Fully understand the decentralized wireless communications network Helium

investmentThe profile

With the development of the Internet of Things industry, the current installation of sensors and other iot devices is increasing exponentially. Due to the disadvantages of large power consumption and high cost of traditional Internet of Things devices based on mobile cellular communication technology, the pair ofLow power consumption, wide coverageWireless network requirements.

Helium's current adoption is mainstreamLoRaWANLong-distance wireless technology,More compatible equipment, wide audience.As the current blockchain ecosystemThe only  A product offering low power, wide coverage wireless network access, Helium is on the trackSignificant competitive advantage. Combined with the incentive mechanism of blockchain, it is naturally superior to traditional Internet of Things operators in terms of equipment construction cost and promotion speed at the early stage of the project.

Helium team is reasonably configured, and the project has raised a total of about $164.8 million, which is favored by several top investment institutions in the industry and has a sufficient Treasury.

In terms of technology, Helium Ecology involves a long technology chain. Initially, It built and distributed LoRaWAN remote wireless routers to achieve a wireless network with low power consumption and wide coverage. Then, the construction and effective Coverage of decentralized wireless network are realized mainly through the construction of Helium male chain and the combination of PoC and other technologies.The overall technical logic is clear.

In terms of ecology, starting from June 2021, Helium is growing at a rate of over 30,000 hot spots every month, with an average increase of 1,000 hot spots per day.The size of the network has grown rapidly in recent months.Helium is also actively integrating with various Internet of Things applications to expand the use of projects. Currently, there are dozens of companies in the United States that have partnered with Helium, and there are actual combined application scenarios and implementation requirements.However, the actual profit of the project has not been disclosed by the team.

The economic model is reasonably designed, HNT tokens are a necessity in the whole ecosystem,Tokens are useful.

In the future, the most important thing for Helium in the next stage is the deployment of 5G wireless network. If it can be successfully launched and adopted, it will undoubtedly be a great benefit for the whole project.However, we should also take into account that the cost of 5G base station construction, from being put into commercial use, is undoubtedly a very large number during this period. Moreover, 5G network deployment will involve 5G operators and different countries and regionspolicyFactors, operating costs, terminal ecology and other issues.

1. Basic situation

1.1 & have spentProject introduction

Helium aims to provide wireless network access with low power consumption and wide coverage for Internet of Things devices. Encourage Hotspot miners to buy Hotspot equipment (Hotspot mining machines in the Helium network) through token incentives,Thus shifting the construction cost of the project start-up phase.Provide wireless network access for iot devices within the effective coverage area of Hotspot.

The team is currently planning to roll out a decentralized 5G network and support mobile network operators to expand their signal coverage with Helium 5G.

1.2 & have spentThe basic information

2. The project,

2.1 & have spentteam

According to linkedin, HeliumTeam a total of78People, headquartered in San Francisco, USA. Details of core team members are as follows:

Table 2-1Helium Team details sheet

On the whole, the configuration of Helium team is reasonable, and the Helium team is ranked from 2013Helium product design has been carried out since 1997, with a high degree of consistency with the current project.

2.2 & have spentmoney

From the table above2-2It can be calculated that the total amount of Helium is approximately1.648$The amount of financing, including some of the industry's top investment institutionsMulticoin Capital, a.16zAnd GV (formerly Google Ventures).The team is well funded now and has sustainable financial reserves for future use of the project.

2.3 & have spentcode

Figure 2-1 Helium code base

As shown in Figure 2-1, Helium has been online ever since.Project code submission is frequent and development is stable.teamdevelopersStarting from January 2020, the number of personnel will gradually increaseCurrently, the number of project developers is stable at 30More than one.

2.4 & have spentproduct

Against 2.4.1 & have spentAn overview of the

Helium is aPeer-to-peer wireless networksDesigned toLow-power Iot devicesTo provide asecurityAnd cost-effective way to interact with the Internet. Consumers can participate in the network and earn coins by purchasing a Hotspot, a hardware Hotspot in the Helium network, that provides signal coverage to nearby iot devices.

Helium represents a new business model for deploying and managing wireless networks.Traditionally, like AT& T, Verizon,T-Mobile, China Mobile, China Unicom and Softbank will centrally plan, manage and deploy wireless networks. They build the base stations, pay for the labor, ship the goods, and buy all the equipment before generating any revenue. Building wireless networks is expensive and slow. Helium network does not pursue 3G/4G/5G as traditional enterprises. Instead, the Helium network offers low-power iot devices and incentivized customers to buy mems (hot devices) with tokens, shifting the cost of building out of the start-up phase of the project.

2.4.2 & have spentProduct introduction

Helium currently has 4 main products, details are as follows:

2.4.2.1Hotspot

The Helium Hotspot is oneLoRaWAN Remote Wireless RouterYou can think of it as a Wi-FiThe router.

The user just needs to plug the Hotspot into the power supply and communicate with the Wi-FiConnect, or connect to an Ethernet port, and once deployed and synchronized with the Helium Wallet, provide wireless network coverage and receive HNT tokens. Hotspot is a low-power, long-distance data transfer Hotspot that uses very little power,It consumes about 5 watts at peakLow operating cost. Based on the characteristics of low power consumption and long-distance transmission, miners can join the network to provide wireless network coverage and obtain corresponding tokens through simple Settings, providing low-cost and low-power network access for Internet of Things devices.

Helium Hotspot was originally built and distributed by Helium in HIP-19The proposalFollowing approval, Helium supports third party Hotspot manufacturers and suppliers to submit community applications for approved manufacturing. Helium currently supports eight LoRaWAN hot Mining machines: Bobcat, Cal-Chip, Kerlink, LongAP, Nebra, RAK Wireless, Sensecap and Syncrobit. Details of each mining machine can be clickedThe linkRefer to.

Figure 2-2 Display of the Helium mining machine

2.4.2.2 Console 2.0

Helium  Console  2.0It's a Web-based oneDevice Management Tool, through aThe visual view makes it easy for developers and users to register, verify, and manage their devices on the Helium network.In addition to device management, Console provides pre-built connections called integrations, which enable devices to connect to pre-configured, cloud-based applications or send data directly over HTTP or MQTT.

The Device management features of the Helium Console include:

1) Organizational structure with tags and user-level permissions.

2) device ID registration, secure login, and authentication.

3) Use data credits in the Helium Network (Data Credits).

2.4.2.3LongFi

LongFi combines the LoRaWAN wireless protocol with the Helium blockchain, so any LoRaWAN device can transmit data within the Helium network, typically GPS trackers, environmental sensors, weather gauges, etc.

LongFi has the following features:

1) Simple deployment: LongFi allows enterprise users to boot up as many devices as they need without additional configuration or third-party help.

2) Device roaming: The connected device is mapped to the ID stored on the blockchain, and the device can relay through each hotspot to send data in the network.

3) HNT token incentive: LongFi allows device owners to earn corresponding H when helping the network transfer dataNTScrip.

4) LoRaWAN Support: Any LoRaWAN device or sensor can be integrated with the Helium network to transfer data.

2.4.2.4Helium Tabs

Figure 2-3 HeliumTabs Tracing device

The Helium Tabs are the first to run on the Helium networkTerminal location equipment, users can track the tag tracker using a mobile device application that allows them to view previous locations and current locations (eu and US frequencies only). It's nearly sold out, and bike-sharing company Lime is already using Helium to track their bikes.

2.5 & have spenttechnology

2.5.1 & have spentThe profile

Helium builds a wireless network to the center. Technically, it involves a long technical chain from the hardware terminal to the server gateway, to a set of Settings for the back-end server, and finally to the application end, how to provide users with a convenient way to access.

Helium first built and distributed LoRaWAN remote wireless routers to achieve a low-power, wide-coverage wireless network. Moreover, a special public link is developed and its economic model is used to effectively stimulate the expansion and maintenance of wireless network. In order to ensure effective Coverage of hotspots in the network, a Hotspot providing wireless network Coverage through PoC mechanism will submit a certificate to the Helium network at a physical location and time verified by encryption, and create a wireless network Coverage compatible with WHIP. Miners who submit certificates are selected to the consensus panel for a fixed period of time, after which members of the consensus panel take deals submitted by other miners and package them into blocks.

At the payment end, through the "double token" mode, and combined with OUI(organization unique identifier) and status channel, realize data convenient transaction. From the application sideCOnsole toConsole  2.0The iteration is also constantly optimizing the access threshold.

Helium's implementation involves a variety of technologies from traditional Internet of Things and blockchain,This chapter mainly analyzes several important technologies in the Helium network.

Figure 2-4 Helium system process

The data transfer flow of the Helium network is roughly as shown in Figure 24 -Shown below:

Customers/miners connect to the Helium network via Mems.

2The Internet of Things devices (clients) on Helium will securely connect to multiple local gateways within the transmission range using the WHIP protocol.

(3) When devices join the network, Mems sends encrypted data to all gateways, which adds data to the Helium block.

4The gateway sends the specified data to the specified Router. After receiving the data transfer service, the route pays the gateway.

5) Routing decrypts data, and the process ends.

2.5.2 & have spentHeliumConsensus agreement

The Helium Blockchain is an original open source public chain that provides incentives for the expansion and maintenance of decentralized physical wireless networks.

HThe Elium consensus protocol borrows fromHoneyBadgerBFT (HBBFT) Consensus systemIt can not only resist witch attacks, but also confirm transactions at a high speed, which has the characteristics of asynchronous and anti-censorship.

Originally, in order to ensure the validity and authenticity of data transmitted on the chain, Helium randomly selected consensus nodes from all hot spots and formed a consensus team to verify each block. butWith the rapid growth of the number of hot spots and blocks on the network, the original mode has an impact on the block producing speed and operation efficiency of the block chain, and brings great pressure to the hardware in the network.As a result, Helium redesigned the consensus group generation mechanism introducedValidation NodeRole. And that means,The consensus group of the Helium Blockchain will be randomly selected from the verification nodes to undertake on-chain transaction verification, block creation and other consensus work and receive consensus rewards.Hotspots do not need to synchronize all nodes to improve user experience and resource utilization efficiency on the Helium network.

Figure 2-5 Process for verifying node running

2 - such as above5As shown,The operation flow of Helium network verification nodes can be roughly divided into three steps:1) Terminal devices use the Helium network and transmit data to hot spots;2)Proof of Coverage (PoC)Device-related information is forwarded to the consensus group.3) The consensus group generates blocks after verifying transactions and reaching consensus.

Composition of the Consensus Group:

1) Users meeting technical requirements can pass pledge10000The HNT applies to be the authentication node(More than 10,000 HNTThe amount pledged does not increase returns.), there is no upper limit of verifier. About is required when the verifier cancels the pledge5 months (250000Block unlocking period)During this period, the verifier will not be rewarded and cannot transfer or withdraw the pledged amount;

2) Each Epoch cycle (30That's about 3 blocks0min), the network will be randomly selected from all validation nodes40Four validation nodesElected to the consensus panel.Responsible for verifying transactions, block making and other consensus responsibilitiesAnd at the end of the Epoch, the corresponding consensus reward was obtained (the consensus reward accounted for 6% of the total HNT released, i.e. 15Thousands of pieces of HNT/Month).

Therefore, it can be roughly calculated that the average number of nodes successfully elected into the consensus group in each Epoch cycle can be obtained26.goldHNTToken reward. The current number of nodes on the Helium chain is 2,252 and growing. soThe majority of nodes are less and less likely to be selected for the consensus group.

3) will be removed from the existing consensus group at the end of each Epoch25%And select an equal number of nodes from the verification nodes that have never entered the consensus group to replace them.

To ensure that the validation nodes can better serve the network, the team was set up"Penalty Points Mechanism", includingReappointment of the consensus group, opposition of the majority of consensus nodes, and failure of the verification node to perform the consensus duties as required will increase the penalty score of the node.Penalty scores do not affect the HNT principal pledged. When verification nodes are randomly selected into the consensus group,The nodes with higher penalty scores are less likely to be selected into the new consensus groupConversely, the lower the penalty score, the higher the probability of being selected to the consensus group. The penalty score for each node decays over time.

In addition, ordinary users can also choose to pledge their HNT by choosing third-party node pledge service and get part of the consensus reward (the current annual yield is less than 5%).

2.5.3 & have spentProof of coverage (Proof of CoverageAnd PoC)

The Helium Network currently supports the LoRaWAN standardInternet of Things devices, designed to provide open, large-scale global wireless network coverage.

One of the key points to ensure that global decentralized wireless networks are builtHow to verify whether a hotspot provides wireless network coverage through real location in real time to ensure effective network expansion?Based on this, Helium established the Proof of Coverage (PoC) mechanism.

PoC mechanism utilizationRadio Frequency (RF)Is a meaningful testament to the Helium Network and its participants. Specifically, the PoC mechanism relies on the following RF features:1) The physical propagation of RF is limited by distance;2) RF signal intensity is inversely proportional to the square of transmission distance;3) RF travels at the speed of light, so there is no delay in network transmission.

Leveraging these features, the Helium Blockchain uses a type called"PoC challenge"A Hotspot is continuously queried by a Hotspot, and the proof of wireless coverage is continuously generated and stored permanently on the chain. Each "challenge" represents an independent PoC validation. To date, the Helium Blockchain has posted and handled tens of millions of challenges. With each new challenge, the blockchain records more data about the quality of network coverage.

inPoCThe challenge involves three different characters:

1)The Challenger (Challenger): Indicates the number of hotspots on the Helium networkEvery 30Zero block(about 5 hours) can be initiated once on the networkRandom hotChallenge, the challenger can receive corresponding HNT reward. For challengeers, as long as they launch a challenge, they will get corresponding rewards, and the income is relatively stable.

2)Challenged (TransmitterChallengee, sometimes called Challengee): Hotspot to be challenged (i.ePoCAfter receiving the challenge information, an undifferentiated challenge will be launched based on the challenge informationRF Beacon, surrounding hot spots that receive beacons as witnesses can transmit information back to the Helium network for verification. Each challenge requires a valid witness and the challenger can receive the corresponding reward.

For the challenged, the more effective witness of a challenge, the more rewards will be harvested. The increment of the reward decreases as the number of valid witnesses exceeds 4.

3)Witnesses (Witness): The hotspot that receives the Beacon becomes a witness and transmits the challenge information back to the Helium network.The consensus group of each Epoch determines whether the witness is valid or not based on a logical sequence of locations of witnesses and challengers, cryptographic evidence, and reasonableness of signal strength and attenuation.After effective testimony, witnesses will be rewarded accordingly.

For witnesses, when the number of valid witnesses for a challenge is less than or equal to 4, the unit reward for each witness harvested remains unchanged, and when the number exceeds 4, the unit reward for each witness harvested decreases. For specific data, please refer to Figure 2 below- 6:

Figure 2-6 Change curve of witness income

The community is constantly adjusting the distribution of PoC rewards through new HIP proposals to encourage deployment strategy optimization at hotspots and to promote healthy deployment and development of the entire network infrastructure.

The simple way to think about it is, POCThe mechanism allows the challenged hotspot to send a beacon marking the fixed position device, and the hotspot (witness) receiving the beacon around determines its physical location based on a series of logic such as the continuous pulse circuit sent by the challenger, so as to prevent the false positioning of the dishonest hotspot.

2.5.4 & have spentData transaction (Packet Purchasing)

The exchange of value between wireless data providers and users is at the heart of the Helium network. Data transactions are performed on the Helium blockchain via two specific primions:

1) Unique identifier of the organization (Organizationally Unique Identifiers, OUI)

Organization unique identifiers (OUIIs a registered identity on the Helium Blockchain.In order toTerminal equipmentTo send and receive data packets, you need to provide OUI for network users. This can be their own OUI or an OUI run by a third party, such as Helium's official OUIConsole.

OUI has several features related to LoRaWAN and packet routing (see details)here), but for blockchains, it is important that only libp2p addresses registered as OUI endpoints can represent OUI open and close state channels.

2) State channel (State Channels)

The status channel is opened by the OUI operator (any libp2p address registered to the OUI)Side chain. throughstate_channel_openTo transact, operators need to pledge twice the number of data credits that can be used in the status channel (Data Credits, see economic model). In addition, the number of blocks before the channel expires is configured.

Once the state channel is open, the hotspot and OUI operator are able to transact within the state channel. Generally speaking, the general process is as follows:1) Hotspot provides the collected data packets to OUI operators;2) The OUI operator decides whether to purchase the packet, and if so, signs the transaction;3) After signing the transaction, the data packet is transmitted to OUI operator by the hotspot; The operator pays the hotspot the corresponding data credits (Data Credits).

2.5.5 & have spentWHIP Wireless Protocol

To ensure communication between devices, routers, and gateways, several low-power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies are currently available. These wireless technologies focus on creating sensors and other smart devicesRemote, low power consumptionInternet communication. But these technologiesThroughput in exchange for distance, data transfer rates as low as 18 bits per second (BPS).

WHIP is a narrowband wireless network protocol with low power and bidirectional communication. It supports sub-ghz (frequency 1)Below GHz, 27MHz~960MHz, the application covers consumer electronics, automotive, industrial and medical, etc., in low power consumption, long distance communication or wall penetrating capability, it is more advantageous) of the unauthorized frequency band, and communication between the authentication use

The NIST P-256 ECC key pair, along with the public keys of all participants stored in the blockchain, guarantees communication security.

At the same time, WHIP creates multiple channels in the unauthorized frequency band and switches between channels using frequency hopping. Typical frequency hopping requires a complex time synchronization system with limited capacity. But because Hotspots hear all channels in the available spectrum at any time, devices using the WHIP protocol don't need to coordinate channel selection with Hotspots, thereby increasing data transmission rates and working without interference in noisy RF environments.

Summary: Helium team is reasonably allocated, with a total financing amount of about $164.8 million, followed by sustainable financial reserves for the future use of the project. In terms of technology, Helium ecology involves a long technical chain with a clear overall technical logic. The construction of Helium male chain and the combination of coverage proof (PoC) and other technologies are mainly used to build and effectively cover a decentralized wireless network.

In addition, the development progress of the project is active, and corresponding products have been implemented and actual application scenarios.

3. The development of

3.1 & have spenthistory

3.2 & have spentThe status quo

3.2.1 & have spentHelium ecological data

Figure 3-1Helium hotspot coverage

Above 3- 1As shown, the number of hot spots on the Helium network has reached130897a, mainly in the United States, Europe and China.From 2021June, 2006, every month to more than30000The rate of hot spots increases on average daily1, 000,aHot, the size of the network has grown very rapidly in recent months.

As of August 18, 2021, Helium Hotspot to cover 12773One city16In four countries, hotspot owners reach 41570And the hotspot online rate reaches 82.90%.

As you can see, is currently HeliumHotspot has become a global phenomenon.Far from being a success, Helium needs to consider ecosystem usage, actual participation, and actual business volume.In order to give you a better understanding of Helium's current ecological situation, the first-class warehouse has compiled a general situation of Helium's ecology based on the information disclosed by the current team. Details are as follows:

table3-2 HElium ecology overview

As shown in Table 3-2 above, Helium has a wide range of application scenarios, including pet tracking, air monitoring, food traceability, GPS positioning, etc. For example, in some foreign regions, express logistics is not as convenient as in China, and there are often lost pieces. There are real application scenarios for GPS positioning of expensive express packages.

Far from being sold out, the high premium on the secondary market reflects the current trendIn short supplyIn the market.

However, due to policy reasons, there is basically no market for Helium hotspot in China. At present, the vast majority of hotspot mining machines deployed in China are idling, simply to obtain HNTToken reward.

3.2.2 & have spentReturns on mining

On the other hand, it should be noted that one of the main reasons for the rapid development of Helium's ecology is due to itToken reward.

At presentHElium releases 2.5 million HNTS per month, of which three5% of the tokens are allocated to the hotspot infrastructure, divided intoParticipate, witness, and create coverage proof challengesThree parts. namelyWe have eight monthly7.5Thousands of pieces of HNTUsed as a reward, the current hot mining machine is about 13S, so on average every month countsHave to6.73Pieces of HNT(It's not really evenly distributed, just for convenience).

Cost of equipment is 5 %00$$19 /HNT(excluding the cost of electricity), buy a memsThis cycle lasts about 4 months.

This is just a rough estimate,Actually orders on the website today cost around 4. 5Months (rough estimate, different regions of the delivery time is different) waiting time.Because monthly allocation to hotspot infrastructure 35% of tokens are further subdivided into three parts: reward participation, witness, and create overlay proof challenges.Therefore, if the user only buys one hot mining machine to participate in mining, the yield will be much lower than the above estimated 673.Average value per month.

Note: due to the particularity of different regions, the above mentioned will not be consideredHNTMonthly release 30% for the reward portion of network data transfer.

Helium is randomly selected by first class warehouse  Exploreron200Count of events (s)

Table 3- 3Mems random sampling results

Note: The random sampling results in the above table are as of August 20, 2021. Due to the small sample data, there may be some differences compared with the actual situation, so they are only for reference.

Combined with the actual situation and table 3- above3It can be seen that when a single hot mining machine is deployed within a certain range, the average profit of xiamen Island and Chinese Taipei in the past 30 days is only 1 HNTOr so; In areas with high coverage of hot spots, such as Wenzhou and Shanghai, the average return in the past 30 days was 20+HNT; The average revenue in the past 30 days in cities that have basically achieved hotspot coverage of the entire region, such as San Francisco (headquarters of the team) and Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is basically 20+HNT.

In random sampling, we found that even in areas with high hotspot coverage,Hot mining machine monthly rate of differentiation is still particularly large, the minimum monthly income is less than 1HNT, the highest monthly profit of hot mining machine is 100+HNT.

Based on random sampling results, we can see that the coverage density of physical Hotspots is positively correlated with the revenue of mems. In regions with high coverage, the average revenue of mines tends to be higher, mainly because neighboring Hotspots can witness each other and get the reward of challenging proof.

Smart hotspot deployers tend to network at locations with relatively heavy Hotspots, or buy multiple devices at once.Increase revenue by witnessing each other across multiple devices.Handsets' revenue is also influenced by terrain openness, deployment height, antenna signal strength, and actual data traffic from Helium landing applications, which requires each hotspot owner to try and optimize based on their geographical environment. Interested users can consult the official websiteYouTubePublished on the relevant video to learn.

3.3 & have spent In the future

HThe most important thing in the next phase of Elium is deployment5GWireless network.

First we need to review the Helium deployment 5GWireless network processes:

2,021On February 23Helium Community launched the"Data Credit Support for CBRS 5G on Helium Network"theHIP-27The proposal.The proposal proposes an economic mechanism to support new wireless protocols at higher levels on the Helium network, starting with LTE and 5G in the CBRS band (3.5-3.7Ghz CBRS band)).

2,021years4month14Day, Helium through HIP-27The proposal.

,2021On April 27Helium officially announced its support for 5G hotspot networks.

,2021On April 27Day, Helium  Announced a connectivity company that makes open source 5G devicesFreedomFiStruck a partnership to develop its second wireless network5 g -. "If you have a 5G-enabled phone, such as an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, you will soon be able to connect to the network through a hotspot provided by people, and you may get 5G from your neighbors," according to the official description. So this is very different from the low-frequency, low-power LoRaWAN wireless network that we have today. If successful, customers will be able to access the Helium 5 directly from their mobile phonesGThe network.

Helium says the new FreedomFi gateway will interoperate with the Helium Network and enable gateway hosts to mine HNT by providing 5G cellular coverage. Currently, the FreedomFi gateway is taking reservations,It is expected at 2021Shipment in the third quarter of 2008.

FreedomFi previously estimated that end-to-end 5G devices would cost between $1,000 and $5,000.In terms of equipment costs will be much higher than the currentHotspotOr RAK hot ore machine.And because the CBRS band currently supported is 3.5-3.7Ghz, the coverage will be much shorter than previously deployed hotspots. Therefore, more base stations need to be built for commercial use.

· August 1, 20211Day,Helium  Announced the closing of a $111 million token financing raised bya16zled, Ribbit Capital, 10T, Alameda Research and Multicoin Capital raised funds for an undisclosed price.This funding will accelerate the rollout of Helium's decentralized 5G network and enable mobile network operators to use Helium 5G to expand their signal coverage.

For the Helium 5G network, the team expectsIt will be as early as 2022It was expanded to other countries and covered a variety of frequency bands.

Although Helium is currently continuously promoting the construction of 5G wireless network, if it can be successfully launched and adopted, it will undoubtedly be a great benefit for the whole project. But we also have to think about,For 5GBase station construction, from investment to commercial, the cost during this period is undoubtedly a very large number. Moreover, the deployment of 5G network will involve 5G operators, policy factors in different countries and regions, operation costs, terminal ecology and other issues.

Currently due to Helium's 5GThe network has not been launched, its specific commercial value is still open to question. First class will also continue to monitor the progress in this regard.

Summary: Since June 2021, Helium is growing at a rate of over 30,000 hotspots per month, with an average of 1,000 hotspots per day. The size of the network has grown rapidly in recent months. Helium is also actively integrating with various Internet of Things applications to expand the use of projects. Currently, there are dozens of companies in the United States that have partnered with Helium, and there are actual combined application scenarios and implementation requirements.

In the future, the most important thing for Helium in the next stage is the deployment of 5G wireless network. If it can be successfully launched and adopted, it will undoubtedly be a great benefit for the whole project. But we also have to think about,For 5G base station construction, from put to commercial use, the cost during this period is undoubtedly a very large number. Moreover, the deployment of 5G network will involve 5G operators, policy factors in different countries and regions, operation costs, terminal ecology and other issues.

In addition, it should be noted that the monthly rate of return of hot mining machines varies greatly at present, and miners who plan to deploy hot mining machines need to consider various factors comprehensively.

4. Economic models

HeliumThe original token isHNT.As the HIP-20 proposalThrough,HNTThe total supply of tokens is2.23Hundred millionMu nu, all H'sNTIs throughHotspotsHot mining machine mining casting, no pre - mining. Starting August 1, 2021, HNTMonthly circulation halved for the first time from 500overHNT/Months down toNow 250Thousands of pieces of HNT/Monthly circulation, halved every two years thereafter, a total of 50years. As of August 19, 2021, HNTThe flux of is94160119Accounting for approximately the total supply42.22%.

Is expected to 2021At the end of the HNTThe token flux of is 1. 04Hundreds of millions, or about 46.64%.

4.1 & have spentTokens, supply

4.4.1 & have spentHNTDistribution of tokens

Figure 4-1 HNT token allocation

The current distribution is shown in Figure 4- 1As shown, there are mainly three parts:

1) Monthly release 30% is used for network data transmission, which is awarded to hot spots transmitting data of Internet of Things devices, and allocated according to data transmission ratio;

2) monthly release of 35% forHotspotsInfrastructure incentives, primarily for hotspot owners to mine and ensure coverage as the network grows;

3) Monthly release of 35% is allocated to the team and the investor.

It's important to note that,HNTThe allocation of tokens will change over timeTo align incentives with the needs of the early networks. In the early days, a higher percentage of HNTS were assigned to hotspot owners for building and ensuring coverage. As the network grows, hotspot's income from delivering device data over the network will increase and Helium's and investors' income will decrease. After 20 years, the allocation does not adjust and remains fixed. The details are shown in Figure 4 below2 -Shown below:

Figure 4-2 HNT token allocation adjusted over time

Above 42 -Originally awarded toConsensus  GRoup consensus group 6% portion, along with Helium  7Verification node mechanism was launched on the main network in January and has been replaced by it. The validator will continue the work of the original consensus group.

The current number of nodes on the Helium chain is up to2, 252,a, a total of2, 252,Thousands of pieces of HNTPledge in the network, accounting for about the current flux23.88%.

Because the monthly reward to the verification node is HNT6% of the monthly release, or 15Thousands of pieces of HNT/Month, so it can be roughly extrapolated to the presentThe average annualized return of nodes is about 8%.

4.1.2 & have spentBlock information

Figure 4-3 HNT block information

HNTProbably from 2019Year 10In January,When the token was launched, the supply was zero and there was no pre-mining.Pack a block every 1 minute, where every 30The blocks are grouped into a cycle, with a reward release per cycle, currently located at 972140Block height.

4.2 & have spentTokens role

Helium currently uses a dual-currency model, namely Helium Tokens (HNT) and Data creditsCredits). Data points are mainly used to pay the service fees when using the networkNTThere are two main functions of token:1)Dig reward: Incentivize hotspot miners to deploy and maintain wireless network coverage;2)Network service fee payment: Users generate Data credits by destroying HNT tokensCredits) to pay for the network's services.

From the perspective of the role of the Helium token, as a practical token,The future value is more reflected in the coverage and quality of the overall wireless network. Only when more hotspot miners provide more extensive coverage of the wireless network through hotspot machines can the overall network be scaled up and the Internet of Things devices can use the Helium wireless network with low cost and low power consumption. In this way, more developers and enterprises will be attracted to pay for data transmission fees of iot devices by using data credits.

2 & have spentData integration (DataCredits)

Like most blockchains, Helium has a transaction fee system. All transactions on the Helium blockchain are performed withData Integration (DC)To pay. Data integration is generated by destroying HNT. By Helium "implicit combustion (Implicit Burn) "system, users under normal circumstancesNo manualProvide DC to cover expenses. As long as there's enough H in the Helium walletNTUsed of burning intoDCTo pay for the transaction, the burning will automatically occur in the background, hidden, without user intervention.

Data integration (DataCredits)At a conversion rateBy destroying HNTToken generation,This conversion rate is determined by two on-chain variables:

1) The price of flow credits in DOLLARS -- 1  DataCreditsIs priced at $0.00001;

2) The price of Helium tokens in US dollars, as determined by the Helium Price Predictor mechanism.

To calculate how many data credits a Helium token will generate, you can simply divide by the number of Helium tokens (in DOLLARS)DataCreditsFixed price of $0.00001. For example,If the price of each Helium token is20Dollars, burning 1Helium tokens will be created2000000Delta flow integral.

Data integration (DataLike mobile traffic, once generated, they are non-transferable and can only be used by the address receiving them.

Data integration was mentioned aboveCredits are used to pay for services, which can be broken down into:1) Transmission cost: sensor data is transmitted back and forth between devices;2) Transaction costs: similar consumption ETHAct as Gas charges;3) Node fees: add a hotspot to the blockchain, report its location, purchase a unique identifier of blockchain organization (OUI), purchase a blockchain chain network;4) Block link path cost: purchaseOUls and sub-network blocks.

Currently in the Helium network, every 24A byte of data costs 1 data integral(It should be noted that in the Helium network, the current data charges remain unchanged).In addition the chain on variousexchangeThe costs are shown in table 4 below- 1Shown below:

Table 4- 1Helium transaction fee details

According to the team 2021On July 28inTAccording to an Elegram community disclosure, "The Helium network is currently used by thousands of iot devices each month at approximately monthly cost1, 730,Billion data integration"To 1DataCredits  =$The pricing of 0.00001, i.e., $per month in Helium, will be used to pay for the network's service  1730000.

Figure 4-4 Hotspot data transfer cost per day

According to the above disclosureHThe elium network is growing at a rate of over 30,000 hotspots per month, combined with Table 4- 1We can calculate that assuming 30,000 new hot spots per month and they all add full hot spots to the Helium network, this will consume 30,000 *$40= $120The cost of ten thousand.

The actual cost of transmitting the data would be much less than $173M -$120Tens = $53Ten thousand, because this does not exclude the cost of sending transactions on the Helium chain, confirming gateway location, etc.In fact, monthly use of the Helium networkWhether iot devices are really "in the thousands" as the team claims, first-class is doubtful. But what we do know is that for nowThe actual scale of Helium network applications is still small, and the project side needs to actively expand the actual use cases of Helium Wireless network.

Summary: The total supply of HNT tokens is 223 million, and the current circulation is about 42.22%. It is expected that by the end of 2021, the circulation of HNT tokens will be 104 million, accounting for about 46.64% of the total. HNT currently releases 2.5m a month, halving every two years for a total of 50 years.

In terms of token design, HNT adopts a dual-currency model, namely HNT token and Data Credits. Users destroy HNT tokens to generate Data Credits to pay for the network's services.

The economic model is designed reasonably, HNT token is a necessity in the whole ecology, and token plays a significant role. The primary role is to motivate hotspot miners to deploy and maintain networks. The value of the future more reflected in the overall wireless network coverage and quality, only the network scale reaches a certain extent, to make the Internet of things devices with low cost, low power consumption under the precondition of the stable use Helium wireless network, so as to attract more developers and enterprises through the use of the data points to pay for the cost of network data transmission equipment.

5. competition

5.1 & have spent Industry overview

Helium is a decentralized wireless communications network, belongs to a subdivision of the Internet of Things track, is also the current blockchain ecosystemThe onlyA product that provides low power, wide coverage wireless network access.

Helium currently primarily supports Lorawan-standard iot devices, aiming to provide open, extensive global wireless network coverage. Iot areas like LoRaWAN, which Helium supportsLong-distance wireless technology, can be subdivided into:

1) Low-power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) : providedLong distance, low transmission rate, low power consumptionWide area network. Available LPWAN technologies and protocols are classified as those that use licensed bandsNB-IoT, and those using unlicensed frequency bandsLoRa, Sigfox, Weightless, Random Phase Multiple Access (RPMA), IEEE 802.11ahAnd so on.

2) Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) : communication technology transmitted through artificial satellites using a Small dish antenna.

The LongFi protocol that Helium is currently using is actually a wireless protocol that combines the LoRaWAN wireless protocol (a communication protocol based on LoRa) with the Helium blockchain. This allows any LoRaWAN wireless compliant device to transmit data over the Helium Wireless network.

5.2 & have spentCommunication protocol comparison

LoRa, Sigfox, Weightless, IEEE 802.11ah, etcWide-area low-frequencyThe communication technology of Internet of Things is more suitable for the communication scenario of Internet of Things, and because of the use of non-authorized frequency band resources, enterprises can use it without applying for a license under normal circumstances.

Most of the communication protocols in Table 5-1 are suitable for outdoor scenarios, large-area sensor applications, and low-power wide area networks. However, the emphasis may be slightly different in some subareas.

Combine table 5 above- 1And the actual situation, we can also draw:

In power consumption:The need for long-distance wireless Internet of Things often does not require efficient data transmission because of its different footing. The wide-area low-frequency communication technologies mentioned above will add connectivity options for low bandwidth and low latency IoT devices in terms of communication. Therefore, the power consumption is lower than that of traditional mobile cellular communication.

In terms of transmission rates:LoRa has a maximum transfer rate of 0.3-50Kbps, compared with the Internet of Things transmission protocol NB-iot has no direct advantage in transmission rate, but low frequency and low speed data transmission is relatively lower in power consumption.

In terms of coverage:Coverage refers to the effective communication range between the node (terminal) and the gateway (base station). Currently, LoRa base station can meet the requirements of 1 based on different deployment scenarios-20kmCoverage of. The domestic band is 470-510In general, the lower the frequency band (due to its smaller attenuation as it travels through air and objects), the greater its coverage. Overall, LoRa's coverage is relatively broad.

Figure 5-1 Comparison of profitability between base station construction and website leasing among different protocols

Note: Figure 5- 1(a) represents the profitability of urban base station construction and network leasing; Figure 5- 1(b) represents the profitability of suburban base station construction and network leasing.Blue represents the profitability of base station construction and orange represents the profitability of base station network leasing.

In terms of cost:Above 5- 1It reflects the comparison of profitability of base station construction and network leasing between different protocols. For Sigfox, which has a low density of equipment, leasing base station equipment is not profitable. Due to the large capacity and coverage of Sigfox base stations, most of the investment will be required initially, and then will not be needed for those already deployed cells. So the cost of leasing is more expensive than building your own base station. LoRaWAN, on the other hand, requires large-scale site deployments over many years of operation. As a result, leasing equipment is more profitable than deploying infrastructure as LoRaWAN rolls out year by year.

Helium's model, however, is different from that of traditional enterprises in that tokens incentivize customers to buy mems (popular devices), which offloads the cost of building projects in the start-up phase. In terms of cost, it is ahead of the current low power wan on the market.

So far, on the whole,LoRaAnd NB-IOT has received the highest level of attention in the industry.In addition, by contrast, NB-iot has always been China's main Internet of Things technology standard, the upper level of the governmentindustryPolicy support, the full input of the three major operators in the middle, and the technical support of Huawei at the bottom make NB-iot a hot and broad market for the Internet of Things in China.

5.3 & have spentIndustry outlook

At present, global telecom operators have built mobile cellular networks covering the whole world. However, although 2G, 3G, 4G and other cellular networks cover a wide distance, iot devices based on mobile cellular communication technology have disadvantages of large power consumption and high cost. The current carrying capacity of mobile cellular network is not enough to support the connection between object and object. In intelligent home, industrial data collection and other communication scenarios, short-range communication technology is generally used, but for a wide range of long-distance connections, long-distance communication technology is needed. LPWAN technology is a long-distance wireless communication technology to meet the needs of the Internet of Things.

Figure 5-2 & have spent Details of global Iot programme expenditure 2017-2025

As shown in figure 5 -2As shown, with the development of the Internet of Things and the popularity of iot devices, the installation and data volume of corresponding devices increase exponentially. The global market for End-user solutions for the Internet of Things is expected to grow to $212 billion by the end of 2019, according to Statista. In 2017, the market for this technology reached $100 billion for the first time, and this figure is expected to grow to around $1.6 trillion by 2025, with rapid growth in future installation of terminal smart devices such as sensors.

It is worth noting that global low power Wide area Network (LPWA) connections have proliferated in the last five years. In 2015, the global market for low-power wan was just 10 million. By 2020, that number will have reached 423 million and is expected to grow by 3 percent0% -With a compound annual growth rate of 43%, the sector is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2025.

LPWAN connectivity is ambitious, but it will depend on reliable market drivers to make it happen.

Additionally, Helium plans to deploy 5 units in the futureGThe Internet is also worth looking forward to.

Conclusion:There is a strong demand for low-power WAN in the area of Internet of Things. Helium is currently using LoRaWAN as the mainstream protocol, which is compatible with many devices and has a wide audience. Helium is the only product in the blockchain ecosystem that offers low-power, wide-coverage wireless network access, and has a significant competitive advantage within the track. Combined with the incentive mechanism of blockchain, it is naturally superior to traditional Internet of Things operators in terms of equipment construction cost and promotion speed at the early stage of the project.

6. risk

Miner costs and benefits risk:Currently, the monthly returns of mems are highly differentiated, depending on the size of the terrain, the height of the deployment, the strength of the antenna signal, and the availability of actual data transmission based on the Helium landing application. If miners are not optimized for their geographic environment, the cycle can be much longer.

Network stability risk:According to the Helium White paper, its goal is to provide wide coverage and low power wireless network access for iot devices, but in actual situations, due to some physical obstacles, it is not clear whether the signals can be received steadily.

Scale of iot devices:Current global Internet market share in the rising, iot equipment installation quantity is also increasing, but the reality is at present because of the limitation of application scenarios, and communication on the Internet of things on benefit tend to use more cellular communication network, so the Helium wireless network may be due to no enough iot equipment use, small miners earnings, Miners even go offline, and a negative cycle is formed.

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The resources

u Helium Official Information:Developer documentation,https://docs.helium.com/Developer Documentation (Chinese version),https://heliumchina.gitbook.io/helium/Team to bring the, https://www.linkedin.com/company/heliuminc/The code base, https://github.com/helium/White paper on Helium, http://whitepaper.helium.com/Helium block browser, https://explorer.helium.com/Helium ecological situation, https://www.helium.com/ecosystp

u "HIP19: Approval Process For Third-Party Manufacturers",https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/master/0019-third-party-manufacturers.md

u Console 2.0 is Here! And Jacob Swinn, https://blog.helium.com/console-2-0-is-here-bd25a3aa5ee1

u Introducing the Helium Blockchain, Andrew Thompson, https://blog.helium.com/introducing-the-helium-blockchain-dc2f8997083c

u "HIP15: Beaconing Rewards", https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/master/0015-beaconing-rewards.md

u FreedomFi cooperate with Helium deploy 5 g network, https://freedomfi.com/Helium5G/

u LPWAN Technology Comparison: Cost Structure and Scalability, Wireless Personal Communications (IF 1.671) Pub Date: 2021-07-07, DOI: 10.1007/ S11177-021-08664-0, Mohammad Istiak Hossain, Jan I. Markendahl

u The HIP 27: Data Credit Support for CBRS on Helium 5 g Network ", https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/master/0027-cbrs-5g-support.md

u HIP 20: HNT Max Supply,https://github.com/helium/HIP/blob/master/0020-hnt-max-supply.md

u "Investing in Helium, Ali Yahya, Guy Wuollet, and Eddy Lazzarin, https://a16z.com/2021/08/10/investing-in-helium/

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