Wingbits and the Geosigner

Good morning/evening
 
What does Wingbits do
 
As you may know from my previous posts, I have been in a project called Wingbits for some time on its testnet. As early adopters we were able to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and I repurposed a Helium Sensecap (when I say I, my husband did the tech bit). Wingbits is a Stockholm based project started by Robin Wingardh and Alex Lungu, where people set up antennas to collect data that is broadcasted by airplanes. 
 
With BYOD devices only able to be used by the first 2000 people, you can now buy a device and due to the partnership with Geodnet you can also buy a device that dual mines both Geodnet and Wings (Wingbits token once on mainnet) or just a Wingbits only device. The data collection from the BYOD devices and the ones you can buy are different so Wingbits chose to have a GeoSigner built.
 
What is a GeoSigner
 

 
The Wingbits GeoSigner is a cryptographically enhanced GPS receiver USB dongle. The GeoSigner will be available only for the "build your own device".This device will, verify our position is our actual location (prevent gaming) as well as auto updates and data collection so it will be the same as for the non BYOD set ups. The GeoSigner was sent out to the first 2000 with no cost to us whatsoever, not even postage, which I thought was extremely generous of Wingbits.
 
As the BYOD devices vary so much there are 5-6 different single-board computers (SBCs), 6-7 types of software-defined radios (SDRs), various filters, and numerous antenna configurations being used the Wingbits team had to learn to troubleshoot hundreds of unique setups, which caused quite a lot of tickets to deal with! The GeoSigner will help with these issues.
 
Funding
 
Wingbits has received a second round of funding which came 6 months after Wingbits’ $3.5 million seed round, bringing the total to $9.2 million.

 
Wingbits and Geodnet Miners
 
We are excited to announce that from today, pre-order sales will go live for the first Wingbits Approved device, engineered in partnership with GEODNET and HYFIX providing aviation enthusiasts, tech innovators and our friends in Web3 access to the latest breakthrough in DePIN-based flight tracking devices. The custom HYFIX ADS-B hardware integrates Wingbits’ blockchain-based flight tracking platform with GEODNET’s decentralized GPS network, offering the aviation industry provable, centimeter-level precision data in real-time. Our users will make up the foundation of this global network, all while earning rewards.
From wingbits.com
So far there are over 2000 pre orders for these devices, which are expected to be shipped later this month (Feb 25) but there was an AMA to discuss this delay. I find community members are much happier about delays when they are kept updated (something we never got with Helium!).
 
The $WINGS token will be rewarded to contributors who keep their hardware consistently active based on their performance, providing a steady stream of tracking data to the network.
 
The Wingbits roadmap
 

 
Wingbits are slightly behind but they are very good with communication and they have a lot of AMAs and a good Discord and now expect to go to mainnet in 2025 Q1.On the 20th February 2025 there was an announcement that Wingbits had partnered with Spire to launch a satellite into space, I have no idea how or why yet as this news has just been released. I an sure Wingbits will update as and when they have more news.
 

 
 
Wingbits special message
 
What a nice touch to thank the early adopters.
 
 
 

 
 
 
I am excited by this project, I think the team are great also, what are your thoughts? Do you think there is utility in these DePin projects? Are you involved in any?
 
As always, thank you for reading and feel free to comment.