Sigfox is the world’s largest IoT Network and covers 1.3 billion people across +70 countries.
The coverage map at sigfox.com/coverage is not that useful for checking the coverage at a job site. A better estimation can be provided by one of the following methods:
1. Check the coverage in Maturix In-situ
You must enter the project location when creating a new project in Maturix In-situ. Once you have inserted an address or the GPS-coordinates of your job site, a coverage estimation is shown below the map:
In the example above, the outdoor coverage is expected to be good, the indoor is expected to be average, and below ground level there are no coverage.
The coverage estimation is a theoretical coverage based on the specific project location.
What does outdoor, indoor and below ground level mean?
- Outdoor: 1.5m above ground without interference from structures etc.
- Indoor: Inside buildings, close to the exterior wall.
- Below ground level: Under terrain, inside structures far from windows
It is always possible to improve the coverage by using a Sigfox Gateway.
2. Check the coverage using coverage maps from Sigfox operators
Some of the Sigfox operators offer a tool for estimating the coverage at a specific address. Here are some examples:
3. Field tests using a Maturix transmitter
The last method is simply to test the coverage by placing a Maturix transmitter at the specific location on-site where you will be doing the monitoring. In the Maturix® Web Portals, you can see the signal strength under “Devices” or “Sensors”.