Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a way to resolve location data for Amazon Sidewalk enabled devices with its IoT Core Device Location service.

This feature removes the requirement to install GPS modules in a Sidewalk device and simplifies the developer experience of resolving location data. Devices powered by small coin cell batteries, such as sensor trackers, use Sidewalk to connect. Supporting built-in GPS modules for products that move around is not only expensive, it can create problems in ensuring optimal battery life performance and longevity.

With this launch, IoT device manufacturers and developers can build asset tracking and location monitoring options using Sidewalk-enabled devices by sending Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), wifi or GNSS information to AWS IoT for location resolution. They can then send the resolved location data to an MQTT topic or AWS IoT rule and route the data to other AWS services, thus using different capabilities of AWS Cloud through AWS IoT Core. This should simplify software development and provide more options to choose the optimal location source, thereby improving product performance.

This launch addresses previous problems and architecture complexity. Users don’t need location sensing on network-based devices when they use the Sidewalk network infrastructure itself to determine device location, which eliminates the need for power-hungry and costly GPS hardware on the device. And this feature also allows devices to measure and report location data from GNSS and wifi, thus extending the product battery life.

Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices work better through improved connectivity options. It is designed to support various devices with capabilities ranging from locating pets or valuables, to smart home security and lighting control, and remote diagnostics for appliances and tools.

The secure community network uses Sidewalk Gateways (also called Sidewalk Bridges), such as compatible Amazon Echo and Ring devices, to provide cloud connectivity for IoT endpoint devices. Sidewalk enables low-bandwidth and long-range connectivity at home and beyond using BLE for short-distance communication and LoRa and frequency-shift keying (FSK) radio protocols at 900MHz frequencies to cover longer distances.

Sidewalk now provides coverage to more than 90% of the US population and supports long-range connected options for communities and enterprises. Users with Ring cameras or Alexa devices that act as a Sidewalk Bridge can choose to contribute a small portion of their internet bandwidth, which is pooled to create a shared network that benefits all Sidewalk-enabled devices in a community.

In 2023, AWS IoT Core deepened its integration with Sidewalk to provision, onboard and monitor Sidewalk devices with qualified hardware development kits (HDKs), SDKs and sample applications.

In the AWS IoT Core console, users can add Sidewalk devices, provision and register their devices, and connect their Sidewalk endpoint to the cloud.

In 2022, Amazon announced its IoT Core Device Location service, a feature that can be used to get the geo-coordinates of IoT devices even when the device doesn’t have a GPS module. The device location service can be used as a simple request and response HTTP API, or used with IoT connectivity pathways such as MQTT, LoRaWan and now Sidewalk.

In the AWS IoT Core console, users can test the device location service to resolve the location of a device by importing device payload data. Resource location is reported as a GeoJSon payload.

Those across multiple industries such as automotive, supply chain and industrial tools have requested a simplified option such as the device location service to extract location-data from Sidewalk products. This would streamline software development and give more options to choose the optimal location source, thereby improving products.

The IoT Core Device Location integration with Sidewalk is now generally available in the US East (North Virginia) region. To learn more about use cases, documentation, sample codes and partner devices, visit aws.amazon.com/iot-core/sidewalk/.