The ManhattanMapper is a custom built mapping device used to measure network coverage from a car driving around New York City. It was constructed using Adafruit Feather boards with software written for the Arduino framework. The following describes the process of building the device and discusses the hardware and software involved.
The Things Network New York is one of 600 communities around the world collaborating to build a free and open LoRaWAN network that is owned and operated by its users. The first city covered by TTN was Amsterdam – it took 10 gateways to establish complete network coverage. With a city as large, dense, and tall as New York, it will take a few hundred gateways. How many will it take, exactly? We don’t know. Therefore, the process is going to be iterative – we deploy some gateways, measure the coverage, plan how to most efficiently fill in the gaps, and repeat.
Right now (June 2018) there are fewer than 20 gateways deployed around the city, many without rooftop antennas. Any new gateway not immediately next to an existing one will expand the coverage significantly.
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