Walking tall
Amazon’s Sidewalk is another new entry in the smart device comms canon, and another which can happily carry Project CHIP data. Amazon is directing Sidewalk at devices which require long–range communications with low–power hardware — things like item trackers, sensors, and so on. It’s a mesh network running on the 900MHz band; that’s slower than many radio bands, and doesn’t give devices much bandwidth, but its higher wavelength means it can penetrate further.
The keys to Sidewalk’s success will be adoption. Devices like Amazon’s new Echo range and certain Ring cameras (generally those with wall power) can act as Sidewalk repeaters, passing on the signals not only of devices of their owners, but of any Sidewalk–enabled smart device in the vicinity (if permissions are granted). It’s believed the long–term aim is to turn Sidewalk into a cities–wide mesh network. With a number of repeaters slowly popping up, early Sidewalk devices are on the way: Tile promises Sidewalk–enabled trackers soon, which will make a lot more sense than the current crop of Bluetooth trackers.