7月1日下午2:00，比特派錢包邀請到物聯網區塊鏈明星項目Helium的COO Frank（孟繁榮）進行社區分享。以下為本次分享的文字稿內容：
比特派CMO 孔維國
請Frank先介紹下自己吧
Please give us a brief introduction about yourself
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
It’s great to meet everyone! My name is Frank Mong (孟繁榮). I was born in Taiwan and grew up in San Francisco.
大家好，我是Frank 孟繁榮，我出生於臺灣，後在舊金山長大。
I spent 20 years of my career in cybersecurity in different business development and marketing roles for SonicWALL, Symantec, and Trend Micro, before joining Helium, I was Senior Vice President of Product Marketing for Palo Alto Networks.
我職業生涯中有20年從事與網絡安全相關的工作，曾在SonicWALL, Symantec, 及Trend Micro負責商務及市場工作。在加入Helium之前，我是Palo Alto產品營銷的高級副總裁
For the past 2.5 years, I』ve been Chief Operating Officer at Helium learning about IoT and Blockchain technology and exploring how both consumers and businesses can work together to advance a new way to build wireless infrastructure.
過去兩年半，我出任了Helium的COO。我一直在學習物聯網和區塊鏈技術，並探索如何讓用戶群體及商業模式一起，來為無線通訊基礎設施構建一種新的方式。
比特派CMO 孔維國
給我們講講Helium這個項目誕生的故事吧
What is the story and idea behind Helium?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
Helium was started by Shawn Fanning, founder of Napster and Amir Haleem, an esports world champion in Quake 3 and a video game developer. They came together to build a way to easily connect IoT to the Internet. The company was founded in 2013 and backed by Silicon Valley VCs like Marc Benioff, SV Angels, DG, Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures, USV, and Multicoin Capital.
Helium由Napster的創始人肖恩·范寧和雷神之錘3的世界冠軍、電子遊戲開發者埃米爾·哈利姆，共同創建。他們為了共同創建一種讓物聯網與網絡更容易連接的方式走到一起。Helium公司成立於2013年，由矽谷的眾多資本參投，比如Marc Benioff, SV Angels, DG, Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures, USV, and Multicoin Capital.
比特派CMO 孔維國
這裡補充一點：Helium的創始人肖恩·范寧也是一位傳奇人物，他的形象也曾出現在電影《社交網絡》裡。肖恩·范寧創建的Napster是最早使用P2P網絡進行MP3格式音樂分享的軟體，在當時引起了不小的轟動。雖然最終因版權問題終止服務，但Napster算是網際網路發展裡程碑式的應用了。
關於肖恩·范寧跟Napster，有興趣的可以看下：https://baike.baidu.com/item/Napster/731754?fr=aladdin
比特派CMO 孔維國
要實現一個可用的去中心化物聯網網絡，難點在哪？Helium是怎樣去解決的？技術優勢體現在哪些地方
What is the biggest challenge of making an usable decentralized IoT network? How do Helium solve it and what is your technical advantage?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
There are several big challenges. 1. Picking a common wireless protocol. IoT needs to be able to connect from anywhere, not just your home, office, or coffee shop. We didn’t use LoRaWAN at first. We tried to use Texas Instruments radio chips and other technologies. It is very difficult to build your own wireless protocol and it’s even harder to convince other people to use your creation.
有幾個大的挑戰：第一、 選擇通用無線電協議。物聯網需要能夠從任何地方相連接，並非只是你的家裡、辦公室或者咖啡廳。我們一開始並沒有使用LoRaWAN，而是嘗試使用德州儀器的無線電晶片跟其它技術。但是構建你自己的無線電協議特別困難，更困難的是說服人們使用你的產品。
We ultimately came to the conclusion that it was just easier to gain adoption if we chose an existing wireless protocol that had lots of devices using it, long-range, low power, and relatively open. That is what LoRaWAN provides. They have thousands of manufacturers and hundreds of thousands of developers supporting this protocol. This should have been an easy decision, but we put pride in craftsmanship above common sense and made a big mistake that cost us 9 months of time.
於是，我們最終得到的結論是：如果我們選擇一個已有的，有很多設備在使用的，長頻、低功耗、相對開放的無線電協議，那將會使我們的方案更容易被採用。而那就是LoRaWAN所提供的。他們有數以千計的製造者以及成千上萬的協議開發人員。這本應該是一個簡單的決定，但是我們過多的考慮了技巧性而非實用性，這讓我們浪費了9個月的時間。
2. Building a novel protocol blockchain is very hard. We are a team made up of distributed systems engineers, wireless radio engineers, application developers, and curious people, not afraid to try something that has never been done before. With a great combination of talented people, building the Helium blockchain is incredibly difficult.
第二、構建基於新共識機制的區塊鏈網絡是一件很困難的事情。我們是一個由分布式系統工程師、無線電工程師、App開發者、以及一群有強烈好奇心的人所組成的團隊。我們是一群敢於嘗試從未有過的新事物的人。即便將如此之多的才華橫溢的人集合到一起，搭建Helium區塊鏈網絡依然是一件困難重重的事情。
It’s been 2 years in the making and we are in a good place, but there is still a lot of room to improve. There isn’t a good way to overcome the blockchain challenge. If this is the first time the Helium blockchain exists, there is no testing that is enough to say, it’s ready. We had to launch it, fix it, improve it in the air, while it’s flying. So that is what our developers are doing constantly now.
我們已經做了兩年的開發了，當前的進展還可以，但依然有很多改進空間。沒有什麼好的方式可以輕鬆克服區塊鏈技術上的挑戰。如果這是Helium區塊鏈網絡的首次問世，那麼很難說有足夠的測試證明它（Helium）是成熟的。我們要上線產品，且在它運行的同時進行迭代和升級服務。這就是我們的開發者們一直做的事情。
I think the biggest technical advantage for Helium is the engineers who built the entire system. Open-sourcing our work and providing great documentation. These things make it easy for others to try our technology and improve upon it. Over time, we hope this results in more and more applications that use the network.
我認為Helium的最大技術優勢來自於搭建了整個系統的工程師們。將我們的成果開源，並提供良好的支持文檔。這些工作使得其他人使用、升級我們的技術變得容易。久而久之，我們希望有越來越多的人使用我們的網絡。
比特派CMO 孔維國
使用hotspot挖礦每天平均能產生多少hnt,這一數字會隨著hotspot數量上升而下降嗎
How many HNT we can expect from a single hotspot per day. Will it able to keep the curve flat while new hotspots are being deployed continuously?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
Today, with over 4,300 Hotspots on the blockchain, on average, Hotspot mines ~30-50 HNT per day. There are a lot of factors that play into how well Hotspots mine like how many other Hotspots are nearby to help your Hotspot fulfill POC challenges. Anyone can improve their mining by placing the Hotspot antenna as high up as possible and upgrading to an outdoor antenna. The more Hotspots there are on the network, the less each Hotspot will mine over time. The balance is that there should be more usage of the network by IoT devices. That should add more txns to the network increasing the value of the HNT overall.
目前為止，有超過4,300個Hotspots在Helium區塊鏈網絡上運行，一臺Hotspot每天大約挖30-50 HNT（Helium代幣）。有很多影響Hotspot挖礦效率的因素，比如你周邊有多少其他Hotspot設備來幫助你完成PoC（覆蓋率證明）。任何人都可以通過儘可能升高他們的天線，或者在升級到戶外天線來提高挖礦效率。網絡中Hotspot的數量越多，單個Hotspot的挖礦效率就會遞減。為了平衡收益，應該讓更多的物聯網設備來使用Helium網絡，增加轉帳數量，從而增加HNT的整體價值。
比特派CMO 孔維國
中國版要明年1月才上市，除了使用的頻率和美國版不同，還有其他的不同嗎。兩個版本的hotspot是否接入的同一套網絡，挖礦效率有區別嗎
The Chinese version hotspot will be delivered on Jan, 2021. We know the band will be used in Chinese Version is 470Mhz which is different with US version. Is there any other difference between CN and US Version? Are they work on same network and is there any difference on mining output?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
The only difference between the China Hotspots and US Hotspots is the frequency of the LoRaWAN radio. The blockchain is the same. We hope to have several other vendors making a Helium compatible Hotspot available for the Chinese market. This will drive down the cost overall.
中國版的Hotspot跟美國版本唯一的不同就是LoRaWAN的無線電頻率不同。區塊鏈網絡本身是一樣的。我們希望有其他製造商可以為中國市場生產與官方版本兼容的hotspot，這樣就可以降低成本。
比特派CMO 孔維國
Helium的共識機制是PoC（Proof of Coverage：覆蓋度證明），這個機制在系統中扮演什麼角色，有什麼作用？
The consensus of Helium is PoC (Proof of Coverage), how do we understand it? And how it works in the system?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
Helium POC (Proof of Coverage) is how the Helium Hotspots can be owned by different individuals and yet the network continues to provide coverage. POC is like an automated network health check. Every Hotspot has a full node of the blockchain. The Hotspots continuously ask the blockchain to validate that it is available and providing useful coverage. The Hotspots also continuously ask to challenge a POC group. The actions of challenging and proving the Hotspot is providing useful coverage forms the POC. Helium的PoC（覆蓋率證明）機制是指：當Hotspot被不同的個人所擁有後，它們（Hotspot）之間如何協同，為網絡提供無線連接覆蓋的。PoC就像網絡健康的自動檢測機制，每一個Hotspot都有一個完整的區塊鏈節點。Hotspot會一直向區塊鏈詢問以驗證網絡是否依然有效且提供有效覆蓋的。Hotspot也會一直詢問來質詢PoC小組。質詢與證明Hotspot的行為用來驗證Hotspot完成了有效網絡覆蓋。
比特派CMO 孔維國
Helium採用的是雙代幣模型：一個是 Helium 通證，另一個是數據積分（Data Credits）。這兩個代幣的區別是什麼？
There are two types of tokens in system: Helium and Data Credits. What are the differences between these them and how do they work together to make system works?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
Helium has a two token model. A burn and mint equilibrium. Multicoin Capital has written a great paper on it. https://multicoin.capital/2018/02/13/new-models-utility-tokens/. Helium有兩種代幣。一種是銷毀型代幣，一種是挖礦型代幣。Multicoin Capital寫了一篇詳細介紹：https://multicoin.capital/2018/02/13/new-models-utility-tokens/. 大家有興趣可以看下。
Basically, HNT is only available through mining from a Helium or Helium compatible Hotspot. There was no HNT pre-mined. Data Credits (DC) is the currency used to send data from an IoT device to the internet via a Helium Hotspot. 1 DC is equal to $0.00001 USD. To get a DC, someone must burn HNT. How many DCs do you get for burning 1 HNT depends on the price of the HNT at that time of burning. Burning means taken out of circulation forever. The burn and mint equilibrium system is built to drive a natural demand for HNT in the system to prevent the inflationary effects of HNT mining.
簡單來說，HNT只能通過Helium或者Helium兼容的Hotspot挖礦得到。Data Credits (DC) 是當前IoT設備通過Hotspot向網絡傳輸數據時所用到的代幣。1個DC價值0.00001美金。為了得到DC，用戶必須銷毀HNT。你銷毀HNT可以得到的DC數量取決於銷毀時HNT的價格。銷毀意味著永遠不再進入流通。銷毀跟挖礦平衡模型是為了建立HNT在系統裡的自然需求，減少HNT通脹帶來的影響。
比特派CMO 孔維國
未來這些代幣有上交易所計劃嗎?
IS there any plan for exchange listing?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
The laws in the USA are unclear about how cryptocurrency should be regulated, therefore, Helium is taking a very conservative approach in the area of HNT pricing and exchanges. Helium Inc does not proactively work with Exchanges on the listing of HNT.
美國的法律對於加密貨幣該如何規範還不是很明確，因此Helium在牽扯到HNT價格跟交易的方面比較謹慎。Helium公司並不會主動尋求交易所上幣。
比特派CMO 孔維國
要達到理想的覆蓋率，全世界主要國家需要多少hotspot，未來1年和3年，全世界大約有多少hotspot部署
How many hotspots need to be deployed around the world in order to achieve ideal coverage on major countries and how many hotspots are expected to be deployed in next 1 years and 3 years.
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
It is hard to say how many Hotspots are needed around the world. I would estimate that on average about 150 - 300 Hotspots per city should be sufficient to provide coverage. There are exceptions of course. Shanghai or Beijing are large cities, and perhaps 500 - 3000 Hotspots are needed to provide adequate coverage.
很難說要覆蓋全球需要多少Hotspot。我估計每座城市150-300臺設備才能有效完成每個城市的網絡覆蓋。當然也有例外，上海跟北京是超大型城市，大約需要500-3000臺設備才足以完成網絡覆蓋。
We think there could be tens of thousands of Hotspots deployed in the coming years. Our tech is open source and we are encouraging other manufacturers to build the Helium Hotspot.
我們認為接下來幾年會有數以萬計的Hotspot需要部署。我們的技術是開源的，我們也鼓勵其它製造商來生產Helium Hotspot。
比特派CMO 孔維國
Helium當前有哪些應用場景？有什麼確定的機構會使用Helium方案。
Tell us about some scenarios which can be benefit from Helium network. And is there any organization who already decide to implement Helium solution to support their business needs.
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
There are so many applications that need the Helium Network. Helium uses sub gigahertz frequencies. This means that the range is extremely far, measured in Kilometers not a few meters like wifi, Bluetooth, or cellular. Using LoRaWAN, we have achieved 17 - 30 kilometers between an IoT sensor to a Helium Hotspot. The battery life is also very good on LoRaWAN devices. Battery using this can last for years, not days or weeks like cellular/LTE/5G devices. Applications like bike tracking, pet tracking, medicine, food tracking are great examples.
有太多應用需要Helium網絡。Helium使用亞千兆赫茲頻率。這意味著他延伸的距離可以非常長，用千米來度量，而非像WiFi、藍牙，或者蜂窩網絡那樣用米來計量。通過使用LoRaWAN， 我們實現了17-30公裡的IoT傳感器與Helium Hotspot之間的通信。LoRaWAN設備的電池壽命也很長。不同於蜂窩網絡/LTE/5G設備只有幾天或幾周的壽命，Hotspot的電池可以使用數年之久。像自行車追蹤、寵物追蹤、醫學、食品追蹤等都是很好的應用案例。
In the USA, we have several customers using Helium for these kinds of applications. Nestle Foods is one of the customers that use this. We have another customer called, Conserv that uses the Helium network to keep art collections in proper order within museums or private collections. Another simple, but not sexy solution is tracking leaky toilets in apartments. We have several customers like NOWI, who use LoRaWAN water leak sensors to connect to the Helium network to alert the maintenance team of leaks so they can repair them before too much water damage occurs.
在美國，我們有幾個客戶在這種應用中使用Helium。Nestle Foods(美國的雀巢公司)就是其中一家。我們還有另外一個用戶，叫做 Conserv，它使用Helium網絡來使博物館與私人收藏的的藝術品收藏有序。我們有幾個客戶，像NOWI，使用LoRaWAN滴漏傳感器來連接到Helium網絡，用以向維修人員預警漏水，這樣他們可以在因漏水導致更多的損害前及時補救。
比特派CMO 孔維國
要成為一個被廣泛接受的商業基礎設施，除了技術本身仍需要投入巨大的資源用於生態建設，Helium在這點是如何計劃的？
To be a widely accepted commercial infrastructure, Technical is not the only fact that matters. Sometime enterprise level ecosystem development is more important, clients won’t just come. Do you have Enterprise level Go-To-Market plan?
Helium COO Frank（孟繁榮）
We do have an enterprise go-to-market plan. We have a dedicated business development team focused on showing enterprises the value of the Helium network. Nestle has been working with us for a few years. Lime Bikes is another customer who has worked with us. We continue to drive awareness and contact potential customers to educate them on how Helium can solve their problem without the Enterprise’s need to build their own network. Helium should replace 5G/LTE for all outdoor sensors.
我們的確有企業市場推廣計劃。我們有一個充滿激情的商業拓展團隊，致力於向企業展示Helium網絡的價值。Nestle(雀巢)已經跟我們合作了很多年。Lime Bikes是另一個與我們合作的客戶。我們持續培育潛在客戶，提高他們對於無需自己搭建網絡、使用Helium網絡就可以解決他們的問題的意識。Helium應該替代5G/LTE用於所有戶外感應設備。
本文來源： 金色財經 / 作者：比特派錢包