Implement method for authorized non-owner station hosts to update helium-compatible station firmware #178
Description
WeatherXM Related Element
- Android Application
- iOS Application
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Owners of hosted fleets of stations won't easily be able to perform firmware station updates to remote hosted helium-compatible stations. Those station owners may need to rely on station hosts, due to the host's proximity to the station, to perform firmware updates. This isn't an issue for M5 bundled units, because those support automated updates with no user involvement. But helium-compatible stations need user involvement, and the process breaks down when hosted but not hosted nearby.
Describe the solution you'd like
One option is to manage it via the app.
There has been discussion about ways to share/follow a station with another user, which would make it easy for a host to access the weather data. One option is to extend that solution, to allow the station owner to explicitly set a flag that allows the person the station was shared with to also be able to initiate the OTA firmware update (after they are also paired with the station). If that flag is set for a particular station for that host, the host user would also see if the firmware needed updating, and the app would allow that person to initiate it. Under this scenario, best practice deployment process would have the owner pair their phone via Bluetooth as part of claiming the station, then deliver the station to the host location, and have the host also pair their phone with the station before station installation is complete (for example, up on a pole or antenna mast on the roof).
Describe alternatives you've considered
For each firmware update, provide access to the underlying firmware file, so that an owner could share the file with a technically competent host, who could use Device Firmware Update to update the firmware OTA. Unfortunately, this would require a more technically competent host, but it is better than nothing, and could also be a temporary solution for now, if an in-app solution is accepted but won't be delivered for quite a while. For now, I'm assuming there will be 3 to 6 more firmware updates before mainnet.
Additional context
One category of station owners will be hosted fleet owners (folks that own multiple stations, but place them at other people's property, with agreements between the owner and host). I don't know how big of a portion of the network build out they could be, but my understanding is that segment has not been trivial for other decentralized physical infrastructure networks. There were even multiple companies that were created just to do that for helium hotspots. I recognize that the differing deployment requirements for WeatherXM could alter the number of those, but the bigger that type of operation, the more likely the hosted location won't be available to the actual owner, and the owner will need the host, who has physical access/proximity to the station, to perform the firmware update. Without that ability, fleet owners may need to limit themselves to M5 bundled units, which won't work for owners that want to deploy fleets in situations other than within 100m of buildings that have wifi that can be shared with the M5.