Aligned Incentives

October 15, ‘23

Orange and gray image with the words "aligned incentives" and the term "How aligning incentives fixes global flight tracking"

Our mission at wingbits is simple yet ambitious: to track every single flight. For that to happen, we need:

  1. Full Coverage: Every patch of the sky should be monitored
  2. 100% Uptime: Maintain a highly reliable network, crucial for the regulated air transportation industry.
  3. Granular Data: Have a clear, precise view of aircraft activity.

To ensure the sustainability of our mission, it’s essential that we align the economic incentives of our community with our own. As wingbits grows, so does the value of our network, making a robust tokenomics system that rewards our data providers essential.

The SkyHex Coverage System

Our coverage system, called SkyHex, aligns with our goals:

- Full Coverage: The system transparently shows sky areas that are still not monitored, facilitating community deployment decisions.
- 100% Uptime: Data providers must continuously upload data to retain ownership of their hex, ensuring network stability.
- Granular Data: Hex owners are rewarded proportionally based on the data contributed, encouraging the community to maximize their setup.
- Strong Economic Incentives: Limited hex availability encourages rapid coverage expansion, and hex owners can sell their hexes, adding to the economic incentive.

SkyHex is a robust system that aligns with our long-term objectives. Consequently, we are adjusting the token distribution to match this system.

Wingbits map showing a reward hex that can be interacted with via the ads-b flight-tracking network

Current Tokenomics

Our current model rewards Wing tokens proportionally based on tracked flights. While this model initially appealed to us for its simplicity, it has some shortcomings:

- It doesn’t incentivize full coverage but instead favors deploying antennas near busy flight routes and airports.
- There is no cap on the token distribution therefore the increasing number of passenger flights leads to token inflation.

Updates

We are implementing the following changes to match our goals :

  1. Shifting from rewarding tracked flights to rewarding covered hexes with a fixed amount of tokens.
  2. The hex rewards are determined using the following formula: the number of antennas in the hex * base hex reward. The maximum number of antennas in the hex remains constant at 3.
  3. The user rewards are determined using the formula: uptime % data provided % hex rewards. An user can own maximum 1 antenna in one hex.
  4. Implementing a token release schedule.

Important: Keep in mind that all the information provided above is currently in the development stage and subject to changes based on testing and feedback from the community.

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