Hey Crankksters,
Over the past month, we’ve been working hard to improve the overall stability of the network and develop new solutions. Here’s a quick overview of what we’ve accomplished so far.
Server infrastructure improvements
• Started to deploy load balancers and servers in Europe and USA to achieve high availability, easy scaling and faster connection in these two regions. Improvements for other regions will be coming soon.
• Improved the Kadena nodes availability, response time and uptime
• Developed backup strategies and scripts so we do not suffer data loss and to be able to recover faster in case of disaster
• Created another Chirpstack stack for the Light gateways
• Improved monitoring systems
• Improved the general stability of the infrastructure
General improvements
• Consensus nodes:
✔ Optimized consensus node behavior for cases when a backlog is starting to build up
✔ Consensus nodes are allowed to target backlog more aggressively by allowing for parallel processing of cycles
✔ Blockchain smart contract has been enabled to handle consensus staking remaining open slots checking
✔ Added check for consensus public key checking and correcting if necessary
✔ Simplified process of location distance checking when closing a cycle and shifted it over to reporting
• Normal nodes:
✔ Started an effort to further optimize witnessing
✔ Started an effort to make witnessing more reliable by including the transmitted secret in the actual payload
✔ Added automatic detection of Chirpstack application server
• Simplified process for Light gateway onboarding on the back-end side
Upcoming improvements and new features
We sincerely apologize that due to various reasons we were not able to fulfill some of the set goals in our roadmap on time. Our team discussed the current situation and put together an action plan for the next few calendar weeks. Please read the following lines carefully, we hope you will be pleasantly surprised by some of the news. Please keep in mind that the specified week numbers and dates are subject to change in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
WN 27 (July 3rd — 9th)
• New Crankk software and IMG file — the Full gateways’ software code was rewritten from scratch to be more optimized and less dependent on external components. All previous versions of the software will be updated automatically. The new software includes following improvements and new features:
✔ Packet forwarder/multiplexer container that allows to add new networks, e.g. ThingsIX
✔ Chirpstack gateway bridge as a docker container — it’s now easier to check its logs
✔ Setup gateway from the Local Dashboard — no more need to use the Crankk Installer
✔ Management of all docker containers on the gateway (not just Crankk and Helium)
✔ Redesign of the blockchain and radio pages in the Local Dashboard — easier to spot problems with Chirpstack and/or the blockchain connectivity
• MatchX M2 Pro fix — we have developed a custom software solution which resolves the current issues with the gateway and makes visible following gateway statistics in your User Dashboard: Uptime, Lan IP, Remote IP, Temp, Used space, Firmware. We will continue to work on improving the features as much as the device hardware allows us.
• New Crankk Nebra Rock Pi IMG file — we have developed our own operating system for Rock Pi based gateway hardware and we call it Crankk OS. We will use it for other Rock Pi based gateway hardware like Bobcat, Linxdot, Dusun etc.
• One-time compensation for the issues experienced during the BETA — the compensation algorithm has been ready for a long time, but we waited to complete the solution for MatchX M2 Pro and Nebra Rock Pi. Please note that this compensation will be one-time as a gesture of goodwill from our side and will not be a practice for the future.
• Dev diary — a document that chronicles the development process of Crankk. It will include information about the project’s goals, technical challenges and progress updates.
WN 28 (July 10th — 16th)
• Consensus node staking — get ready and prepare your tokens for staking on July 12th at 18:00 CET.
WN 29 (July 17th — 23rd)
• Gamification — strategic attempt to enhance Crankk by creating similar experiences to those when playing games in order to motivate and engage users.
WN 31 (July 31st — August 6th)
• More hardware options — we have developed a solution for onboarding new 7 gateway models and have decided to open 1.000 more available spots in our BETA 2.0 group. So get ready to join the Crankk network and test the new gateways shortly before the start of the public onboarding!
You may ask why we don’t start the public onboarding directly and the answer is: we’d like to test first the new changes and improvements on the cloud infrastructure, software, image files, gateway models and ensure the scalability of the network. And why exactly 1.000 more spots? According to the current tokenomics, the cycle rewards will start decreasing at 3,800 nodes proportionately with the growing number of nodes. We’d like to show our appreciation to our ALPHA and BETA group members and keep them fully rewarded before we start the mass onboarding.
Following gateway models will be available for onboarding in our BETA 2.0:
Bobcat 1GB RAM
Dusun (Full gateway)
Finestra
Helium OG
Kerlink
Linxdot
SyncroB.it
The exact timing and procedure for joining the BETA 2.0 group will be announced separately, so stay tuned.
WN 37 (September 11th — 17th)
• Ranking system — it is under preparation and will be activated shortly before the start of the public onboarding. The system will be under continuous monitoring and improvement.
• Rewards boost for adding GPS — if you add a GPS antenna to your miner, your earnings will improve by 1%.
WN 38 (September 18th — 24th)
• Public onboarding — the exact timing and procedure will be announced separately, so stay tuned.
Postponed to Q4
• Mobile application — we decided to delay the launch of the mobile app due to the many software changes which creates the need for constant changes to the app as well. Another reason is the fact that we moved the main functionality for automating the process of onboarding Full gateways into the Local Dashboard. We will continue working on the mobile app after we complete the basic development process and make sure everything runs smoothly.
• Sensors — we successfully deployed and tested Dragino sensors, but realized we made a mistake placing the sensors early in the project roadmap. Without completing the basic network infrastructure and connectivity, it would not make sense to launch the sensors. Here we have the same logic as with the mobile app, so we will continue to work on adding more sensors after we complete the basic development process.
We sincerely thank you for your patience and continued support. Let’s keep building the future together!
Your Crankk Team
