Amazon’s Sidewalk program allows smart-home devices such as Ring doorbell cameras and Echo speakers to extend their Wi-Fi coverage beyond the home network and use other Sidewalk-enabled devices to connect to the internet when Wi-Fi isn’t available. Amazon claims that Sidewalk signals can cover up to 90% of the US population. The program initially supported only Amazon-branded devices and early partners like Tile but has now opened up to all developers. Partnering with Texas Instruments, Nordic Semiconductor, Silicon Labs, and Quectel, the developer program provides software development kits for programmers to add Sidewalk support to their smart-home devices. Critics have raised concerns over privacy and data security, but Amazon has made assurances that all Sidewalk data transfers are encrypted and metadata use is minimized. Sidewalk bandwidth is limited to 80 Kbps, preventing neighbors from using Sidewalk routers to stream videos or connect to non-Sidewalk devices. Sidewalk-enabled devices include delivery robots, smoke sensors, and even TVs or robot vacuums, paving the way for more innovation in smart-home products.
Amazon Sidewalk launches hardware developer kit in <150 characters.
