NEWSBYTE Acoustic networking specialist Chirp has inked a deal with Microsoft to integrate its technology into the Azure Cloud, paving the way for the simpler provisioning of new IoT devices.
Chirp’s technology converts data into a soundwave (or ‘chirp’) that can be be picked up by any nearby device fitted with a microphone.
Microsoft’s move will lower Azure provisioning times for IoT devices from minutes to a matter of seconds, according to Chirp CTO James Nesfield.
- Read more: Chirp: Why transmitting data as sound waves could transform IoT networking | Exclusive CTO Q&A
Changing the way IoT devices are provisioned
Adding a smart device to a new Wi-Fi network is often a long-winded process. Provisioning one on the Azure Cloud usually requires several minutes, as users turn their device into a WiFi hotspot, connect to it using a laptop or smartphone, and then set up its credentials.
Microsoft’s new provisioning system for IoT devices uses Chirp technology to convert the device’s credentials into sound and broadcast it from the speaker of a laptop or phone. A nearby offline device running the Chirp Arm SDK (see below) receives the data as audio and uses the encoded credentials to connect to the network and authenticate the connection.
A demo of the solution in action can be seen here:
Internet of Business says
Following the announcement, Chirp has released a free SDK for the Azure MXChip board.
“This is a big milestone for data over sound,” said CTO Nesfield. “It marks the first public release of the Chirp SDK for Arm processors.
“We’ve harnessed the power of Arm’s CMSIS optimised DSP library to enable low-power, real-time Chirp encoding and decoding on the Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M7 chips – which means you can add data-over-sound capabilities to your embedded devices at a sub-dollar cost per unit.”