Pilot programmes with Arizona State University and Thingy are showing the value of Amazon’s Sidewalk network in public places and wilderness areas.

Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices such as Amazon Echo devices, Ring security cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors and Tile trackers work better at home and beyond the front door. When enabled, Sidewalk can unlock benefits for devices, support other Sidewalk devices in the community, and even locate pets or lost items.

Since launching Sidewalk, Amazon has seen the network rapidly grow in residential areas across the USA, helping devices work harder inside homes, outside in the yard, and around the neighbourhood. But the benefits of Sidewalk can extend further, which is why it has announced Sidewalk Bridge Pro by Ring, a professional-grade bridge for businesses, municipalities, universities and public services.

This device helps organisations address problems created by limited connectivity, which is why it is also launching two pilot programmes, the first with Arizona State University to benefit smart cities research and the second with Thingy to help first responders fight wildfires.

Rolling out with select organisations, Sidewalk Bridge Pro will provide Sidewalk connectivity to devices such as sunlight sensors, air quality indicators and moisture sensors in places such as commercial centres, parks and wilderness areas.

This bridge device is optimised for longer range and greater capacity. It also has a rugged housing to withstand outdoor conditions and comes with the option to add indoor or outdoor antennas. The device can be installed inside or outside and simultaneously connect to hundreds of devices over 8km away, while also delivering multiple layers of privacy and security protections built in to Sidewalk.

One of the first organisations to begin testing with Sidewalk Bridge Pro is Arizona State University’s University Technology Office (UTO). In a proof-of-concept with Amazon, UTO will explore how the professional-grade bridge can help on-campus connected devices such as sunlight sensors, temperature sensors, CO₂ detectors and particle counters stay connected while providing data used by university faculty researchers to improve smart campuses and smart cities.

UTO will install Sidewalk Bridge Pro devices on select blue light poles on the university’s Tempe campus. While maintaining their primary function as emergency stations for faculty and students, the blue light poles will offer strategic positioning and the built-in internet access needed for Bridge Pro devices to broadcast Sidewalk over long distances.

Through this pilot, the university intends to extend the range of connectivity for its on-campus IoT devices, while freeing up the university’s wifi for high-bandwidth activities such as remote learning, video conferencing, online research and streaming.

“Exploring sustainable and long-term solutions plays a critical role in advancing our smart technology initiatives, both on campus and within the community,” said Bobby Gray, the university’s director of digital transformation. “The university is unique in that it is a space that encourages new ideas and disruptive technologies to be developed, tested and iterated upon quickly. Our goal is to deploy and test Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro to bring smart solutions, like those fitted to the blue light poles, to campus at scale and lower costs.”

Amazon is also kicking off a proof-of-concept with Thingy, a company that makes air quality monitoring systems, to provide critical information about wildfires to first responders. Since 1983, the USA has experienced an average of 70,000 wildfires per year, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In response, engineers and firefighters developed Thingy’s air quality systems, Thingy AQ, for the EPA’s Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge. Thingy AQ systems are lightweight and deployable in wilderness areas to measure air pollutants, air temperature, humidity and geo-location data. First responders can use that information to make informed and quick decisions about how to combat wildfires, model smoke movement, and protect people and property.

Wildland and bush fires often occur in areas that lack communications infrastructure. Given the limitations of wifi and cellular data in these areas, Thingy will begin testing with Sidewalk Bridge Pro using LoRa telemetry to transmit data to and from Thingy AQ. This effort is expected to increase connectivity for Thingy AQ and help protect public lands, homes, vineyards and farms from catastrophic damage.

“We designed Thingy AQ for very remote locations, where power efficiency and range were critical for fire ground operations, and have been using LoRa since day one,” said Scott Waller, CEO of Thingy. “Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro brings us the power of LoRa in a massive number of needed locations, easy integration with our existing applications in Amazon Web Services, and trusted security for the devices and applications. We are very excited to work with Amazon Sidewalk to measure air quality and wildfires with our sensors and help solve the connectivity challenges for these critical applications.”