Federated infrastructure: Usage, patterns, and insights from "the people's network"

Abstract

In this paper, we provide the first broad measurement study of the operation, adoption, performance, and efficacy of Helium. The Helium network aims to provide low-power, wide-area network wireless coverage for Internet of Things-class devices. In contrast to traditional infrastructure, "hotspots" (base stations) are owned and operated by individuals who are paid by the network for providing coverage and are paid directly by users for ferrying data. As of May, 2021, Helium has over 40,000 active hotspots with 1,000 new hotspots coming online every day. This deployment is decentralized - 84% of users own at most three hotspots. Some support infrastructure remains highly centralized, however, with over 99% of data traffic routed through one cloud endpoint and multiple cities in which all hotspots rely on one ISP for backhaul. Helium is largely speculative today with more hotspot activity than user activity. Crowdsourced, incentive-guided infrastructure deployment largely works but shows evidence of gamification and apathy. As Helium lacks clear, radio-oriented coverage maps, we develop and test coverage models based on network incentives. Finally, empirical testing with IoT devices finds basic success, but uncovers numerous reliability issues.