Sigfox Smart Button Mail Box Alert system:Working,Benefits,Limitations,Solution Providers

Introduction : In the age of IoT, even the humble mailbox can be transformed into a smart piece of infrastructure. A Sigfox based smart button system is one such solution. A battery powered button or event sensor is installed. This button or sensor is connected via Sigfox’s low power wide area network. Alerts can be sent instantly to smartphone, cloud system or service provider when an event occurs such as courier presses a button, or a package drops in etc.

Sigfox smart button mail box architecture & Working

The system consists of button/sensor device, Sigfox Base station/Gateway, Cloud/backend/notification system & user/application.

Multiple sensors or button device are installed in the mailbox as per design requirements. The common sensors include drop sensor/contact sensor (detects lid opening or mailbox door opening), light sensor (detects change in light when lid opens), motion/vibration sensor (detects when something is inserted) and user-depressible button.

Following points describe working of the system.

• The device is battery powered and designed for low power operation. The device wakes up when sensor detects an event or when it is programmed to send status (battery health) periodically. Event can be mail dropped in or button is pressed etc,
• Device sends small payload carrying event details to the sigfox network.
• The sigfox network server connects with application backend database via API or callback.
• The backend decodes payload, logs the event (time, device ID, battery signal strength etc. ) and send notifications (via SMS/Email/app push).
• Upon receiving notifications, users (homeowners or business establishements) understand that there is a mail or mailbox has been opened. Postal or logistics operators can plan collection, optimize routes, monitor usage etc.

Advantages of Sigfox smart button mail box

Following are some of the benefits of Sigfox smart button mail box.

1. The sigfox based mail boxes are useful when they are placed outside the range of wi-fi or bluetooth and where cellular networks are not available.
2. Simple to deploy.
3. Lower cost of mail boxes and maintenance costs are also low.
4. It is easy to scale installation of mail boxes if requirement increases.
5. User do not have to check physically, they are notified once mail arrives using this digital wireless LPWAN technology.
6. Such mail boxes work in outdoor/harsh conditions if designed well as per weatherproof design guidelines.

Disadvantages of Sigfox smart button mail box

Following are some of the limitations or challenges of Sigfox based smart button mail box.

1. Placement of sensor types and material for metal box should be choosen such that signal may not get weakened.
2. Sometimes vibrations or motion may trigger false trigger. Hence multiple sensors are used to check whether mail has really been put in the box or not.
3. Security is a concern as mail boxes are often placed outdoors and are accessible.
4. Though communication cost is low, cloud integration costs need to be accounted.

Key Solutions provider

Conclusion: Because Sigfox supports long range communication, minimal power usage and small data payloads, this setup can operate reliably for years while using simple hardware. As Sigfox network coverage expands globally and button / sensor hardware matures, this use case has strong potential to become a standard part of postal service offerings, smart home packages and last mile logistics solutions.