The @helium IoT and 5G Networks serve the needs of two separate industries.
Powered by #LoRaWAN, thousands of square miles of coverage on the @helium IoT Network support millions of low-powered use cases such as smart water and parking meters, pet trackers, agricultural sensors, environmental monitoring stations, and flood sensors.
The @helium 5G Network is the second wireless Network and newest addition to coverage on the Helium Blockchain. Meant for high-speed consumer use, 5G Hotspots fuel coverage for cellular devices such as phones and tablets.
The amount of $HNT distributed to Hotspots on the @helium Network depends on the type of “work” they perform based on the value to the Network. Here’s a full breakdown of $HNT mining rewards, with 61% of minted rewards earned by Hotspots.
Of these rewards, Network Data Transfer is allotted to both LoRaWAN and 5G Hotspots. On the other hand, the 26% of rewards allocated for Proof-of-Coverage is currently just for LoRaWAN Hotspots on the Network.
As the Network evolves toward allowing more wireless protocols besides LoRaWAN and 5G, community discussion continues around whether Proof-of-Coverage should be allocated beyond LoRaWAN, and how such a distribution would take place. Join the conversation: discord.gg/helium.
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This week the @helium Network was severely tested. The core developers and Helium community have worked together to address multiple challenges that have resulted from its unprecedented growth.
A more detailed, engineering-specific post-mortem will be published later this week, but we wanted to provide initial details on these incidents so everyone could have some early context on what happened.
First, BIG THANKS to everyone for their contributions and their patience through the past week. A core strength of this Network is that it’s built by the people: Hotspot owners, Validator operators, device owners, developers, manufacturers, and mods make the Network resilient.
The @helium Network connects #IoT (and soon 5G) devices in ways never before possible and at a fraction of the cost of cellular, without users needing to deploy and maintain wireless infrastructure.
The Network's range is optimized for devices running on @helium#LongFi, a combination of #LoRaWAN and the Helium Blockchain. This opens up a number of use cases including asset tracking, supply chain logistics, agricultural #tech, & more, up to 10 miles+ from nearby Hotspots.
The @helium Token is the native cryptocurrency and protocol token of the Helium Blockchain. Its symbol is $HNT. The first $HNT was produced on July 29th, 2019 at 09:43pm UTC as part of the Network's genesis block. Prior to this date, there was no premine of $HNT.
The @helium Token is designed to serve the needs of two primary parties on #ThePeoplesNetwork: 1. Hotspot owners, who mine $HNT for providing and maintaining coverage. 2. Enterprises and developers, who connect #IoT devices and applications to the Network using Data Credits.
Hotspots earn $HNT for building and securing network infrastructure and transferring device data. The amount of $HNT distributed to Hotspots depends on the type of “work” they perform based on the value to the network. Here’s a full breakdown of $HNT mining rewards.
Hotspots are chosen as a Challenger by the network to issue Challenges (encrypted messages over the internet) to a selected Hotspot, receiving 0.95% of token rewards for doing so. Hotspots can issue challenges to any location around the world 🌎, not just to local Hotspots.
One of the more unique aspects of the @Helium Network is the Consensus Protocol. Proof-of-Coverage (#PoC) is used for sybil resistance and to periodically select a new #HoneyBadgerBFT group.
Ask any Hotspot host and they will tell you how they dream of joining the coveted Consensus Group - a small group of Hotspots on #ThePeoplesNetwork that receives 6% of all $HNT mined per epoch.
Following our thread on the work of a Challenger in Proof-of-Coverage (PoC), it’s only fair we take a look at the Challengees who are key to successfully transferring packets, completing PoC challenges and earning $HNT!
The role of the Challengee is to prove to the Challenger that they are actually creating network coverage that #LongFi devices can use. For successfully responding to these challenges, the Challengee is rewarded in newly minted $HNT.
Challengees receive encrypted multi-layer packets wirelessly, via RF. Each layer of the packet is encrypted for specific Challengees in a sequential path. When a Challengee receives a packet and can decrypt it, they send their proof back to the Challenger via the #p2p network.