Using the Internet of Sound for IoT: Trillbit

#News(Startup) [ via IoTForIndiaGroup ]

Some kinds of data should be encoded onto an inaudible, near-ultrasound layer placed on top of normal, audible sounds — a process that could rapidly scale Internet of Things (IoT) adoption, says startup Trillbit.

The company says that by doing that kind of overlay, any microphone and speaker is turned into a data-transfer device that then could be used for payments transfers, user authentication, and smart city applications such as digital locks.

Ultrasonic sound applications
One of the key applications, according to the company, and one that it is primarily pitching, is related to consumers passing through an environment and targeting them a la Bluetooth beaconing. Trillbit says its proximity intelligence technology would be better than existing beaconing because equipment deployment is already done — the retail store’s speakers, for example, are in situ. It’s cross-platform, too, because it can be used not only by multiple smartphone operating systems, but also legacy TVs and radios.

But that commerciality aside, it’s a lack of network dependency where it becomes intriguing for smart city IoT communications — nearly everyone has a smartphone. Transmissions can be highly secure in part because it’s contactless, the company promises. Plus it claims that the system will be zero-cost to deploy with existing city audio infrastructure such as public address systems already built.

Interestingly, Trillbit communicates even when smartphones are in Airplane Mode and data is turned off, so conceivably it has uses in the transportation vertical.

The company also points out that its system fixes congestion issues that might occur in a large crowd-gatherings, such as at a stadium. Traditional networks, such as wireless, can overload when important information needs communicating — such as during a public safety incident, it says. “Mobile towers and Wi-Fi networks fail as audience number increases.”

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