The availability of SENSECOM equipment is determined by the network coverage and the quality of the antennas:

SIGFOX

IoT network with nationwide coverage even in less populated areas, available in 75 countries including the Czech Republic, roaming is automatic.

The range of base stations is typically 10-15km, the signal is received by all available stations of the network simultaneously.
Excellent support for energy-efficient operation of the device (transmissions are short, 25mW concentrated in a narrow band, no link establishment), battery life is often more than 10 years without replacement.
Data volume is limited to a few bytes and 140 messages per day, which is usually sufficient for telemetry and signalling.

NB-IoT

IoT network with full coverage, with higher indoor penetration, available in many countries including the Czech Republic (many operators already have roaming agreements). The range of base stations is typically 5-10km, the signal is processed by the nearest network base station.
Support for energy-efficient operation of the device is already high – about 70% of the SIGFOX level (it establishes a connection, but only once or when the device is moved, the connection does not have to last long, the transmission can be short with a power of up to 2W), battery life is often more than 5 years without battery replacement
Data volume in both directions is in order of magnitude higher than SIGFOX, devices operate in licensed band

WLAN

The local WLAN network is used to bring the signal from radio difficult locations such as underground, manholes, shafts, metal cabinets, etc. to a location with the availability of a full IoT network
Most of the SENSECOM devices have a WLAN communication mode for connection to an IoT network converter, which serves either for one device – repeater function or for multiple devices – gateway function
The repeater have to be located at the point of availability of the SIGFOX or NB-IoT network and can not be more than 20m away from the connected SENSECOM devices.

Antennas

The high quality antenna and design of the communication part of the SENSECOM device ensures high availability even in locations with poor signal coverage. The antennas used for SENSECOM devices are:

  • Internal – specially developed with excellent characteristics for transmitting and receiving in a given band, they are included in the motherboard
  • External rod antennas – selected antennas for a given band and normal signal availability
  • External hat antennas – high gain antennas suitable for mounting on metal surfaces and outdoor environments
  • External dipole – high gain antennas suitable for sticking to non-metallic surfaces and outdoor environments