Amazon is offering free Sidewalk test kits to developers

Amazon is opening the Amazon Sidewalk network to developers for testing. The massive network, which the company describes as a “secure, long-range, low-power” network that connects billions of devices across the United States. Now developers can request an additional test kit to confirm current coverage for their projects.

If you’ve ever used your iPhone’s Find My network to find a AirTag or lost AirPods, you probably know that it’s a pretty nifty resource. Although not identical, Amazon Sidewalk is a similar network that uses echo device and some Ring Spotlight Cam like bridges.

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The pavement is made up of a combination of small portions of the internet bandwidth of each of these bridges, which combine to create a shared network. Therefore, the more people with the sidewalk bridge enabled in an area, the stronger the network will be.

Users who want to start an Amazon Sidewalk project can view the approximate network coverage of the world through a website from Amazon and, as you can see, it’s quite large and has a wide range.

When you have a new device that is compatible with the Amazon Sidewalk network, such as tile track or one Ring security camera, you have the option to enable the Sidewalk feature in the settings. For example, when used to find the Tile Tracker for your keys, you can ask Alexa where your keys are, and the voice assistant can get the last known location as reported. by a sidewalk bridge near them.

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Opening Amazon Sidewalk to developers will allow manufacturers to create new low-bandwidth devices that can use the Sidewalk network and thereby give customers a wider selection of devices to add to their homes. Surname. Amazon has announced new Sidewalk-enabled devices to be launched this year, including Netvox, OnAsset, and Primax.