Amazon Sidewalk is coming to your Amazon Echo Mesh Network very soon
Amazon Sidewalk will leverage connectivity through Amazon Echo Mesh Network and Ring devices.
Amazon is preparing to launch an ambitious networking and site system later this year under the name Amazon Sidewalk. Sidewalk will link smart home devices and other Amazon products using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), connecting beyond the range of a typical Wi-Fi network.
Meant to be operated at the area’s size, Sidewalk would turn devices like smart floodlights and residential assistants into network bridges, passing along security updates and commands from a central Wi-Fi hub. Additionally to transmitting software, the signals allow Sidewalk to triangulate a device’s approximate location supported its contacts with other Sidewalk-enabled devices.
The system will build into the Echo, and Tile has also joined the project because the first third-party platform to support the system. Amazon plans to feature Ring cameras to the network later, notifying device owners directly when Sidewalk is out there to use. A full list of Sidewalk-compatible devices is out there on the project landing page.
Like a mesh network, adding more devices will extend Sidewalk’s range and functionality, so Amazon must integrate Sidewalk into as many home devices as possible. As Amazon puts it on the landing page, “when more neighbors participate, the network becomes even stronger.”
What is Amazon Sidewalk and which devices support it
Amazon Sidewalk creates a low-bandwidth network with the help of Sidewalk Bridge devices including select Echo and Ring devices. Amazon first unveiled Sidewalk plans last year but revealed more detail during a blog post and white book on Monday. consistent with the position, Sidewalk are going to be used “to simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices and help devices stay online and up-to-date albeit they’re outside the range of home Wi-Fi.”
Still, location-tracking functions are likely central to Sidewalk’s success, differentiating it from more conventional Wi-Fi mesh systems offered by Google and Eero. Amazon had previously demonstrated Sidewalk using Ring Fetch devices, which clip to a pet’s collar to trace them — essentially creating a geofence and alerting you when a pet strays outside the designated area.
Amazon also laid out a variety of privacy features meant to stop unauthorized users from collecting data. Suppose you’ve got an Amazon Echo Mesh Network on the Sidewalk network. In that case, you won’t know what other devices are pinging it, and an individual using their Sidewalk-connected Tile (to locate their keys, for instance) won’t know what device they’re connected to. The signals themselves also are encrypted to stop intermediaries from collecting data in transit.
Amazon is actively soliciting third-party device partners for the project. To show Sidewalk’s usefulness, the corporate has also entered into a partnership with the American Red Cross to ascertain if the system are often wont to track blood collection supplies between distribution centers and donation sites.
