Global Coverage API
An API request is available to obtain coverage estimations for any location in the world: Retrieve coverage predictions for any location.
This request takes geographical coordinates as an input and returns coverage level estimations.
Through this API endpoint, Sigfox coverage information can be integrated into third party business applications such as online coverage checkers.
Multiple locations
To obtain multiple locations, we recommend using the Retrieve coverage predictions for any batch of locations with asynchronous job endpoint (a maximum of 100 000 locations by request).
We also recommend not to launch several requests in parallel with this asynchronous endpoint (avoid multithreading).
Margin explanation
Margin is the reception margin, in dB, between the Base Station actual sensitivity and the estimated RSSI at a given position.
3 margin values are provided for message reception, in dB:
- for the best station, if any, which covers the location,
- then, for the second best station
- and for the third best station.
When Margin is positive, it means that the signal strength is enough for the Base station to receive an uplink message in outdoor conditions. Please be advised that the margin is always computed for outdoor conditions.
For other conditions, here below are the usual values used to simulate the signal penetration loss:
- In a stopped car: 10dB
- Indoor: 20dB
- Deep indoor/underground: 30dB+
The formula is as follows:
Margin = simulated RSSI (dBm) - theoretical sensitivity (dBm) - Environmental Loss (dB)
Example:
Margin = -100 - (-142) - 5 = 37 dB
Where theoretical sensitivity is:
-142dBm for 100bps protocol (ETSI)
-134dBm for 600bps protocol (FCC)
As a reminder, the simulated RSSI is the estimated signal power strength received by the BS for a class 0U (except stated otherwise) transmitting at the given position.
The actual application margin on the field also depends on device emission performances (Product class).
Product class attenuation is available at https://support.sigfox.com/docs/sigfox-service-map
For instance, for RC1, a 2U class device requires adding up a 11dB attenuation penalty.
Radius
The Global Coverage endpoint (/coverage/global/predictions) has a default radius of 300m, averaging the given result for the area. This parameter can be modified from 200 to 500m. Note that the Redundancy endpoint (/coverage/operators/redundancy) returns the Base Station redundancy for the exact provided position (equivalent to radius=0).
Documentation
In order to obtain further details, please check the coverage API documentation.
