Chirp's machine-to-machine communications software enables any device with a loudspeaker or microphone to exchange data via inaudible sound waves, allowing the interconnection of millions of devices in a seamless, scalable, and cost-effective way. Information is converted to an audio signal, received by any device within hearing range and then converted back to the original data. The data transfer technology is solving real-world problems and helping to create new and innovative ways for technology and people to interact. Unlike Bluetooth and Wi-fi, it doesn't require any prior passwords or pairing, so it makes sharing data simple and frictionless. It works completely offline, is proven to be robust in the noisiest of conditions, well-suited to on-boarding IoT devices and supports bank-grade cryptography for secure transactions. It can even use near-ultrasonic frequencies that are inaudible to the human ear. The technology is already in use by Activision-Blizzard for interactive entertainment applications, and for ticketing on Indian transportation company, Shuttl, among several other use cases.
Chirp’s software-only solution can provide enhanced connectivity to any audio-capable smart device without adding to its existing bill of materials. It also places the technology in the hands of device manufacturers and developers who wish to take advantage of a frictionless, low-cost solution for device-to-device communication and data processing with data-over-sound.
Chirp’s Arm SDK has capitalized on the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) capabilities of Arm's Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M7 processors to engineer a robust data transfer solution that is both accessible and reliable without being resource intensive, enabling connectivity and application logic to reside on a single Arm core.
The SDK exists as a static library (approximately 740KiB in size) with a straightforward API for sending and receiving data via Chirp signals. The SDK implements the physical and data link layers of the data-over-sound OSI stack, with any additional layers such as encryption, application-specific protocols, or end-to-end transmission/QoS being easy to implement on top of the SDK if required.
“By simplifying data-over-sound technology for Arm-based devices, we are able to extend our support of developers with a reliable data transfer solution and increase the footprint of data-over-sound as a cost effective and versatile capability to application connectivity. The demand for frictionless data exchanges between connected devices is growing constantly and we look forward to seeing our technologies work together to make communication between devices both simple and seamless for the end user,” comments James Nesfield, CEO of Chirp.
Chirp’s support of Arm-based technology follows the recent release of a joint white paper exploring the fundamental concepts and benefits of data-over-sound connectivity and key application areas within the Internet of Things.
www.chirp.io
