi be integrated into our OPEN Moodle LMS for market readiness and teacher easy access in remote regions of developing countries. This is getting underway and will be part of the support this grant could provide.
This month curricula and instructional videos for our OPEN-RAK STEM Lab IoT sensor kits are being developed, with some beta testing coming up with teachers of special education schools for their students with learning disabilities – five schools in Abuja, Nigeria. These OPEN-RAK STEM IoT DIY kits have just been delivered to Nigeria for that project, and soon to Australia and New York City schools.
Press from the weekend of January 8th from this project - https://youtu.be/hSGWWoSbU8g
These initial and forthcoming STEM IoT Sensor Kit instructional videos and curricula will also need to be integrated into our OPEN Moodle LMS for market readiness and teacher easy access in remote regions of developing countries.
We already have market expansion opportunities for our OPEN-RAK STEM IoT Sensor kits and network services in Hawaii, NYC, Indiana, Australia, Jamaica, South Carolina, Colombia, and Trinidad (initially schools, but in some cases both schools and farm applications). These are early in the pipeline, but which we intend to close in each of those markets by the late spring/summer of 2022, as the demand for these kits and related networks are rising, in tandem with our off-the-shelf IoT sensor solutions provided by Seeed Studio.
In NYC District 10 and District 11 alone we are targeting approximately 120 schools with 8 DIY Kits/school, so 960 or more OPEN-RAK STEM Kits (which can produce 1,920 sensors), and would be connected by approximately 120 RAK Lite hotspots. In South Carolina, there would be another 120 or so schools that our sales team there would be targeting. Indiana, initially 30 schools for 2022 (out of 1,925 schools statewide), and Jamaica at the outset five schools, but through 4H and the Ministry of Agriculture there, possibly another 50 schools there in 2022-2023. Just in – a Native Hawaiian Cultural organization is interested in tracking underground water to fill an aquifer so they are looking to us for water flow sensors and to also gift OPEN-RAK STEM DIY sensor kits to local schools that visit as well. And an opportunity just surfaced to make a presentation of our STEM sensor products and services to Hawaii Dept. of Education.
For those schools who cannot initially obtain sensors and our STEM sensor kits with this grant support we will be offering a wonderful alternative to teach IoT sensor programming initially to teachers and students in schools worldwide with our Hardshare sensor array systems. This will give us a unique education service offering and this too needs to be integrated into our Moodle and adhere to the UDL methodology. This will further promote our OPEN-Helium networks and partnerships as many schools will ultimately want to obtain, deploy and network their own sensors for further studies on these topics and for students to become familiar and fluent in data analytics.
OPEN fully adheres to the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and recently, through its partner country of DR Congo, was the recipient of an award by the UN's International Telecom Union Development Bureau (ITU-D) for Digital (Learning) Transformation Centers (DTCs) there. OPEN and partner school RSETF was also awarded a US Embassy of Nigeria grant to test its new OPEN-RAK STEM DIY sensor kits with special education teachers from five schools in Abuja, Nigeria targeting students with a wide variety of disabilities.
For OPEN to be solidly positioned for the smaller and larger education and now commercial farm network expansion projects in the next two-to-three months, we need short-term financial assistance to advance our technology platforms, curricula and business development support services for both schools, as well as the large scale county or countrywide projects in the works.
A grant from Decentralized Wireless Alliance to support our team of dedicated professionals will expedite and ensure the delivery of these various elements of the OPEN and Helium network expansions, and to meet the growing demand for our products and services now across 15 countries, and counting. Your support will allow OPEN to further customize and advance the curriculum as it relates to our current installed base of IoT deployments in Australia, NYC, and France. It will help fast forward our pending large scale Africa, Caribbean and new Hawaii projects. Finally it will allow us to take greater advantage of our new market expansion and business development opportunities arising from the recent promising launch of our new STEM Lab DIY sensor school kits, helping increase worldwide school sales and thus OPEN-Helium school network deployments.
By supporting the completion of in process programs/curricula, and our related technology education project deliverables (e.g., integrating the student programming services offered though an OPEN-Hardshare partnership), and successfully bundling all under the one online OPEN LMS, we will further position ourselves and Helium to rapidly and successfully grow the Helium IoT network through resultant LoRaWAN and IoT sensor deployments in schools, farms, forests, waterways, and communities worldwide. All these IoT network expansion projects will also be a seedbed for the upcoming 5G network of Helium.
I. Support technical team members developing K-12 (primary-secondary level) curricula (map new IoT curricula and services to UDL framework); develop new basic IoT course on data analytics, updated OPEN's foundational education programs on sustainable agriculture and align with new IoT curricula where necessary
Heather Cowap, M.S. – Course Development & PD/Training Program Manager, OPEN
OPEN is committed to using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as the curriculum design framework for all of its sustainable community-centered education technology projects and curriculum delivered through the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) – inclusive of all students and the best means for them to access materials to learn and succeed. In service of this goal, all curriculum provided by OPEN will provide multiple means of representation of the concepts and provide clear scaffolding for skills needed to succeed and achieve the stated goals of every course and project OPEN supplies to its member schools, farms, as well as government and NGO organizations.
This requires that curriculum be provided in a clearly written and accessible format, have some initial supporting audio and video instructional material, and provide students and teachers with supporting graphic organizers, clear checklists, and other materials that can be accessed with and without digital access. The current plan for developing these materials over the coming four months is as follows:
IoT Sensor, Networks, and Data Analytics Curricula: Coordinate and support our technical team members in developing curriculum for building IoT sensors, programming sensors and instructing students/teachers on data analysis, management and collection as a part of the sensor/sustainable agriculture school and community collaborations underway. We anticipate these offerings will be of great interest to both current and new OPEN partners and member schools.
This will require video scripting, editing, re-takes, additional information clips, and related curricula support materials provided in both ePub (for accessibility) and PDF versions. Heather will also offer instructional guidance for contributing experts to ensure that UDL practices are being used in designing, recording and writing the materials to be provided to both teachers and students, ministry officials and other OPEN partners through OPEN's Moodle LMS site. The OPEN Moodle LMS is where all of our courses and materials and service offerings including IoT dashboards and Hardshare programming services all come together and reside online.
In addition, since our OPEN partners are working with students of a wide range of abilities, materials for both introductory and advanced applications need to be integrated into the curriculum. Our model follows that of the "Open Honors" philosophy, where students can choose a range of challenging material to meet their interests, (in a decision tree type of format) thereby allowing them to dive into deeper learning opportunities and provide their teachers with more challenging materials to use as they deem appropriate.
Sustainable Agriculture Project Curriculum Integrated With A Wide Variety of IoT Sensors the will run on Helium Networks: This project is currently being reorganized to facilitate teacher access to the various stages of sustainable agriculture field preparation and management in a clearer manner, and there may be additional new UDL resources developed to improve accessibility to this project by teachers, students and soon farmers for our scaling projects.
In these revised sustainable agriculture instruction books we will focus on plot preparation, composting practices, cover crops, intercropping, drainage and water storage. For teachers new to agriculture education, these instructions will be supported with background lessons on soil, water, agriculture and scientific method for research, and Neem lab organic pesticides set up.
Heather will link related sensor kit instructional videos and curricula working with our OPEN-RAK development teams and revised Sustainable Ag curricula (these two elements also includes OPEN Team Members George Newman and Ellen Baldwin – see below).
This agriculture education-related project/curricula is a complementary sustainable community development real-world based program that ties directly to the IoT Sensor and Data Analytics curriculum, and concurrently positions our solution for success for large-scale regional and countrywide projects in DR Congo, Jamaica, Liberia, Kenya, and NYC schools to start.
II. Complete Hardshare Sensor Array Design and Development for OPEN Education Applications and Integration into OPEN Moodle LMS
Scott C. Livingston, PhD, Software Developer and Founder & CEO, rerobots
Two barriers to any education program involving hardware are (1) acquiring enough hardware and (2) scheduling access such that all students have sufficient opportunity to learn. Hardshare provides a way to overcome both of these by making IoT devices available for remote access in ready-to-use development environments. Access is managed by grouping common devices and provisioning time windows during which a student gets exclusive use of a device. Hardshare previously supported development on the Helium network by hosting several Discovery Boards during the #IoTforGood contest last year (https://www.hackster.io/contests/IoTforGood). This enabled contest participation from areas outside range of a Helium hotspot, including rural Texas, India, and southeast Asia.
Hardshare enhances and accelerates OPEN by enabling regional schools to share hardware resources internally and by allowing students to develop on a great variety of sensors and LoRaWAN devices, even when their school has few kits. Concretely, the plan during the next four months is as follows:
Integrate hardshare IoT "sandboxes" into the OPEN Moodle: The hardshare client is open source (https://github.com/rerobots/hardshare). Users typically access it via a Web-based sandbox that presents the development board with a camera stream, code editor, and terminal. This is backed by an image that already has necessary toolchains installed, enabling each student to immediately build and flash their code. Sandboxes used during the #IoTforGood contest were hosted on https://rerobots.net/. To provide the essential self-contained learning experience for students with OPEN, new sandbox apps will be developed and integrated into the OPEN Moodle.
Assemble arrays of OPEN-RAK Wireless Kits and each type of Seeed Studio SenseCAP sensors: Hardshare integration with the OPEN Moodle is only useful if there are devices that can be provisioned by it. Thus, an array of OPEN-RAK Wireless Kits and Seeed SenseCAP sensors will be built and presented to students through the OPEN Moodle, alongside their other course materials. The array will require cameras for video streaming, USB hubs, and a host computer where the hardshare client software will be installed. This array will be the largest and most diverse IoT "device cloud", to the best of the authors' knowledge. The construction details with step-by-step instructions will be recorded and released as open source/open access to facilitate reproduction by schools who want to share their own LoRaWAN hardware.
Develop programming lessons for students to use the sensor array: The final part of making LoRaWAN development kits available in the OPEN Moodle is to write lessons that introduce students to programming. Lessons will be written to target children with little or no prior programming experience. Target technical level will be such that, after completing the lessons, students will be ready to try tutorials in the Helium documentation, for example,[ https://docs.helium.com/use-the-network/devices/development/rakwireless/wisblock-4631/platformio/
III. OPEN Moodle and Project Administrative
George Newman, CEO will manage all above team members and delivery schedules/timelines for this project. Newman will Project Manage all elements of OPEN’s current and future program and technology development work as it relates to this proposal deliverables and milestones.
During this timeframe, Newman and Ellen Baldwin will manage the team for all the deliverables set forth below under the two milestones and make sure we complete all assignments on time. OPEN Moodle Content and Administrative systems to make it ready for large-scale school and sustainable community development network applications all of which will include the strategic Helium Blockchain Network component.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Jan 30 | Deliverables # 1-6 Outlined Below | Curricula STEM Kits (assembly), Integration hardshare sandbox into Moodle, Curricula STEM Kits (programming), Moodle Integration of STEM Kits (links to), Data Analytics Course Phase-1 (draft), Integration hardshare admin. into Moodle | $25,000 USD |
MS2, Mar 31 2022 | Deliverables # 1-9 Outlined Below | Curricula for STEM kits - Phase II programming,Moodle integration of STEM kit curricula, Integration hardshare admin into Moodle LMS, integration of code editor, Progress report on OPEN’s monthly activities, Proposals up ladder toward funding sources governments’ review to submissions, Progress reports on business development opportunities, Report on Moodle Course updates | $25,000 USD |
# 1 Deliverable
Curricula for OPEN STEM kits, phase 1 Assembly
Summary
Oversight and alignment with school standards and UDL for Nigeria Project Special Needs Program, both instructional videos and curricula (sample instructional video and curricula for validation)
# 2 Deliverable
Integration of a hardshare sandbox into OPEN Moodle
Summary
Write template code for integrating hardshare sandboxes into OPEN Moodle. This sandbox will have a terminal, single-file code editor, and "build & flash" button, and it will be connected to a single WisBlock with GPS module attached.
# 3 Deliverable
Curricula for OPEN STEM kits, phase 2 Programming
Summary
Integrate base STEM Kits curricula and instructional videos into the OPEN Moodle architecture, and be able to monitor and interact with teachers and their students (links to Moodle section)
# 4 Deliverable
Moodle Integration of OPEN STEM kit curricula (links to Moodle section)
Summary
Added programming of OPEN Kit sensor videos, alpha version
# 5 Deliverable
Data Analytic Course, phase 1 (draft submission)
Summary
Begin data analytics initial introductory curricula (drafts/link)
# 6 Deliverable
Integration of hardshare administration into OPEN Moodle; integration of multi-file code editor based sandboxes
Summary
Integrate administrative controls of hardshare into OPEN Moodle, so teachers will be able to control students' access to devices from within Moodle (without going to separate website). Teachers will be able to create and modify sandboxes by adding example code and installing more software packages. Also, the sandbox integration of the previous milestone will be generalized to support multiple files conveniently, either by embedding a rich IDE like VS Code or by building a simpler IDE that fits better in Moodle.
END OF FIRST MILESTONE – END OF FEBRUARY
# 1 Deliverable
Data Analytic Course, phase 2 (finished course materials)
Summary
Higher level, advanced applications curricula for data analytics.
# 2 Deliverable
Moodle Integration of Data Analytic Course. (link to course in Moodle)
Summary
Data Analytic Course integrate into the OPEN Moodle Architecture, and be able to interact with teachers and their students
# 3 Deliverable
Sustainable Agriculture Curricula, revision (draft)
Summary
Major revision of related sustainable agriculture curricula and instruction books
# 4 Deliverable
Hydroponic Agriculture Curricula, revision (draft)
Summary
Hydroponic curricula relating to sensor data integration and data analysis
# 5 Deliverable
Moodle Integration (link)
Summary
Integrate revised sustainable agriculture and hydroponic curricula information within OPEN Moodle
# 6 Deliverable
UDL pedagogy alignment of all offerings
Summary
For all OPEN offerings UDL pedagogy alignments
# 7 Deliverable
Array of OPEN-RAK Wireless Kits and Seeed Studio SenseCAP sensors, accessible within OPEN Moodle (link)
Summary
Assemble small (approximately 5 boards) array of OPEN-RAK Wireless Kits. Demonstrate access to devices in array via OPEN Moodle integration. Get feedback from DeWi, other stakeholders about user experience of this array + OPEN Moodle + hardshare stack. Apply feedback from small array. Build larger array with at least 3 types of Seeed Studio SenseCAP sensors. Demonstrate access to devices in array via OPEN Moodle integration.
# 8 Deliverable
Lessons for students learning on the sensor array and for teachers managing it (materials and links possibly too)
Summary
Iterate on drafts of lessons for students to use the sensor array. Get feedback from DeWi, other stakeholders. Conclude with ready-for-publication lessons for students and onboarding materials for teachers.
# 9 Deliverable
Evaluate and report on new OPEN Moodle and course updates, and issues. (link)
Summary
Fine tune of OPEN Moodle Administrative roles and OPEN customization/branding.
END OF SECOND MILESTONE – END OF MARCH
$25,000
George Newman (CEO) is founder and CEO of One Planet Education Network, LLC (OPEN), a mission-driven social enterprise that develops STEM+ Project-Based Learning that joins together students and their underserved communities around the world offering community-based programs, supporting technologies and digital literacy training services. Newman has banded together a world-class team of educators, education technology consultants, and international technology organizations concentrating our collective talents to develop education programs
that focus on sustainable community development and the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our current programs key on eliminating hunger (increasing food security through regenerative agriculture programs and student research), and combating climate change through more sustainable farming practices, and the application of data-driven smart farming network systems.
Ellen Baldwin (VP Operations & Finance) manages OPEN's financial and budgetary requirements for its business, while continuing to assist in analyzing the company's overall strategic business planning. Ms. Baldwin also researches new technology applications and supports OPEN's OPEN's LMS, Esri GIS, Cloud, and general operations management. Ms. Baldwin has over 15 years of experience in the private and public accounting, strategic management research, information systems, and small business management.
Heather Cowap, MS, MEd has spent the last 15 years in the high school science classroom working with multiple grade levels and subject areas. Inspired by the goal of enticing students to be motivated and engaged in content, Heather has used Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a pedagogical structure to find and implement a number of ways for students to have choice in demonstrating knowledge of content. UDL encourages them to select from a wide variety of both technical tools and alternative ways of expression. She discovered that using technology in the classroom increased students' mastery in learning and increased their engagement in the topics covered. Discovering the need to help students manage their choices and learning group goals, Heather began using Scrum, an Agile method of project management.
Scott C. Livingston, PhD Before going to Caltech, Scott worked in a lab with bats where he designed electronics for studying echolocation beams. At Caltech and afterwards, Scott conducted research in formal methods for robotics. Realizing the potential of making these methods widely available, Scott changed focus to building tools for education and industry. This work facilitates others' work on hardware-oriented problems by (1) lowering upfront costs of using hardware and (2) accelerating progress by enabling agile development. In the past year, Scott has worked with educators at US schools and co-working centers to enable remote students to program robots and LoRaWAN devices.
Prepared December 2021-January 2022
Large and small growers alike benefit from sharing ambient weather conditions, air quality, and other environmental data. We propose encouraging cooperation and data sharing across large and small agricultural operations by providing hardware manufacturers, growers, researchers and governmental entities with the ability to develop, test and deploy their sensors through Helium, dashboard their hardware/services through M3’s platform, and share data that can help give each entity a fuller picture of growing conditions.
$127,000 USD
Legal Name: M3 Consulting Group
Address: 530 Vermont Ave. Erie, PA 16505
Team or Project website: https://www.m3agriculture.com/services/digital-harvest/
M3 Agriculture Technologies
M3 combines Drones as a Service with Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and AI to reduce chemical use by upwards of 90% in specialty crops such as apples, almonds, pears and pistachios. M3 has a strong track record of developing and commercializing AgTech, operates thousands of drone operations annually and develops novel cyber-physical systems for IoT deployments in agriculture. M3’s technologies not only reduce chemical inputs, but also organically increase sustainability in some of agriculture’s most chemically intensive systems. M3 has received over $1 million in research funds related to UAS and IoT from some of the largest fruit producers in Washington, the Almond Board of California, California Pistachio Research Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, in addition to the USDA and United Nations joint Food and Agriculture Organization / International Atomic Energy Agency.
Nathan Moses-Gonzales (CEO)
Nathan Moses-Gonzales is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of M3 Agriculture Technologies. Nathan’s two primary research interests include the research and development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and the development of Internet of Things (IoT) for Agriculture. Nathan serves as a consultant for The United States Department of Agriculture and the United Nations on topics related to Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Cyber-Physical systems. Nathan travels extensively internationally on expert missions through the United Nations and is seen as a leader in AgTech throughout the United Nations Member States network. Nathan is a subject editor for technology with the Entomological Society of America, where he recently edited a journal on the use of Drones in entomology (https://academic.oup.com/jee/pages/drones-to-improve-insect-pest-management). Nathan works with Industry, Governmental and Academic partners to facilitate the development and commercialization of AgTech in specialty cropping systems.
Michael Milam (CTO)
Michael Milam is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of M3 Agriculture Technologies. Prior to founding M3, Michael served in the United States Air Force, where he worked in signals intelligence. Michael served two tours of duties in Afghanistan working on remote communications and sensor packages for deployment on small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
Robert Hogg (Helium SME)
Robert Hogg consults with M3 Agriculture Technologies on Helium, networking and IoT related initiatives. As a Helium early adopter and Patron he is deeply engaged with/aware of Helium-related issues historically, currently, as well as proposals and possibilities for future applications and evolution.
Specialty crops are rapidly consolidating into large operations, leading to the destruction of small and medium sized growers. Without technologies, such as Helium, specialty crops will consolidate into fewer, large operations around closed source platforms that only large operations can afford. Helium disrupts industry consolidation by enabling grower to grower coordination at all scales of production. Coordination through Helium will allow growing communities of all sizes to share the benefits of economies of scale through open sourced networks that allow for the proliferation of digital tools and services. Without Helium, industry consolidation will lead to increased competitive advantages for large scale operations over the next five years (Cascadia Capital, 2020). Institutional investment and industry consolidation in agriculture will focus on yield increasing technologies which may be inaccessible to small scale growers, but highly valuable to large scale operations who are able to leverage economies of scale.
The decentralization of rural communications alongside the development of open source hardware to empower grassroots digitization efforts will be a boon for rural growing communities. The USDA notes, “enhancing digital agriculture technologies… could create at least $47 billion each year in additional gross benefit for the U.S. economy.” (USDA, 2022) Here, growers and agri-businesses will increasingly rely on data-driven, technological approaches to reduce operational costs and increase profits. Key areas for optimizing specialty cropping systems include the development of technologies and facilities that increase yield and productivity as well as increasing reliance on technological approaches to create data-driven enterprises. The decentralized nature of helium, combined with low cost sensors and agricultural/meteorological models may enable growers of all sizes to adopt digital practices into existing workflows.
M3 Agriculture Technologies specializes in Economic Entomology with an emphasis in the sub-discipline of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM seeks to reduce the environmental impact of agricultural production by providing solutions focusing on Plant-Insect Ecosystems (P-IE). M3 leverages sensor data with models and algorithms to predict key events within P-IE, such as insect egg laying and egg hatch, in addition to forecasting plant health issues, such as blight and stress.
M3’s data driven approach to IPM helps growers reduce their cost and improve their bottom line by providing microclimate decision support. Growers rely on a diversity of models, including Degree Day Accumulation (DDA) to support various management decisions within the IPM framework. Whereas current decision support tools rely on low density, geographically disparate weather stations to drive decision support, M3 focuses on microclimate data to support increased precision of DDA models. While there are numerous uses for DDA, decision support for codling moth (cydia pomonella), a highly destructive pest presents a clear example of how increased sensor data can help growers reduce costs.
Decision support methods based on a calendar date often result in poor insect control and a waste of resources. Insect activity varies from year to year depending on weather and therefore DDA is key to improving management and reducing costs. Washington State University found orchards that adhered to DDA models for critical early season decision support reduced their losses from codling moth damage by upwards of 50%. Table 1 details a range of costs related to damage caused by codling moth in Logan, UT when using calendar based decision support versus DDA. DDA is one of many of decision support models M3 plans on deploying through the Helium Network.
Table 1: Calendar versus DDA decision support loss/acre.
DDA response date | Days off by Calendar (May 1) Spray | Economic loss/acre (USD) |
---|---|---|
May 15, 2005 | 14 | ~ $250 |
May 5, 2006 | 4 | ~$125 |
April 30 2007 | -1 | ~ $50 |
Economic impact of codling moth management in Logan, UT based on fixed calendar date versus Degree Day Accumulation
M3 anticipates establishing a Helium network for hardware and service providers to “hang” their sensors upon. M3 works with commercial partners to develop a process to onboard sensors through Helium. Once onboarded, sensors will be accessible through M3’s Digital Harvest platform. While affordable hardware solutions exist within the agricultural community of practice, tool makers lack the technical acumen to create requisite cyber-physical infrastructure to support their deployments. The abundance of homegrown solutions has been stymied by the dearth of network coverage resulting in many startups failing to gain traction in the agricultural industries they support. M3 intends to break this chicken and egg cycle by providing hardware manufactures, growers, researchers and governmental entities with the ability to develop, test and deploy their sensors through Helium, and dashboard their hardware/services through M3’s platform.
Telecommunications companies classically conflate data use with population density. This ethos leads to a lack of network coverage in growing regions where population density is low. As a result, many rural communities and growing regions lack the requisite connectivity to create digital services. Unlike telecommunications companies, M3 does not conflate data use with population density. M3 believes agriculture will be among the most data intensive sectors on the planet once digital tools and services proliferate throughout growing regions. Whereas urban areas are organically populating hotspots, M3 deployments will focus specifically on large geographic regions throughout rural agricultural regions throughout the western US. These rural deployments will kickoff digital agriculture by providing a network to establish digital services in rural growing communities.
During 2021, M3 established a test site in central Washington (Fig. 3). This site featured 30 Helium hotspots and 98 sensors. Over the course of six months, M3’s test site absorbed over 2 million data points, drawing the attention of T-Mobile - our current backhaul provider. According to DeWi ETL (https://etl.dewi.org/), at one point during the summer of 2021, M3’s remote field site in Washington State was in the top 100 of DC surrounded by cities like Fuzhou (a city of 40 million) and ahead of Seattle, WA.
While M3 currently services one large grower with Internet of Things (IoT), we service 100 unique locations throughout the state of Washington. This grant will allow M3 to deploy Helium hotspots, weather stations, temperature/relative humidity sensors, soil moisture sensors and asset tracking via GPS to five small and medium sized growers. This demonstration of decentralized networks will help growers understand the power of IoT technologies and will help M3 provide greater coverage for the Helium network. Furthermore, expanding this footprint will enable other small businesses to add their services to the network and support the proliferation of low cost sensors and data driven services.
Beyond servicing commercial growers, we plan on working with universities, governments, industry boards and other agribusinesses to champion an open source ecosystem anchored by The Helium Network. M3 has data sharing partnerships with several universities, including Arizona State University, University of California, Washington State University and Oregon State University, in addition to Multinational, Federal, State and Local governments, nonprofit industry boards and other agribusinesses. Working with a broad set of stakeholders ensures that these tools not only benefit industry through increased grower to grower coordination, but also improve models through university partnerships, scalability through governmental partnerships, forecasting through industry boards and innovation through agribusinesses.
Autonomous systems are transforming the way we identify, manage, and respond to risk. Combining the Internet of Things (IoT) with our cloud platform enables decision makers to respond rapidly to plant health emergencies. Developing novel approaches utilizing machine learning opens the door for new opportunities to optimize decision support whether in the field, on the go or in the air. Cybernetics tools designed to amplify expert knowledge are increasing the diversity and quality of sensed information, improving overall outcomes related to plant health emergencies and Integrated Pest Management.
AgIoT is a Farm Management web app that combines the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing and Machine Learning. AgIoT provides growers with intelligent tools to monitor and manage their fields from anywhere. AgIoT helps our customers remain agile while maximizing resource allocation. AgIoT provides:
By leveraging novel architectures for data-acquisition with cloud computing and machine learning, M3’s IoT:
M3’s IoT can be deployed in a diversity of specialty crop systems, which comprise approximately 20 million acres of production in the United States.
M3 will deploy 15-30 Helium hotspots (Fig. 1 &2) in Central California with a large governmental partner. This network will support data driven coordination by anonymizing data to ensure privacy. Anonymized data will be shared with researchers that support basic and applied research through universities and extension agricultural services.
The Hotspot network will provide communications for LoRaWAN sensors, including Temperature and Relative Humidity (Fig. 4 left), Soil Moisture, Air Quality and GPS (Fig. 5 top). As a part of this grant, M3 will develop and dashboard visualizations using Cognitive Systems Engineering approaches. This combination of sensors provides the foundation for decision support and model development. These models include irrigation monitoring, drought mitigation, frost detection, degree day accumulation and air quality. These services will help growers improve their growing practices by reducing the amount of water used for irrigation, improving control practices by providing microclimate data for plant phenology and insect ecology, and help reduce particulate matter pollution by indexing air quality.
In addition to the sensors M3 will onboard, we will work with other businesses that develop hardware but lack networking, backend and frontend experience. These hardware include smart traps with onboarded machine learning insect models developed by M3 in addition to a pheromone emitter for insect pest management.
Finally, M3 will work with Helium bloggers to ensure the results of this effort are captured and communicated to the Helium Community. M3 will also work with publications, such as Good Fruit Grower and scientific societies, such as the American Entomological Society of America and attend industry/academic conferences to detail how Helium enables researchers and growers to accomplish more with less.
Our goal is to leverage the Helium network and create a marketplace that enables developers to dashboard their sensors through our platform. M3 incentivizes our platform by providing growers, consultants and researchers with the ability to onboard models and receive royalties on a per acre basis. On the hardware side, producers can develop hardware and expand their footprint as Helium fills out in growing communities. We believe this approach will create a virtuous cycle, encouraging developers to not only develop nascent models integrating diverse sensors, but also to iterate and improve models based on per acre adoption and royalties. As helium hotspots expand within growing regions, developers and users will create new hardware/software combinations that further expand the use cases and data use on Helium LoRaWAN networks.
Sensors of interest include but are not limited to:
Milestone | Deliverable | Summary | Cost (USD) |
---|---|---|---|
Deploy 100 Temperature and Relative Humidity Sensors | Dashboard sensors and port to Helium | Sensors will be onboarded to the Helium Network, geo-located and installed in the field. Field telemetry will be translated to our cloud platform for dashboarding of information and visualization designed by cognitive systems engineers with domain experience in agriculture. M3 developers will work with growers to develop visualizations that make sense to growing communities and create pathways for growers to onboard sensors through the Helium Network and M3’s platform. | Unit Sensor cost: $53.75Total Sensor cost :$5,375Front End/Cognitive System Engineer Dev: 125 hours @ $149 = $18,625Total: $24,000 |
Deploy 10 Soil Moisture Sensors | Dashboard sensors and port to Helium | See summary of milestone 1 | Unit Sensor cost: $147.50Total Sensor cost: $1,475Front End/CSE Dev: 225 hours @ $149 = $33,525Total: $35,000 |
Deploy 10 weather stations including, wind speed/ direction, rainfall, solar radiation | Dashboard sensors and port to Helium | See summary of milestone 1 | Unit Sensor cost: $594.50Total Sensor cost: $5,945Front End/CSE Dev: 195 hours @ $149 = $29,055Total: $35,000 |
10 GPS sensors | Dashboard sensors and port to Helium | See summary of milestone 1 | Front End/CSE Dev: 85 hours @ $149 = $12,665Total: $15,080 |
Content Creation | Blogs, stakeholder communication and public outreach | M3 has a strong track record with coordinating public outreach, especially in growing communities. M3 will work with Helium to create content in order to keep the Helium community up to date and connect with agricultural industry journalists to bring these types of deployments to the forefront of AgTech coverage. Examples of M3 past technology deployments have been highlighted in online and print forms in multiple industry journals such as: Good Fruit Grower, and West Coast Nut. M3 has also been highlighted in various AgTech related news and content websites. We will leverage these past relationships to ensure the Helium supported IoT deployments are covered. M3 plans to attend multiple annual industry and academic conferences where we speak on or provide displays of our technology and services. M3 CEO Nathan Moses-Gonzales is slated to host a symposium in Vancouver, British Columbia on Cyber-Physical Systems. At this conference, he will discuss Helium supported networks and decision making tools.The goal will be highlight our Helium based technologies and services. | Total: $4,000 |
Backend maintained for 12 months (to continue indefinitely) | New users have access to freemium Helium powered Decision Support | M3 will support accounts on an annual basis through contractual agreements with growers and intends to store data for a minimum of five year for inactive accounts. University and government partners can access this data for use in publicans, grants, and other value added R&D that directly benefits growers. | System Admin/Maintainer120 hours @ $120 = $14,400 |
Cascadia Capital LLC. (2020). Washington Tree Fruit Industry: Mid-Year Update 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2022, http://www.cascadiacapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WA-Tree-Fruit-Industry-Trends-Analysis-2020_Mid-Year-Update.pdf
Cistulli, V., Lai, K.C. (2005). Decentralized Development in Agriculture. An Overview. EASYPol Series 012. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.fao.org/policy-support/tools-and-publications/resources-details/en/c/446077/
Ekins, P., Zenghelis, D. (2021). The costs and benefits of environmental sustainability.Sustain Sci 16, 949–965 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00910-5
FAO. (2009). Global agriculture towards 2050: High-level Expert Forum on how to feed the world in 2050, 12-13 Oct 2009. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Global_Agriculture.pdf
Moses-Gonzales, N., & Brewer, M. J. (2021). A Special Collection: Drones to Improve Insect Pest Management. Journal of Economic Entomology, 114(5), 1853-1856. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toab081
Perdue, Sonny. (2020) The State of the Rural Economy. Testimony of Secretary Sonny Perdue. (2020). United States House Committee on Agriculture. March 4, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110632/witnesses/HHRG-116-AG00-Wstate-PerdueS-20200304.pdf
USDA. (2022). Partnerships for climate-smart commodities. Retrieved February 21, 2022, from https://www.usda.gov/climate-solutions/climate-smart-commodities
Project
Fraud detection in helium transactions using machine learning approach
Elevator Pitch
Like every crypto currency HNT will be suffering from fraud behaviors in the near future. There are already reports of fraud accounts and devices which undermines the trust to the network and causes unfair income for other network users. This project will use machine learning algorithms to the Helium network transactions to detect fraud behavior and monitor them.
Total fiat/HNT Ask
65.000 USD
Name & Address
Prof. Dr. Mitat Uysal - https://www.dogus.edu.tr/en/academic-staff/faculty-of-engineering/mitat-uysal
Mustafa Ozan Uysal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozanuysal/
Ahmet Faruk Acar - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmet-faruk-acar-87b122a1/
Address : Barış Sokak Alya Life Residence No:1 Kat:10 Daire:119 Fikirtepe / Kadıköy İstanbul
Team or Project Web Site
Appcent - http://appcent.mobi
Appcent is an award-winning technology company specialized in fin-tech and e-commerce that builds mobile applications across the Turkish and Middle East market for many well recognized brands such as Mavi, xCite, Costa Coffee, Alghanim Industries, Hepsiburada, NetWork, Metro, Unilever. Our R&D department has successfully developed and managed innovative machine learning projects funded by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), as well as self-funded IoT projects. Furthermore, with Appcent Academy, we organize training and young talent programs to transfer our sectoral experience to the ecosystem. Most recently in 2021, we have founded Appcent Design to provide end-to-end technology solutions to our partners.
A team of 3 developers, one project manager and academic consultant will be involved in the project.
Project Details
The project will consist of three modules;
Monitoring and data collection module
Fraud detection using machine learning
Analytics and alert dashboard
In the first phase we will analyze transactions on the blockchain and train our model to detect fraud behavior. Fraud behavior can be; money laundering, unfair HNT gain, a transaction which the wallet owner is unaware of or any other fraudulent activity. After that we will try different models and measure the performance of algorithms. A dashboard will help users to identify suspicious transactions and raise alerts if necessary.
Technical Objectives
Detection of fraudulent actions in blockchain transactions using ML consists of 4 steps;
Input data
Extract features
Train algorithm
Create model
To detect fraud, a machine learning model first needs to collect data. The model analyzes all the data gathered, segments, and extracts the required features from it. Next, the machine learning model receives training sets that teach it to predict the probability of fraud. Finally, it creates fraud detection machine learning models.
PROCESSING THE DATA
Processing the data is the most important part in ML.
It consist of the following steps:
Evaluation and analysis
Obtaining data files
File format types
Preparation data analysis
Arranging and organizing data
Data Analytical tests
FRAUD DETECTION
Recognizing fraud
Data analytical software
Anomalies versus fraud within data
Fraudulent data Inclusions and deletions
FEATURE EXTRACTION AND SELECTION
Extraction : Getting useful features from existing data
Selection : Choosing a subset of the original pool of features
FEATURE SELECTION IN THIS PROJECT
In this project, a novel cost-sensitive metaheuristic algorithm called as Migrating Birds Optimization(MBO) is used for cost effective feature selection.MBO is developed by E.Duman,M.Uysal and A.F.Alkaya.The steps of MBO is given as below:
n = the number of initial solutions (birds)
k = the number of neighbor solutions to be considered
x = the number of neighbor solutions to be shared with the next solution
m = number of tours
K = iteration limit
Pseudocode of MBO:
THE MAIN ALGORITHMS USED
After selecting the feature, then we are ready to build a ML classification model since fraud detection is a classification problem.
If we look at the literature the following algorithms are used for classification;
Neural Networks(NN)
k-Nearest Neighbor(kNN)
Support Vector Machine(SVM)
Decision Tree
Random Forest
AdaBoost
We will try all of them to obtain the best results.
Roadmap
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Q2-2022 | Model building | Data extraction and analysis. We will read transaction data from blockchain and analyze different behaviors. | 10,000 USD |
MS2, Q3/Q4-2022 | Algorithm test results | Software development for algorithms and applying them to the data on the blockchain. | 30,000 USD |
MS3, Q1-2023 | Final product to detect fraud behavior with open source code | Separating training and test data. Selected algorithm with the best result will discover fraud behavior on the blockchain. | 25,000 USD |
Project:
Helium Historical Timeline Spreadsheet
Elevator Pitch:
It is currently complicated to keep track of all the events that happened historically on the Helium blockchain from the genesis block. This Project aims to create a spreadsheet that keeps track of all these events for analysis purposes.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
Not necessarily needed but possibility to give a small bounty to people contributing to this timeline (i.e. 0.05 HNT per relevant event posted)
Project Details:
This Project aims to create a spreadsheet or a Github repository with the community's help to keep track of most of the events that happened historically or are currently planned on the Helium blockchain for analysis purposes. These events should start from the genesis block, be constantly updated and include the followings:
With the help of this timeline, it will be possible to analyze correlations between the availability and the mining rewards of hotspot miners or understand better the trend in the price of HNT. For example, it might be very beneficial for every hotspot owner to understand better what was going on in the network when a device was in syncing mode suddenly or why the mining rewards changed abruptly after a specific date (either positively or negatively). And also very beneficial for everyone that wants to stay easily up to date on a single source of truth about everything happening in the blockchain.
With this project, I'm not personally applying for a grant. Still, I think it would be fair to award a small symbolic bounty to helium developers, hotspot manufacturers, and community members contributing to maintaining and filling this timeline spreadsheet.
Roadmap
Helium Network "Non-Coverage" Mapping
Though the Helium Network Mapping project has come quite far, and is today leaps and bounds ahead of where it began, there remain at least two primary shortfalls that stand to be addressed:
Lack of sufficient involvement / participation in the mapping initiative, largely because there is no inherent incentive, monetary or otherwise.
Lack of distinction between areas that have not been audited via coverage mapping devices and areas that have seen audit traffic, which simply do not have coverage available. This "non-coverage" falls through the cracks because there currently exists no mechanism to capture this “offline” data.
This proposal seeks to address the latter in an effort to better inform a more targeted approach where the former is most lacking. This "non-coverage" data will also provide value to hotspot deployers, as they will more easily and readily be able to identify areas lacking in coverage for future deployments.
The final deliverable will provide an open source solution that can be maintained and extended by both public and private enterprise leveraging non-coverage data.
Mapping Devices
As we have already completed extensive development and deploying of Helium network mapping devices / kits, this grant [as written] would provide financial support for cost of materials & any development costs involved in extending previous efforts to include non-coverage and/or gamification.
After materials [Wisblock based mapper, battery, GPS antenna, power supply cable, casing] (approx. $80), [domestic] shipping (approx. $10-15) & assembly / fulfillment labor for non-DIY units (approx. $10), unit price is approx. $100-110 / unit. For the DIY kit the cost of assembly can be removed.
Note also this initiative is currently targeted at the US915 market. The initiative should be easily expanded to other regions at a later date(s) with additional funding & potentially additional manpower support on the ground in any of these regions.
Non-Coverage Mapping
This grant includes extending the firmware on current mapper spec to track non-coverage. The mapping device will store the GPS locations of serialized pings. The mappers will sync via BLE to a mobile app and then to a web app to reconcile the data with pings mapped over Lora. Non Coverage results will be displayed on a web visualization. Future phase, could provide an API for ingestion by mappers.helium.com
Device / User Authentication
Proposed Solutions:
Website Visualization
Hotspot RF team to make a proof of concept that visualizes data to augment existing mapping and add non-coverage data. This will serve as a UX proof of concept & demonstrate the ability to consume and/or extend private services using the open source solution.
Gamification
In lieu of monetary rewards, individuals will earn badges for their mapping activities. Example badges are:
Swag could be sent at certain levels and / or discord avatar overlays / roles / discord nitro
Chris Volkernick (@cvolkernick) [KYC Sent]
Phill Tran (@philltran) [KYC Sent]
HotspotRF Team (@hotspotrf)
Plug n' Play Helium Coverage Mapper
Helium Coverage Mapper DIY Kit
Chris Volkernick LinkedIn
IoWE Facebook
IoWE Twitter
HotspotRF LinkedIn
HotspotRF Facebook
HotspotRF Twitter
Chris Volkernick
https://github.com/cvolkernick
Phill Tran
HotspotRF
James (Rep for HotspotRF)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/selfo/
As a matter of encouraging widespread [public & private] adoption of the Helium network, the primary focus should be on ensuring network coverage reach & reliability (QoS). By demonstrating strong confidence in regional QoS via on-the-ground auditing of gateway service areas, these audits demonstrate real-world coverage by using RF transmissions to materially validate asserted coverage areas.
Any respectable commercial service provider / vendor will do a great deal of due diligence before launching a new product; if there is not reasonable confidence in the targeted coverage area & reliability of the network, it's unlikely that product developers are going to consider using the Helium network in the first place.
The initiative seeks to accomplish a few main objectives:
Gather previously undocumented areas of demonstrable non-coverage to supplement existing documented coverage.
Expand the pool of coverage mapping participants & dramatically increase the levels & usefulness of documented network coverage & non-coverage.
Increase access to & interest in Helium network coverage mapping, both technically & financially.
Provide a user interface to view coverage & non-coverage data in a digestible & intuitive way for use in targeting under-served areas for supplemental hotspot deployments.
We intend to offer both a "Plug-and-Play" option & a DIY kit to reach both non-technical & technically savvy individuals to participate in the way they are comfortable . DIY kit will also include any available resources to support learning & familiarizing users with the Helium console.
Our existing model is not battery powered (direct power supply cable only), however, if it is deemed worthwhile additional spend in the context of this grant that can be changed, as well -- as we do have the ability to offer a more "premium" setup that is self-powered & rechargeable.
We have provided a generalized, high-level outline of project development; material requirements represent hardware & required infrastructure cost(s), while development milestones represent stages in development roadmap. Milestones represent the core components involved in the implementation of the described proposal. These segments are presented in the order they can / should be implemented, and best attempt to separate concerns of each segment.
Until there is further feedback from DeWi grant reviewers regarding the directionality & outcomes specifically desired by the team, it will prove difficult to further specify timelines & requirements involved in any additional particulars. The team believes gathering additional feedback from DeWi stakeholders based on current proposal details may prove useful in narrowing the scope of the work & specifically addressing any overlap between this proposal and high-level DeWi grant objectives.
Material Requirement | Item | Expense |
---|---|---|
Operating Expense | Web Hosting & Admin (1 Year) | $10,000 |
Hardware Expense | 250 Coverage Mapping Units | $25,000 |
Development Milestone | Timeline | Expense |
Hardware Development | 2 - 4 Weeks | $4,000 - $8,000 |
Non-Coverage Backend (API) | 6 - 8 Weeks | $4,000 - $8,000 |
Mobile App (Offline Data Collection) | 6 - 8 Weeks | $4,000 - $8,000 |
Non-Coverage Frontend (HSRF) | 2 - 4 Weeks | $6,400 - $12,800 |
Gamification / Incentives | 2 - 4 Weeks | $4,000 - $8,000 |
Total Fiat Ask | 16 - 24 Weeks | $57,400 - $79,800 |
Project:
IoT-Enabled Environmental Monitoring and Research
Elevator Pitch:
This project will demonstrate how Helium can IoT-enable environmental monitoring to make research more efficient, scalable, and cost effective
Total Fiat Ask:
Grant request of $53,474 to $74,056 depending on project findings of suitable sensors.
Key Applicant:
Steven C. Ditto, BE Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University will be the project leader. Relevant work experience includes microwave and cellular network design, analytics and AI product development, and AWS cloud certification. The project leader is working in collaboration with environmental researchers at the Wild Basin Research Center which is affiliated with St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. The project leader will arrange additional collaborations with other university, government, and environmental stakeholders.
Contact Information:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenditto/
Email: [email protected]
Project Details:
Cities around the world are expanding into the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). This growth can negatively impact air, water, and soil quality while increasing the potential for wildfire. Environmental researchers face several major challenges:
To help address these issues, this project will develop, test, and document a "research station in a box" solution consisting of sensors, gateways, dashboards, and integrations. The solution will be comprised of several components:
Figure 1: Working Prototype
With grant funding, we will conduct further bench and controlled outdoor testing of a larger set of sensors to determine suitability for environmental research use cases. Sensor types will include air temperature and relative humidity, soil temperature and water content, barometric pressure, CO2 and other gases, and particulates. In addition, several location tracking devices will be tested to support the ability to track people and assets.
Once testing is complete, the network will be deployed in or around the Balcones Canyonlands surrounding Austin, TX. The topography of the area is a challenging RF environment with 800-foot hills descending to forested creek beds. See Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Computer Simulation of LoRaWAN RF Signal Using 30-Foot Antenna
Based on preliminary planning efforts, the initial deployment will include 15 sensor sites configured as a grid and an additional 50 sensor sites on the perimeter. It is anticipated six gateways will be placed at points in or around the canyonlands to ensure adequate interior and perimeter coverage. Despite the dense concentration of Helium gateways in Austin, the gateways for this project will likely be placed in empty resolution 8 hexagons.
Once proof-of-concept is achieved, expansion of additional sensors and gateways to support even more hyper-local data collection is likely. The Balcones Canyonlands is one of the nation’s largest urban preserves covering more than 32,000 acres (about 50 square miles) and presents an opportunity to extend Helium coverage into other empty resolution 8 hexagons.
The project will be developed with an eye toward expansion outside the Austin area by leveraging the system, sensors, dashboards, etc. to other WUI geographies. A key deliverable of the project will be a reference architecture, design specifications, and documentation adequate to enable researchers to build their own end-to-end system. This information will be made "open source" and available to the Helium community to facilitate knowledge sharing of "what works".
Project Organization:
The project leader will form a not-for-profit legal entity to own the system and be responsible for the cost and effort to procure, test, implement, and maintain the gateways, sensors, and software. The DeWi grant will help offset some of the initial capital costs. Helium proof-of-coverage payments will help offset ongoing operating costs, project insurance coverage, and expansion.
The legal entity owning the system will manage the data and be responsible for data aggregation and sharing with other researchers. The system will be “open” to any researcher interested in using it for research and education purposes. It is anticipated each researcher will own their data and have access to data developed by other researchers as part of a collaboration agreement covering data ownership, aggregation, sharing, and research attribution.
Project Roadmap:
<style> </style>Milestone | Description | Deliverable | Cost (USD)* |
---|---|---|---|
Aim 1 Q4 2021 | Test LoRaWAN gateways and sensors for research and fire detection use cases in controlled and field settings | LoRaWAN sensor performance report | $18,000 |
Aim 2a Q1 2022 | Expand gateways and sensors to test real world performance and support for research and fire detection use cases | Field network deployed | $24,000 |
Aim 2b Q3 2022 | Complete documentation following successful activation and operation of Light Hotspots on Mainnet | Implementation documentation | $1,500 |
Aim 3 Q3 2022 | Provide dashboards and data downloads for researchers, educators, and the public | Dashboards and data utilities deployed | $17,000 |
Project Significance:
This project will support the DeWi mission and the Helium community:
Helium in Space!
Our project is to send a rocket into space (beyond the Karman line) whilst tracking the rocket and receiving real time telemetry information via The People’s Network. What makes this special? It will be one of the first student-built rockets into space, and the project will undertake STEM and community outreach around the US conducted through the University of North Texas and its flagship student engineering organization, UNT Robotics & Aerospace.
The community support and outreach will foster engagement with and increase exposure to The People’s Network, bring people into STEM, and drive Helium into the final frontier.
$200,000 USD
Sebastian King
https://untrobotics.com
Our proposal is to send a High-Power Rocket into space, to an altitude of approximately 350,000 ft. The rocket’s position, speed and altitude will be tracked in real-time using telemetry reported from the rocket down to earth, via The People’s Network.
The telemetry received from the rocket will be used to verify the success of the space shot and help write the rocket and Helium into the history books as the highest ever and one of the first student rockets to break the Karman line.
Two or three special ground stations with range of the rockets flight path will be set up to receive the telemetry by participating STEM teams.
The main challenge within this proposal is building a rocket capable of reaching space. This was once the task of nations and now the boundaries are being pushed by students and universities. Reaching the Karman line with a student-built/HPR rocket has been done before, with USC’s Traveler-IV rocket, proving the mission is possible and doable. We have the ideal team, resources, and background to make the mission a success.
Our rocket will be a carbon fiber, solid-fuel (APCP) custom-built launch vehicle. Full rocket details will be determined during the design phase.
A core part of the project is to get other universities, schools, and the community around Texas involved with the project. A key motto of UNT Robotics is “changing the world, one student at a time”. Our Aerospace Division has established and attracted aerospace engineering in North Texas and this project will continue our soaring flight path. By actively engaging in the STEM community, it helps ensure the project maintains momentum.
We have all of the necessary expertise in-house to complete the project, however, STEM engagement will also bring industry leaders to get involved with the project and further increasing TPN’s reach.
We intend for this to be a high profile and public project, backed by the UNT Robotics name and staff. Our previous projects of this nature have gone viral, featured on television, the news, and spread knowledge and experience amongst the community.
The key return during the project will be the Helium brand awareness as well as exposure to, and experience with, The People’s Network as a tool for scientific and engineering projects by the STEM community. The network is a fantastic tool for ground-based scientific projects, and it is well placed to take on space too, similarly to The Things Network which has already branched out into satellite communications.
Sebastian King
Sebastian is a professional consultant and engineer for RESPEC, the global leader in energy, infrastructure, geoscience, water, environmental and data engineering. He is one of the original founders of UNT Robotics and has experience working on a huge array of ambitious engineering projects. He holds an FCC Technician Class license and is associated with radio-telecommunications organizations around Texas.
Jack Sprague
Jack is an extremely experienced High-Power rocketeer and engineer, who holds a NAR/Tripoli Level 2 certification and has mentored advanced rocketry teams across the US for several years.
Gunnery Sergeant Joe Moore
Joe is a retired Master Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician with the US Marines. He is an expert on explosives and compounds, and currently leads the Aerospace Division within UNT Robotics and has competed in rocketry competitions with NASA. Joe will be the Chief Engineer on this project, and also holds a NAR Level 1 certification.
Benjamin Bailey
Ben is a mechanical engineer with a background in telecommunications. He is an expert on the Helium network and blockchain, and serves as the Safety Officer for UNT Robotics.
University of North Texas
UNT is a tier-one research institution located in DFW, Texas, it’s engineering campus is a former missile manufacturing facility and UNT owns the site of the US Army Denton Nike Missile Base & Silos.
UNT Robotics & Aerospace
UNT Robotics is an engineering organization at UNT with several high profile and highly successful projects under its belt, including the 2022 NASA USLI Rocketry competition. The organization consists of more than 460 students.
Deliverable + Date | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|
1) Launch Vehicle Preliminary Design, Q3 2022 | The preliminary design and modelling for the launch vehicle completed and signed off by team mentors and leaders. | 50,000 USD |
2) Subscale Vehicle Testing, mid-Q4 2022 | Subscale Launch Vehicle manufactured, a successful test flight conducted, and telemetry and launch analysis completed. | 30,000 USD |
3) Full-scale Critical Design & Telemetry Stations Design, late-Q4 2022 | Final design signed off by team mentors and leaders. Ground station design completed, identified parts and antenna requirements. | 30,000 USD |
4) Static Motor Testing, Q1 2023 | Static firing of rocket propulsion system completed to show performance and space readiness. | 30,000 USD |
5) Full-scale Manufacturing & Testing, Q2 2023 | Final Launch Vehicle manufactured to agreed specifications. | 40,000 USD |
6) Demonstration Flight & Telemetry Stations Demonstration, Q3 2023 | Final Launch Vehicle low-altitude test flight with telemetry and control systems tested. | 20,000 USD |
7) Launch Day, Q3 2023 | Go for launch. Spaceport America, NM |
All project dates will be re-evaulated at each milestone to account for project timeline changes. Currently manufacturing lead times, launch slot availability, scheduling outreach during COVID peaks, etc. are expected to be factors in timeline decisions.
Project:
Desktop Helium Wallet GUI Application
Elevator Pitch:
Provide a cross platform desktop app for non-cli power users to easily complete Helium wallet transactions on a desktop computer.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$35,000 USD
Name and Address:
KYC info emailed to [email protected].
Team
Phill Tran
Discord: @philltran
Github: https://github.com/philltran
Chris Volkernick
Discord: @cvolkernick
Website: IoWE
Project Details:
Provide a cross platform desktop Helium Wallet GUI. This desktop app will provide a means for non-cli power users to complete Helium wallet transactions on a desktop computer.
Project will use Electron framework to compile Windows, Mac and Linux native apps.
MVP features to include:
info
commandEnhanced features may include:
Roadmap:
Milestone + Timeframe | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, 2 weeks | Application requirements specification, UX wireframes, UI mockups | Application design and planning including use stories for different user roles, functional and non-functional requirements. The app’s functional requirements are translated into wireframes and then into design mockups | $5,000 USD |
MS2, 4‑6 weeks | MVP Desktop app | The app's core features are developed into a working cross platform electron applications | $15,000 USD |
MS3, 4‑6 weeks | Enhanced features | Nice to have features added to MVP application | $15,000 USD |
Project:
Distributed Chain of Custody
Elevator Pitch:
Maritime claims can be astronomical (£Billions) and the ensuing investigation and arbitration can last years, costing time/money (IUMI Stats 2019). Against this backdrop, a low-power/long-range chain-of-custody network is negligible, providing low cost data for early-warning capabilities, expediting route-cause investigations, mitigating losses and improving claim efficiency.
Verifying the location and condition of assets during storage and transportation is a critical concern for global trade. Asset Owners, Insurers and Logistics providers are blind at many stages of an assets journey and connectivity gaps in remote areas makes it near impossible to provide real time data. This translates into inefficient routing, mistakes, lack of information for decision making and an increase risk for fraud or malicious acts.With multiple interested parties involved at every stage of the supply chain, there are multiple trails of evidence and disagreements about which document is correct when they don’t align.
Stofl’s Proof-of-Custody (PoC) is an improvement of the Proof-of-Location (PoL) protocol which only provide stationary coverage. By installing Static PoC LoRaWAN Gateways with verifiable GPS locations within ports and other industrial hubs, these can be used to verify the arrival and departure of Transit PoC Gateways installed on ships, trains, trucks and other industrial assets which can be further verified through LoRaWAN satellite coverage and publicly available information on (for example) ship locations (marinetraffic.com) where the data can be fed into a blockchain oracle and used to secure the network when out of range of a static network.
Stofl has received approval for $800k of UK Government Grant funding for further development of the PoC solution. Whilst we have secured UK Government Grant funding, the conditions are such that we need to find match funding to the tune of £175k in order for the project to begin. The Grant is also only paid in arrears quarterly which is certainly of great help, but insufficient at this stage.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
£175000
Team or Project website:
https://www.stofl.net/
Prototype Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS9Mxu7dBNs
Key applicants:
Stofl (Lead) - Stofl serves to facilitate the transition into the decentralised data centric world where blockchain technology forms the fundamental backbone of this new tokenized economy. Stofl was founded on the basis of mutual cooperation, with values that aim to foster sustainable growth as well as rapid adoption of technology where it is most needed in order to improve our world.
Imperial College London (Collaborator) - Imperial College London is a world top ten university with an international reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Consistently rated amongst the world's best universities, Imperial is committed to developing the next generation of researchers, scientists and academics through collaboration across disciplines. Located in the heart of London, Imperial is a multidisciplinary space for education, research, translation and commercialisation, harnessing science and innovation to tackle global challenges.
From Stofl’s Team:
Albert Gardiner (Project Manager) - Executive with 7 years leadership and project management experience in wireless technology and telecom infrastructure companies.
Steven Huang (Technical Lead) - Extensive experience in hardware/firmware (ARM), mobile apps and desktop application development. Experienced in C++, Python, JavaScript and ReactJS. Computer Science MSc.
Pankhuri Bansal (IoT and Blockchain Lead) - Led blockchain innovation at JP Morgan and is Digital Technology Expert for UN, leading technical development of IoT standards. MSc in IoT & Entrepreneurship. PhD in AI/ML.
Roshan Chainani (Blockchain Developer) - Seasoned software engineer, entrepreneur and investor with focus on cryptocurrency/blockchain ecosystems. Physics MSc from UCL and Computing Science MSc from Imperial.
Kaleb Tuck (Full-Stack Developer) - Experienced full-stack developer with extensive skills in software development and embedded systems. MSc in Advanced Software Technology, Imperial. Extensive experience in C/C++, Python, JavaScript and SQL.
Stephanie Price (Mechanical Engineer) - Experienced Mechanical Engineer and Software Developer, previously working as CAD & Quality Engineer at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Experience in SolidWorks C#/C++, MATLAB and VBA.
Shane Fleming (Hardware Lead) - Engineer with world-leading expertise in Embedded Electronics, Reconfigurable Electronics and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays. MEng in Electronic & Information Engineering and PhD in Reconfigurable Computing from Imperial.
Flemming Mouridsen (Business Development and Exploitation) - 15 years professional experience in maritime container and oil/gas industries overseeing multifaceted operations in dynamic environments, with particular interest solving complex logistics/transportation problems.
From Imperial College London’s Team:
William Knottenbelt (Senior Blockchain Researcher) - Professor of Applied Quantitative Analysis at Department of Computing at Imperial and Director of Imperial College's Centre for Cryptocurrency Research and Engineering.
Post Doctorate Research Assistant - Selected from William Knottenbelt's extensive academic network.
Subcontractors:
Linxdot - Hardware Prototyping - Hardware supplier producing Stofl's Mobile Custody Gateway components.
Advisors:
Mishcon de Reya - Leading UK based law firm.
Thales - Heavy Industry partner lending their assets and resources.
Project Details:
Commercialisation and Route-to-Market:
Stofl team will leverage its extensive network within logistics/shipping (DSV Logistics/DHL/Maersk), maritime insurance (AXA/EON/MTD) and assurance/certification (Saybolt/Intertek) to ensure rapid adoption/exploitation.
Potential Pilot to launch with Thales on successful Innovate funding with nonconfidential project findings used by Stofl and Imperial to promote platform, raise awareness and demand in key insurance markets.
Targeting insurers looking to mitigate risk and leverage early warning system relating to storage and transportation of dangerous goods.
Work Packages:
WP1: Project Management. Lead: Albert Gardiner. Days: 159. Cost: £81,326.
WP2: IP, Exploitation & Dissemination. Lead: Flemming Mouridsen. Days: 117. Cost: £128,199.
WP3: Research. Lead: Steven Huang. Days: 164. Cost: £54,187.
WP4: Core Platform Development. Lead: Steven Huang. Days: 184. Cost: £65,454.
WP5: Tracking Device Development. Lead: Shane Fleming. Days: 325. Cost: £110,958.
WP6: Blockchain Backbone Development. Lead: Pankhuri Bansal. Days: 263. Cost: £90,949.
WP7: Mobile Custody Gateway Development. Lead: Shane Fleming. Days: 232. Cost: £80,945.
WP8: UI and Dashboard Development. Lead: Steven Huang. Days: 168. Cost: £59,940.
WP9: Integration and Testing. Lead: Steven Huang. Days: 328. Cost: £111,926.
Deliverables:
D1: Functional & Technical Specification
D2: Research Report
D3: Core Platform Prototype
D4: Tracking Device Prototype
D5: Blockchain Backbone Prototype
D6: Mobile Custody Gateway Prototype
D7: UI Prototype
D8: Integrated Prototype
D9: Exploitation Plan
D10: User Testing Report
Roadmap:
Milestones:
M1: Functional & Technical Specification Complete (Jun 2022).
M2: Tracking Device Prototype Complete (Oct 2022).
M3: Blockchain Backbone Prototype Complete (Nov 2022).
M4: Mobile Custody Gateway Prototype Complete (Jan 2023).
M5: Integrated Prototype Complete (May 2023).
M6: User Testing Complete (Aug 2023).
Project:
Routing
Elevator Pitch:
Through running my virtualprivatepi.com service, I believe I've found a vulnerability that allows a person to circumvent the one hotspot per network measures. This project would design a way to prevent this from happening.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$2000 to cover the time to research and investigate.
Name and Address:
Will provide via email.
Please provide your legal name and a link to the submitted issue to [email protected].
This will streamline the contract process and KYC. A lack of this information will delay the contract.
Team or Project website: (optional)
Team or projects social: (optional)
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
Myself - a senior software engineering manager who's working on his Master's of Computer science in his free time.
Project Details:
I will spend time to research a potential vulnerability in the project that would allow for a person to host an unlimited number of hotspots off of a single connection.
The deliverables from this will be a report that shows if the vulnerability is in fact an issue along with proposals as to how it can be fixed.
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, September 21st (or three weeks) | Report on vulnerability due | Full report as to the vulnerability, the methods, and the impact will be confirmed and delivered. Work with Helium team to release immediate patches if vulnerability does exist. Estimated 20 hours of development time. | 1000 USD |
MS2, October 1st | HIP Delivered | HIP to fix the vulnerability long term will be delivered. Estimated 10 hours of development time. | 1000 USD |
Due to the nature of this grant request, all specific information will be sent via email to the DeWi alliance. It's critical to note that this is not a confirmed exploit and that at this time, I'm only 60% certain this exploit will work. The grant will fund the cost of the hardware, the time, and the effort it will take to validate the exploit and come up with solutions to resolve it.
Project:
Tokenbridge Helium to Ethereum
Elevator Pitch:
The tokenbridge between the Helium and Ethereum blockchains enables interoperability amongst both technologies. One key use case is exchanging HNT to ETH and vice versa, which facilitates trading the token more easily and thus significantly increases asset liquidity. Assets with a liquidity premium (via AMM on Uniswap) are up to 25% more valuable, making Helium even more attractive.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
USD 500'000
Name and Address:
Apps with love AG, Landoltstrasse 63, 3007 Bern, Switzerland
Team or Project website: (optional)
https://appswithlove.com
Team or projects social: (optional)
https://twitter.com/appswithlove
https://www.instagram.com/appswithlove_team
https://www.facebook.com/appswithlove/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/apps-with-love/
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
https://github.com/appswithlove
https://github.com/pcaversaccio
https://github.com/ooswald
https://github.com/risayew
The project team has yet to be built. This is a long running project with a core team at Apps with love, consisting roughly of a project manager, a requirements engineer, UX and UI designers, QA testers, software engineers, blockchain experts. That team is working together with partners and people from the crypto community. As an example, we will have Chainsecurity on board, as well as distributed systems engineers from Innopolis.
Project Details:
This is a summary of the README at https://github.com/pcaversaccio/tokenbridge-helium-ethereum, where you can find more details and technical information about the proposed tokenbridge.
A cornerstone technology of blockchain interoperability is the blockchain bridge which enables two economically sovereign and technologically diverse chains to communicate with each other. Blockchain bridges come in a variety of forms, from centralised and trusted to more decentralised and trustless. We definitely prefer the latter forms of bridges, but there is nothing to stop a development team from building and deploying the former.
The proposed tokenbridge between the Helium and Ethereum blockchains enables exchanging HNT with ETH and vice versa in a decentralized and trustless way. We aim to build a solution based on an ERC20 smart contract (on Ethereum) which serves as a wrapper for HNT (wHNT). With ERC20, tokens can be easily traded via automated market makers such as Uniswap. Helium, in its current state, does not support smart contracts. Therefore, we need to deploy a higher-order protocol to implement a decentralised bridge system. A very promising approach is to use the XCLAIM protocol which Interlay successfully showcased for the Bitcoin-Polkadot bridge.
Roadmap:
As blockchain bridges are relatively new and there is no standard, the exact mechanics and technical details of the Helium-Ethereum token bridge are yet to be defined. Security is a key aspect of the bridge, we absolutely do not want it to be exploitable. Therefore, the project starts with a solution design and requirements engineering phase which we estimate at USD 50k. The budget for the following phases depends largely on the selected solution and can only be roughly predicted.
Milestone | Deliverable | Summary | Cost in USD |
---|---|---|---|
MS1 | Solution Architecture and Requirements | Research, Solution Design, Requirements Engineering and Specifications | 50k |
MS2 | PoC on Testnet | A PoC Helium-Ethereum token bridge that entails, on a high-level, a proper cross-chain message communication via a smart contract system on Ethereum Ropsten Testnet and an overcollateralised vault on Helium Testnet. | ~100k |
MS3 | Public Preview on Testnet | A beta version of the token bridge deployed to Testnets, publicly available, feature complete and documented. | ~200k |
MS4 | v1 on Testnet | Quality assurance, testing and refinement of the bridge. | ~50k |
MS5 | Security Audit | In-depth security audit by a certified institution. | ~50k |
MS6 | v1 in production | Production deployment of the token bridge. | ~50k |
Helium has managed to give the world a decentralized, people-powered, Omni-network protocol. Yet, its most loyal supporters - the HNT miners and holders - must still rely on centralized exchanges for exchanging their earnings and buying tokens to participate. We propose building a bridge that will allow users to convert their HNT for Wrapped HNT (wHNT). By bridging HNT onto EVM compatible blockchains, we can expose HNT to the broader market, allowing users to buy, sell and earn a yield on their tokens in a decentralized way. Expanding HNT’s reach to the larger Defi market will give users a better choice on what to do with their HNT and greater control over their digital assets.
Noble Networks Inc
Andrew Fisher
956 Asbury Ave, FL 2
Ocean City NJ 08226
https://whnt.network/ ("Under Construction")
wHNT: https://github.com/wrappedHNT
Andrew Fisher: https://github.com/afisherdev Frontend Developer / Founder @ Noble Networks
Graham Jenkins: https://github.com/GrahamJenkins - Systems Architect
Graham got started with Crypto by CPU/GPU mining Bitcoin and Namecoin in 2010/2011 while working as a full-time LAMP developer. Graham founded The Geeky Ninja as an IT consulting company in 2016. Over the next few years, he filled technical and managerial roles at several companies, ultimately getting involved with several crypto startups during the 2017 ICO bubble (presale investor with Bancor). In 2018 Graham filled an informal COO role at tokenized-real-estate startup Smartlaw, managing a 15 man development team, followed by a similar position with the Peg Network, (https://peg.network/) a 50% partnership with Bancor, (https://bancor.network/) focused on creating stable token factories capable of being pegged to any asset. Graham took a DevOps/Lead Engineer position with BMA (https://bma.la/) in 2019, managing development efforts for multiple client sites. Graham got involved in another COO role at Brain Inc in 2021, (https://brain.io/) managing operations and overseeing React development of Autopilot (https://autopilot.io/) Graham eventually left this position to focus on The Geeky Ninja full time, now operating as a Crypto consulting, advisory and implementation company employing a 15-20 man international team with an emphasis on Defi projects.
Jose Bravo: https://github.com/Mjavala Senior Engineer - Solidity/Rust
Cory Comly: https://github.com/kindoshen Backend Systems Developer / Founder @ Noble Networks
Lam Hoang: https://github.com/Mal402 - Project Management / Community Manager
Dan Faiman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfaiman/)
Founder/CEO Revyrie
Revyrie is a full services e-merging technologies firm dedicated to launching startups into self-sustaining businesses and pushing developed startups into profitable enterprises. Our mission is to empower startups to deliver innovative technologies and products which improve how we live and enjoy our lives.
Revyrie integrates with each aspect of the startup: from its tech build-out to finding unique verticals. As a result, we can build technology for less than what the entrepreneur is typically able to and create a motivated team and experienced advisory board to guide the startup to a fiduciary event.
Sanjay Reddy(https://www.linkedin.com/in/psanjayreddy/)
Co-founder/General Partner, Unlock Venture Partners
Expertise at the intersection of media, technology, and finance. Experience in multiple verticals, including M&A banking on Wall Street at Salomon Smith Barney, entertainment and digital media in Hollywood at Gemstar-TV Guide (GMST), and technology in Silicon Valley at Covad Communications (COVD). Successful in completing the sale of the last three companies where I was an operator. Experience with private startups (as a co-founder, investor, advisor, operator) and mid-size to large public companies. Now building Unlock Venture Partners, an early-stage venture fund investing in technology companies primarily based in Los Angeles and Seattle.
wHNT - Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/wrappedHNT
wHNT - Discord: https://www.discord.gg/gAvxRwQU
wHNT - Medium https://www.medium.com/@wrappedHNT
Andrew Fisher - Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/iamandrewfisher
Noble Networks - Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/noblenetworks.io/
While there may be a preference within the space for fully on-chain, decentralized systems, we believe there is a need and a place for solutions with centralized components, specifically where smart contracts are not readily deployable. Our proposed method relies on trusted custodians with multi-sig keys to hold funds and, as such, could be placed somewhere in the middle on the spectrum of centralized and trusted to more decentralized and trustless.
Our proposed Custodian/Dao model aims at expanding usability and promoting collaboration among industry partners in a decentralized way:
Protocol funds are held in a multi-sig wallet on the Helium blockchain in the proposed system. Custodians are only authorized to process two types of preapproved transactions: the return of HNT to a wallet due to rejection or the release of HNT upon a wHNT burn transaction. All other actions, such as setting up another hot/cold custodial wallet, require the approval of all DAO members. Custodians do not determine which transaction to complete but rely on DAO members and community-led “Bridge Validators” to help.
The EVM token contract is governed by a token controller the DAO controls. Most DAO member signatures are required to implement changes. In the interest of security and usability, DAO members collectively decide on adding/removing DAO members/validators. In addition, they can adjust various protocol parameters such as fees and delay duration. The DAO does not sign every mint or burn transaction but relies on “Bridge Validators” to determine and process legitimate requests.
Validators run software that communicates with each other, ensuring that each (witnessed/verified) deposit of HNT or wHNT has been approved by at least one validator. To illustrate a request contract, a validator (round-robin chosen) witnesses a transaction, matches it with a request ID, and certifies that it was fulfilled. This transaction (against the Request contract) starts a time delay, after which the mint/burn can be fulfilled. Any validator can challenge the approval during this time, freezing it if they detect an error or fraud. Once a transaction has been validated and passed the time delay, the user or a validator can call claim(requestID), which will mint the tokens to the intended recipient’s wallet or send a request for the release of HNT on burning.
As a proven strategy of creating interoperability between two technologically separate and sovereign blockchains, the described approach has the advantage of being relatively simple to implement compared to a fully decentralized bridge with blockchains that are inherently different in terms of architecture and use case.
We anticipate that this development will take our team three months, with the bulk of the time spent on the Proof of Concept and the remainder on preparations for stress-testing, code audits, and deployment of a functional dAPP on the Ethereum Mainnet.
Milestone Timeframe | Deliverable | Summary | Cost In USD |
Milestone 1, Week 1-4 | Proof of Concept | POC:
|
$30,000
(up front) |
Milestone 2a, Week 5-6 | Test Net Application \ Testnet DAO | Test Net:
|
$30,000
(upon completion) |
Milestone 2b, Week 7-8 | Test Net Application \ Testnet DAO | Test Net:
|
$30,000
(upon completion) |
Milestone 3,,
Week 9-12 |
Final Application Launch | Final App Launch:
|
$60,000
(upon completion) |
Project:
hplans:
hplans is a collection of geojson boundaries of LoRaWAN regional channel plans. These boundaries are used as inputs to lorawan-h3 to generate Uber h3 lists that can be used by the Helium blockchain to lookup the proper region for a hotspot depending on where its location is asserted.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$5000 USD
Name and Address:
gradoj info submitted via DM
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
https://github.com/gradoj/hplans
https://github.com/gradoj
Project Details:
The project will deliver geojson boundaries for all LoRaWAN channel plans based off the LoRaWAN regional parameters as defined by the LoRaWAN alliance regional parameters and historic helium implementation.
Roadmap:
MS1 (deliver initial repo)
-find appropriate datasource
MS2 (deliver regions.csv)
-prepare country to region csv file
-sync Helium country.csv with latest lorawan regional parameters
MS3 (deliver getgeojson.py)
-write download code to download regions based off csv file
MS4 (deliver plans.py)
-write code to combine neighbouring countries with common regions
-generate html file
-generate one combined file regions.geoson
MS5 Integration
-test lorawan-h3 poly generation from https://github.com/helium/lorawan-h3
MS6
-sanitize data so no overlapping regions
MS7
-create template for github cases
-move repo to dewi-alliance github repo
-create readme file for repo
-cleanup repo and documents
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Feb, 2021 | Initial Repo | Evaluate and select initial data source | 0 USD |
MS2, Feb, 2021 | Prepare Regions source | Bring Helium countries.csv and LoRaWAN regional parameters together into regions.csv | 0 USD |
MS3, Mar, 2021 | Automate Download | Using regions.csv automate the download into geojson files | 0 USD |
MS4, Mar, 2021 | Combine Regions | Remove borders of neighbouring countries with common channel plans | 0 USD |
MS5, Aug, 2021 | Integration | Generate h3idx files and address issues | 0 USD |
MS6, Dec, 2021 | Remove Overlaps | Adjust regions where overlapping channel plans occurred | 0 USD |
MS7, Mar, 2022 | Deliver Repo | move repo to dewi-alliance, finish readme, and generate issue template | 5000 USD |
Project:
Helium Blockchain Python SDK
Elevator Pitch:
One of the first hurdles to integration with any platform is the implementation of basic API interaction patterns. This SDK eliminates the learning curve associated with the minutiae of the Helium blockchain's RESTful API, and bundles performance-preserving service-friendly features like connection pooling and exponential back-off. This SDK abstracts the complexities of API interaction so that developers can rapidly build Python applications for the Helium blockchain.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
1,000 HNT (~$30,000 USD)
Name and Address:
Ash Wilson
(Mailing address submitted directly to [email protected])
Team or Project website:
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
Relevant projects where the applicant has made substantial contributions:
Project Details:
Helium Blockchain SDK
This library is offered under the BSD license, and will depend on the following libraries:
This library currently exists in beta state at https://github.com/ashdwilson/helium-python
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, 2022-02-05 | Blockchain API endpoint coverage | All blockchain API endpoints supported by beta SDK. Community begins integration testing and filing tickets. Beta docs are published and CI process is in place for running integration tests, and tracking code quality and test coverage. | 15,000 USD |
MS2, 2022-02-15 | Cutoff for filing defect tickets in Github | Cutoff for pre-release bug reports. Triage, prioritization, and fixes begin. | 0 USD |
MS3, 2022-03-30 | MVP | Bugs addressed, Medium how-to article published, video tutorial for Python REPL ready for publication, documentation is complete, and body of work is ready for transfer to https://github.com/helium organization for ongoing maintenance. | 15,000 USD |
NOTE
This has been a work in progress since late November, and funding from DeWi will encourage/enable me to spend the time closing the gap to get this production-ready.
I'm open to withdrawing this proposal if the submitters of #27 are interested in working together.
Project:
Adaptive Network Modeling using Graph-Based Representations
Elevator Pitch:
Helium's Blockchain API is an effective way to view historical data stored on-chain, but the ledger-based format is less useful for feeding directly into network models. In this project, we propose to build a framework for a graph-based representation of blockchain activity, including Proof of Coverage and Token Flow. By capturing the natural adjacency between hotspots and accounts, we will be able to build machine learning models to, for instance, identify likely "gaming" behavior and predict coverage maps based on hotspot placement.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
18750 USD
Name and Address:
Please provide your legal name and a link to the submitted issue to [email protected].
This will streamline the contract process and KYC. A lack of this information will delay the contract.
Team or projects social: (optional)
About the Applicant:
Evan is a graduate student with years of experience applying machine learning to messy datasets. A longtime member of the Helium Ecosystem, his team won the Grand Prize in the Hackster.io #IoTForGood contest for their predictive beehive monitoring system. He also maintains py-helium-console-client, a Python wrapper for the Console HTTP API. Evan fully embraces open source development and documents his projects in Medium publications like Towards Data Science and Better Programming.
Project Details:
The goal of this project is to create a dynamic, graph-based representation of the Helium Network and develop a preliminary suite of real-time analysis tools to characterize concepts like token flow, coverage mapping, and anomalous hotspot activity. Because Network Graphs natively capture the adjacency between nodes, they are widely used in a variety of applications, including search engines, social media platforms, and even biology. This data structure is also advantageous for the Helium Blockchain, which contains a number of connected elements, such as:
With this representation in place, we can leverage decades of research in graph theory to extract insights about network behavior. For example, Betweenness Centrality, which uses shortest path metrics to identify the nodes that uniquely connect disparate portions of a graph, has been used to identify Reddit communities with the most influence on pop culture. In the context of Proof of Coverage, betweenness can help us find the hotspots that - through witness paths - connect distinct neighborhoods in a city (see below).
In addition to position, we can also apply relevant features to each node, such as local elevation and PoCv11 antenna characteristics, as well as each edge, like the reported RSSI of that witness path. As demonstrated in this blog post, we can use these features to train Graph Neural Networks for the purpose of, for instance, anomaly detection and predictive modeling.
The interpretability of Proof of Coverage is a double-edged sword. On one hand, mining rewards incentivize productive participants to optimize network coverage through well-defined criteria for hotspot placement and configuration. However, these rules also provide convenient thresholds for malicious actors to work around. Alternatively, AI-based approaches can be used to identify nonlinear decision boundaries that are more difficult to circumvent. They also have the benefit of real-time optimization when trained on continuously-evolving datasets. While we are not proposing that such a scheme be implemented in the core consensus protocol, it may be useful for analytics, including gaming detection and predictive modeling. For example, given a certain layout of hotspots in a region, what can we expect the coverage map to look like?
From the perspective of Helium's economics, graphs can also inherently capture concepts like token flow between wallets and exchanges, as well as hotspot ownership. While this information can be extracted from the official Helium API, by storing the data in a native graph database platform (such as the open-source ArangoDB), adjacency is expressed directly, which simplifies analytics and visualization tools.
Technical Objectives:
Graph Database and Extraction Toolkit: Establish a scalable & modular pipeline for generating and storing the graphs in a database, likely ArangoDB. We will create an API with methods for common queries (e.g. get the graph for a given city), as well as an open-source Python library to transform the extracted graphs into analytics-friendly formats, such as NetworkX and PyTorch Geometric. We want to provide Helium and the community with all the tools they need to leverage the dataset in their own analysis pipelines.
Graph Development: Explore different ideas for the graphs themselves, regarding the scale and nature of the adjacency matrix. In the demo implementation, the global Helium Network was segmented on a city-to-city basis, but it may also make sense to try kRings or other, more localized representations.
Feature Engineering: With the advent of POCv11, we can also incorporate local regulations and antenna setups into the feature set, which will help us characterize regional differences and improve our ability to spot anomalous activity. A stretch goal would be to incorporate features that are not stored on-chain, but would be useful for modeling, e.g. local geography and/or elevation.
Anomaly Detection: Develop a proof-of-concept, real-time anomaly detection model. We will explore Graph Neural Network-based architectures, as well as more conventional clustering approaches, like PCA and t-SNE (the idea being to capture the main distribution of "nominal" hotspots, where outliers fall somewhere outside that main cluster).
Modeling Coverage Maps: Develop a predictive model that, given a certain arrangement of hotspots, generates the expected coverage map, rewards scales, and/or witness paths.
Dashboard: Finally, we will present these results to the community with a preliminary visualization tool. A live dashboard indicating, for instance, how many "outlier" hotspots we are detecting at any given moment, how much HNT is being lost due to these bad actors, as well as a graph of real-time token flow. In addition to useful metrics, this should give us a sense of the scalability and stability of the ETL pipeline.
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Dec. 7, 2021 | Graph Database Importer | Automated pipeline for generating and importing network graphs to ArangoDB database. Dataset will include adjacencies between hotspots and accounts, using features contained on-chain. Estimated at 25 developer hours. | 3125 USD |
MS2, Dec. 14, 2021 | API + Deep Learning Toolkit (alpha) | v1 API to support common queries of the database, as well as initial Python package for converting results into analysis-friendly formats. This phase will include an investigation of the feasibility of embedding off-chain data, such as elevation/geographic features. Estimated at 25 developer hours. | 3125 USD |
MS3, Dec. 21, 2021 | Model Building Pt. 1 | Preliminary real-time Graph NN-based model(s) for anomaly detection. Goal will be to estimate the percentage of "gaming" activity on the network, by number of hotspots and by rewards. Estimated at 20 developer hours. | 2500 USD |
MS4, Jan. 10, 2022 | Model Building Pt. 2 | Preliminary model for coverage mapping. Goal will be to predict coverage (if feasible from limited mapper data at this time) and/or estimated rewards by hotspot given a certain configuration, which will (ideally) aid PoC optimization efforts. Estimated at 20 developer hours. | 2500 USD |
MS5, Jan. 17, 2022 | Model Building Pt. 3 | Real-time token flow analysics tool. Will focus on aggregate movement to and from exchanges, as well as significant transfers. Estimated at 15 developer hours. | 1875 USD |
MS6, Jan 27, 2022 | Dashboard | Basic web-based dashboard showing real-time metrics for anomaly detection & token flow models. Visual demo of coverage mapping prediction as function of hotspot placement. Estimated at 25 developer hours. | 3125 USD |
MS7, Feb 7, 2022 | Final Deliverables | Open-source repository of analysis tools + Medium article(s) describing the completed work and instructions on how the community can access the dataset to create future models/tools. Estimated at 20 developer hours. | 2500 USD |
Project:
The Sense our World Project
The aim of this project is to help the world's scientists, research organizations and universities get more data to aid in the struggle against climate change and natural disasters. By providing them with the data they need through the mass deployment of low powered environmental sensors, utilizing the power of LoRaWAN wireless technology, and the public LoRaWAN network, helium.
Total fiat/hnt ask: $110,000
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K85vF-1s5Y6krHsyQDq2_LrCB5rpltEbr2jA1toN8Qo/edit?usp=sharing
The Athena Project: Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Data Verification: Methods, Standards, & Scalable Deployment Solutions
This project seeks to develop a decentralized data standardization layer on top of the Helium Network to allow interoperable data sets between IoT devices for environmental monitoring. These standards provide the basis for trustless ESG asset verification, and an entire ecosystem of derived regenerative financial (ReFi) services.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
USD $90,000
Athena LLC:
Timothy Carter, Environmental Data Scientist & Policy Organizer
805 Dahlia St. Denver, CO 80220
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-carter-2a4a361a9
Christian Casazza, Strategic Market Solutions
41 Jackson Ave, Bayville, NY, 11709
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiancasazza
Environmental Social Governance (ESG) assets are projected to be worth 50 trillion dollars by 2025. The current ESG marketplace is mainly composed of assets backed by nothing more than self-reported figures, with loose, un-standardized reporting regulations. This lack of reporting leaves vast demand for verifying environmental, public health, and governance data that cannot be met in a scalable or cost-effective manner by Web 2 implementations.
Data quality, collection methodology, and interoperability are imperative to create a global environmental data repository. Interoperability is the core advantage that decentralized storage technologies offer, making them far better suited for environmental monitoring than the information silos of their legacy predecessors.
The process of developing industry standards should be carefully cultivated by a network of industry partners. These standards should be tested, subjected to community review, and iterated upon. On this end, we seek to create a forum of various stakeholders in the ecosystem.
Further, investments in environmental monitoring should pay careful attention to scalability, reproducibility, modular design, and ease of deployment. For this purpose, it is beneficial to design and deploy multiple solutions in parallel to reduce costs where possible without sacrificing ease of deployment to a significant degree.
We hope to build upon, standardize, and improve the processes developed and deployed by previous and current project participants such as #13 wherever possible. We hope to aid these projects in creating incentive structures for sustainable business models.
###Roadmap:
The long-term goal of this project is to develop a system of standards and methodologies that enable the development of an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Data Standardization layer. This proposal is broken into 2 phases. All reports will be published for the community throughout the project and aggregated into a learning resource at the end of phase 2.
Phase 1 is for research, reporting, and coordinating industry participation in a forum to develop the basis for a set of recommended standards and methodologies. Our report will include interviews with various stakeholders, data quality verification methods, and data quality financial incentive models.
Milestone | Summary | Breakdown | Funding Requested |
---|---|---|---|
M1 - Infrastructure Testing & Comparison | Deploy, Test & Compare Monitoring Solutions for optimal cost, ease of deployment, and reproducibility. |
|
20,000 Upfront |
M2 - Reporting and Forum | Conduct Initial Analysis and Develop a public forum concerning environmental data standards and data markets. |
|
10,000 Upon Delivery |
M3 - Decentralized Data Storage & p2p File transfer | The interoperability of decentralized data storage solutions will be key in building the next generation of environmental monitoring solutions. While the technologies have come a long way, their are still few successful implementations to date, for this reason a deep dive and subsequent reporting into the current state and limitations of decentralized storage and p2p file transfer technologies. The report will provide of overview of several providers, a summary of the providers we have decided to build on and why, and the code repos we will be utilizing. |
|
15,000 Upfront |
Phase 2 is intended to deploy, test, and iterate upon the recommendations developed during Phase 1. The aim is to develop a durable, scalable, and cost-effective off-grid monitoring solution that meets industry standards, fills an economic niche, utilizes decentralized storage, and incentivizes data collection. We will do this through testing and comparison of materials and engaging the Helium and scientific community throughout the iterative process.
Milestone | Summary | Breakdown | Funding Requested |
---|---|---|---|
M1 - Off-Grid Design & Network Extension Solutions | Research & test solutions to extend network connectivity to previously neglected regions. Develop a methodology for the implementation of our chosen solution |
|
20,000 Upfront |
M2 - Deployment and Testing | Publish baseline standards for environmental monitoring of drought/flood probability and any other standards derived from the industry forum. |
|
10,000 Upfront |
M3 - Standards & Methodologies | Launch and maintain an iterative field study with the dual goal of materials testing and standards implementation. |
|
10,000 Upon Delivery |
###Final Product:
In-depth reporting and educational course material hosted through an educational web application concerning:
Deployment and testing of approved monitoring solutions to detect the probability of drought/flood and other wildfire mitigation-related observations.
Publication of an open-access environmental data asset using decentralized storage solutions. Arweave, IPFS, Ceramic etc. This will provide the foundation for an end-to-end ESG asset verification layer on the open web.
Establishment of a committee of stakeholders around ESG assets on data standards
Examples of organizations to be engaged in the development of standards include. but are not limited to:
[Toucan Protocol](https://toucan.earth/)
[Moss Earth](https://moss.earth/)
[dClimate](https://www.dclimate.net/)
[Arbol](https://www.arbolmarket.com/)
[Moonjelly Dao](http://moonjelly.io/home)
[United States National Forest Service](https://www.fs.usda.gov/)
[Colorado Parks & Wildlife](https://cpw.state.co.us/)
Paraguay National Forest Service
[Shamba](https://shamba.link/)
[Astrea](https://astraea.earth/)
After completing both of these phases, we plan to launch a full-scale deployment in Paraguay. The deployment is intended to incentivize land stewardship, protect local agriculture, and combat the eutrophication of freshwater ecosystems in the region of Ybycui National Park. The study will provide a reproducible end-to-end market application and use case for the Helium Network.
Team or projects social & websites:
[https://athena.wiki/](https://www.athena.wiki/intro.html)
[https://twitter.com/athenaequity](https://twitter.com/athenaequity)
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/athena-equity-solutions](https://www.linkedin.com/company/athena-equity-solutions/?viewAsMember=true)
####Code Repos of team or key applicants:
[https://github.com/AthenaEquity](https://github.com/AthenaEquity)
[https://github.com/T0admomo](https://github.com/T0admomo)
Helium and Solana Bridge Testnet
Name of Project: Project Agate (HNT|mHNT)
Proposer: @anthonyra#2034
Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this grant?: To be determined, not sure what all can be open sourced since it's more along the lines of infrastructure and how they communicate. Can be discussed in length during application process.
The future of the Helium ecosystem heavily depends on its capability for market growth and trustless actions not currently possible with its layer 1 blockchain. To assist with this, a foundation must be built to support the portability of HNT or an equivalent onto a Virtual Machine capable blockchain. Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano are three such blockchains that could assist with "bridging" the gap.
Solana is the ideal candidate for the initial propagation of HNT due to its high throughput, low-cost transactions; A bridge between Solana and Ethereum exists; utilizing Rust eliminates the need for community support of a new programming language and aligns with light gateways.
Helium doesn't have a native virtual machine on chain, because of this we will be standing up a sidechain (codename Agate) using Hyperledger Fabric. Using Fabric will allow peer nodes (validators) to join with a "majority vote in" to perform the bridging orchestration. This greatly decentralizes the bridge.
For the proof of concept used on Testnet, the Fabric Network will consist of only two Organizations. The first being Mycelium Networks and the other being DeWi, both of which can have max of 2 peer nodes. The peer nodes will be used to validate the transactions performed on either blockchain and return a signature that will be used to authorize the completion of the bridging of the tokens. For this structure to work Helium needs to have burn and mint transactions for HNT. These transactions will be all atomic in nature.
The user will sign a transaction to burn the token being moved across the bridge and a transaction for Agate to watch for that burn on the originating blockchain. The Agate transaction adds the burn to the pending transactions for the associated smart contract. The peers then constantly monitor the originating blockchain "watching" for the burn to settle. Once settled, the peer will sign the resulting transaction for validation. When the majority of the peers agree on seeing the burn being settled the resulting transaction and signature then authorizes the mint request on the destination blockchain.
Each blockchain will have a "watcher" contract and a minting contract on Agate.
To use the bridge the user needs to be able to interact with Agate, Helium, and Solana. To provide this the Dapp will have integration support for Phantom Wallet (Solana) and Laser Wallet (Helium). It'll also have the capability to use QR codes or deep linking with the new Helium App.
The Dapp will also provide the client access needed to submit the required Agate transactions to trigger the "watcher" contracts and subsequent mint request.
NOTE
In the unlikely chance that a bridge cannot be completed automatically there will be a dispute process in place that can be initiated to ensure that all funds are accounted for after any bridge operations.
Provide a Helium bridge to Solana. With the capability to do gateway reward splits in the future.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Week 1-4 | L1 Blockchain Preparations |
|
$30k (Upfront) |
MS2, Week 5-8 | Testnet Launch |
|
$60k |
MS3, Week 9-12 | Open Testnet Bridge to Public | Open the bridge to users for load testing and performance checks. Final product will be able to Bridge TNT (Helium Testnet Token) to Solana via Phantom Wallet. | $60K |
$ Provide infrastructure as code via Terraform to spin up an Organization used with the Hyperledger Fabric Agate network. This script will spin up a Helium Node (blockchain-node) and a Solana RPC validator with PrivateLink communication to the Peer Node operating within Hyperledger Fabric.
Total |
---|
$150,000 |
The cost breakdown above will cover all development costs to include hardware and infrastructure costs for the bridge.
There will be a fee collected on the Helium side of the bridge transaction in order to cover the cost associated with such a service.
@anthonyra#2034
@OG Rish#0001
@Coinosopher#0001
Elevator Pitch:
Multisig support for all transactions have been in blockchain-core for a while now. However, there are no easy ways to access the multisig capabilities currently outside of erlang and rust. By establishing conventions and exposing dev tooling in the JS for general multisig support, we will enable the developer community to build more secure products that serve the Helium community.
Value Prop:
Multisig transactions allow developers to create custodial accounts that enable more secure/decentralized bridging to other chains. By enabling these bridges, it unlocks millions if not hundreds of millions of dollars of liquidity into the ecosystem currently dominated by only a few large, centralized exchanges.
Additionally, multisig opens up an array of possibilities that developers can build novel Helium products with (Example: Multisig addresses can be constructed from ecc_compact keys that miners currently use).
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$10,000 ($20,000 for expedited timeline)
Name:
@syuan100
Project Deliverables:
JS Library support for these functions:
Acceptance criteria:
Code demonstration that creates a multisig address, initiates a transaction to be signed by multisig members, collects signatures to create a multisig signature, and then submits the transaction successfully to the blockchain.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1 (March 28 / March 14*) | JS Implementation | Implement project deliverables above in the helium-js lib | 70% |
MS2 (April 11 / March 21*) | Demonstration | End to end demonstration as outlined in Acceptance Criteria above | 20% |
MS3 (April 18 / March 28*) | Documentation | Update helium-js readmes to include documentation for multisig functions | 10% |
* Expedited timeline dates
Opensource Hosting Management Platform
Individuals and organizations currently have a small selection of provider solutions for managing hosting hotspots. These
tools are not free and current community tooling is a prohibitive factor for those interested in investing in hotspots to
provide to hosts. Starting a hosting company already requires significant startup costs such as incorporation, legal,
asset purchases, etc. Having access to opensource, free community tooling with which to contribute to edge network growth will further enable providers and accelerate growth.
Not having a community-provided tool to help manage the running of a host company reduces investment interest. The small number of non-free tools have no pressure to increase the reliability or breadth of their feature set, as there is no open source, community alternative. Current platforms store private data, have poor performance/uptime, and have limited options for data export (if export works at all). Centralizing hosts to one of a handful of private platforms is bad for the longevity of host companies and thus the community. We seek to enable more people to participate and control their own data. A sudden change in pricing or lost access to existing market options can have a critical negative impact on the viability of hotspot hosting.
We will build an opensource hosting platform that is easy to run, easy to extend, open-sourced, and fully featured. This will allow individuals providing new, valuable coverage to have access to the tools they need to run their burgeoning fleets without having to pay for the basic services required to manage assets, hosts, payments, taxes, and other basic concerns. As the tool will be stewarded by the community and open source, features can be enhanced in a way that provides value to everyone.
$87,500
Crypto Balloon LLC - 3712 Ringgold Road #185, Chattanooga, TN 37412
Crypto Balloon LLC
Joe Cronyn
Joshua Miller
The Helium community and it's continued growth is, to a large extent, supported by individuals and businesses that run
hosting companies. We have a strong desire to create an open-source tool that is free to use, sensitive to user privacy,
and provides the tools that these entities need to be able to successfully manage their hotspot fleets and grow the network.
We will develop an opensource application that can be run and will allow a variety of providers to self-manage their hosting assets, hosts, payments, profitability, taxes, and other facets of hotspot hosting management. This platform can serve as a base for a competitive platform-as-a-service offerings, as well as being a free solution for technically-inclined (or adequately motivated) parties.
The final deliverable for this project will be a Python based application that meets the following criteria.
We have used Django to deploy many sites to production - serving anything from technology asset and supply chain
management to high-volume e-commerce and marketing. Django provides a platform that is extremely well-engineered and allows for the development of a site that can support multi-tenancy, customized branding, extensions/add-ons, i18n, etc. with ease. This mature and well-documented architecture along with our track record of delivering Django sites makes this the perfect choice for a significant platform like this. Clients will be able to customize back-end functionality such as authentication, databases, caching, etc. and user-facing elements such as branding with ease.
It is our recommendation that the core functionality of this initial version of the site NOT use a single-page app (SPA)
with a backend API approach. Separate front-end and back-end implementations are inherently more work to implement and maintain vs. a server-side rendered (SSR) web application. APIs to be used by client-created frontends should be provided in a followup grant. It is unlikely that the initial use case for this platform (hosting company) will have ample engineers and designers to bike shed over aesthetics. While it is obvious other products can be built onto a platform that has all the information for a hosting company, that is a much greater scope than focusing on delivering a functional, performant, and easily extensible platform to manage a fleet of hotspots.
This functionality will be built into the Django admin as much as possible. We will provide one custom default theme that highlights that this is a Helium application. As permitted by the Helium Foundation, this can include their branding so the relationship is illuminated. A good overview of Django Admin can be found here.
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS1, Q3-2022 | Core modeling, helium-py integration, usable CDK for IaC deploy. | Django app with appropriate db models, real-time interaction with the blockchain, and configurable alerts, etc. Open to approved alpha/beta testers. | 50,000 USD |
MS2, Q3/Q4-2022 | Payments/commission history - tax data. Complete remaining test coverage. | Expand real-time blockchain API interaction to pull payments data for commissions and create scannable QR to generate bulk payments. Fill in testing if applicable. | 25,000 USD |
MS2, Q4-2022 | Project completion, additional documentation, and community engagement. | Final Project Updates and Completion. Create a video overview of the platform and write a blog on the process and how to get started with the tool. Handoff to DeWi Github, etc. | 12,500 USD |
We are obviously too late for grant batch one.
I just came across dewi.org and the grant program today.
We started work on assembling the resources to pitch a proposal in the deployment support category.
Is the deadline for batch two proposals already set?
If so, what is it?
If not, when will it be set?
Thank you,
--PB--
Project:
Coverage Mapping API, Signal Quality Reports and Hotspot Coverage (HotspotRange.com)
Edit: 9/26/21 - This project is being modified to expand much further on the secure mapping pieces. Some of the fiat ask may change through this but this change is in response to the most recent developments with the PoC forwarding.
Elevator Pitch:
If we want Helium to grow, we need to prove that coverage exists at a given location and that it will actually allow LoRa devices to access the network. This project can lay the foundation for ensuring people aren't gaming the network by calculating locations of hotspots and providing confidence scores. This specific project has multiple use cases which will be described below.
Total fiat/hnt ask:
$80,000 (in stages described below).
Name and Address:
Provided via email previously.
Company Name: Dinsky Doodles LLC
Please provide your legal name and a link to the submitted issue to [email protected].
This will streamline the contract process and KYC. A lack of this information will delay the contract.
Team or Project website: (optional)
http://hotspotrange.com (not currently deployed)
Proof Of Concept:
https://ajkelly.net/portfolio/static/getHotspotData.php
Pervious projects I've completed with similar concepts:
Leafly v1.0 Android Application
Tools under NDA for Fortune 500s
Team or projects social: (optional)
Team: to be hired
Code Repos of team or key applicants:
Myself - a senior software engineering manager who's working on his Master's of Computer science in his free time.
Project Details:
This project will have numerous facets that will be delivered in the order below:
1b) As part of the accuracy of hotspot placement, this will be aggregated into two specific parts: the reported data from the mappers, and the reported data from the beacons. In the prototype, I'm already calculating the accuracy of the hotspot's location; by using multiple data points and averaging the perceived distance in the direction of the signal. (Direction is hotspot location to mapper location). I'm also strengthening this number by including diversity of the device reporting the data. What I'm seeing is a correlation - X distance away will have Y impact on the signals and this can be used to determine the accuracy of the placement. What's critical to note is that v1 will use generalized building data for a given city instead of precise. V2 can potentially include city topography too.
2b) (In Progress) - A mapping API to support all of the above in addition to other metrics including: City Coverage, State / Province Coverage, Coverage Latency, Coverage Redundancy, Coverage Competition.
(Not Started - data is available) An API that provides a report of "most reputable" and "least reputable" asserted hotspots. This will be based on calculations on data from the mappers, the diversity factor of the mapper (different organizations), and PoC v12 metrics.
(Not started - scoped) A payment system for validating hotspot placement. Rewarding Mappers with HNT by paying to validate the locations of the hotspots - at a bare minimum, covering the data credits cost, and at a maximum, start paying out actual PoC rewards.
(head is in the cloud now) Have a ML model to automatically identify coverage patterns scores which would indicate stacking or misassertion. This is the least baked and thought out part of the project; however, in the coverage mapping above, this would allow us to focus on bad actors and consider taking punitive action (pending approval from community).
Roadmap:
Milestone + Date | Deliverable | Summary | Cost |
---|---|---|---|
MS0, On Approval | N/A | Design begins for the UI described above. Freelance designer(s) will be retained and paid to build out full mocks for the entire site. Mocks will be development ready and will ensure the functionality in the project listed above. | 5000 USD |
MS1, October 18th | Designs, Spec, and Mocks | Have the web UI project fully specced and ready for development. This will include a full spec for the UI, the map, the way we present the hotspot data, the verification we do (if any), and the communications needed around the launch of this project. Developers hired and start working on the project | 10000 USD |
MS2, November 15th | Ingestion and CICD | Ingestion APIs are fully converted to microservices hosted on IoT services for hotspotrange.com, Proof of Concept deprecated, progress made on the deployment of the UI project (amount TBD), full CICD pipeline deployed | 15000 USD |
MS2.5, November 15th | Submit HIP for Reputation factor | Present the HIP for the reputation factor which will allow us to identify the reputability associated with a hotspot deployment location. This HIP will likely receive controversial community engagement, so this is being called out as a specific MS as part of this plan. | 0 USD |
MS3, December 20th | Beta Deployment | Following Web UI pieces are now working properly: all mapping data presented, filtering of mapping data, coverage proof by filtering (e.g. city, hotspot name, QoS), Competition Factors deployed, Login (TBD but likely oauth or discord), hotspot owner verification, and any auxiliary services needed to support these features. | 15000 USD |
MS4, January 2022 | GA | All items from 1, and 2 are now fully available for public consumption with the appropriate UI to explain how helium works, how the signals work, what competition factors are, and demonstrate how a person could improve network coverage by moving their hotspot. | 15000 USD |
MS5, February 2022 | Loose Ends | Implement item 3 and begin taking action on this data based on the HIP presented in 2.5. Actions are not determined yet and will be explored with the community. We ultimately don't want to create a system that bans people for life - especially considering they can still expand the network with the hardware they were abusing. | Remainder |
All items can be broken down in to further Epics, Features, or User Stories if needed for the consideration of this grant.
All grant funds quoted above will be used for the following purposes:
To help save on costs, I'll take point as the PM (as I have experience as a PM) but may add additional help in this area.
Given that this has an ETL model and potentially large amounts of data, it's important that I call out that the long term operational costs may be a problem. To proactively plan for this (and in spirit of transparency), we may need to add a limited but monetized experience where X calls would always be free for life - Y amount would be at a premium service. This will not be able to be determined until after project launch.
Additional considerations:
We would need to use a significantly faster mapper code such as the one I've published here: https://github.com/pilotdeveloper/cubecell_gps_mapping
Additional Usages:
A declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
🖖 Vue.js is a progressive, incrementally-adoptable JavaScript framework for building UI on the web.
TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that compiles to clean JavaScript output.
An Open Source Machine Learning Framework for Everyone
The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines.
A PHP framework for web artisans
Bring data to life with SVG, Canvas and HTML. 📊📈🎉
JavaScript (JS) is a lightweight interpreted programming language with first-class functions.
Some thing interesting about web. New door for the world.
A server is a program made to process requests and deliver data to clients.
Machine learning is a way of modeling and interpreting data that allows a piece of software to respond intelligently.
Some thing interesting about visualization, use data art
Some thing interesting about game, make everyone happy.
We are working to build community through open source technology. NB: members must have two-factor auth.
Open source projects and samples from Microsoft.
Google ❤️ Open Source for everyone.
Alibaba Open Source for everyone
Data-Driven Documents codes.
China tencent open source team.