Amazon has launched Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro powered by Ring, a new professional-grade bridge for businesses, municipalities, universities, and public services.
Since launching Sidewalk, Amazon has seen rapid network growth in residential areas, helping customers' devices work better indoors, out in the yard, and around the neighborhood.
But the benefits of Sidewalk can extend even further, which is why the company announced Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro.
This bridge is designed to extend a low-bandwidth, long-distance wireless network to public places where there are not likely to be many Ring and Echo devices.
The long-term vision of Sidewalk Network is to drive the spread of smart, connected things. Communication today is the biggest challenge for devices.
Amazon says cellular connectivity is very expensive, and wireless coverage and LoRaWAN protocol are limited. To help the overall ecosystem, an open network like Sidewalk that is available everywhere was needed.
To further enhance the benefits of this Sidewalk expansion beyond the residential area, Amazon has partnered with Arizona State University and Thingy to launch pilot programs.
The university uses the bridge in its smart city research. Air quality monitor manufacturer Thingy uses the bridge to connect air quality systems in wilderness areas.
Sidewalk network has gained strong residential coverage in more than 100 major metropolitan areas since it was put into operation in June 2021. Its primary goal is to expand connectivity for smart home devices.
Sidewalk Bridge Pro from Amazon Provides Professional Level Connectivity
Because outdoor smart home products such as lighting, motion sensors, and garage door controllers may have problems maintaining a connection to your home wireless network. The Sidewalk network can extend the working range of these low bandwidth devices.
Most Echo smart speakers and some Ring home cameras act as Sidewalk bridges, allowing them to pull a little bit of bandwidth from each device to power their network.
The more neighbors that have Sidewalk bridges, the stronger the network. Echo users can choose to enable Sidewalk when setting up their speakers and turn them on or off at any time.
The Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro can extend this neighborhood's connectivity even further while using fewer devices.
The device is durable and weather-resistant. It is designed to be deployed by businesses and municipalities and for use abroad.
The Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro has a range of up to 8 km. It must be connected via wireless or ethernet (PoE) with cellular option. It requires plugging in, but has a built-in backup battery.