breakthrough

breakthrough magazine
If your company is involved in
manufacturing, toolmaking, engineering
design or developing new products, you
should be getting government cash for all
INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Spring 2017
that hard work.

Some people call it R&D tax credits,

we just call it cash for innovation.

Its
payback
time!

Get what youre owed at www.breakthroughfunding.com A sound

networking
idea
CASH FOR
INNOVATION?

9 772514

ISSN 2514-149X
YEAH.
Renewable energy storage

149001
WE DO THAT.
Spring 2017

with a trick up its sleeve

03
5.99
22 breakthrough, Spring 2017
NOW
THATS A
SOUND
IDEA

When we first heard the Chirp technology in action, we

were transformed back in time to the dial-up Internet
connections of the 90s, and the sounds we heard
emanating from our modem while waiting patiently
to get online. But dont be fooled into thinking Chirp
is simply a rehash of old technology, its far from it as
Chirps CEO, Moran Lerner, explained.

breakthrough, Spring 2017 23
 T
he technology powering Chirp spun out
from a longstanding research project
carried out by some of the country's
leading acoustic and computer scientists from
University College London.
The project was originally conceived to
overcome shortcomings in todays networking
technologies. As the Internet of Things (IoT)
gathers pace, an increasing number of devices
are trying to connect to the Internet and
communicate with each other. However the
networking technologies in common use today
are not compatible with vast swathes of older
devices that are still in use. Plus, there are
multiple platforms and technologies used to
bridge the gap between individual devices and
the Internet, and they are often not interoperable
or compatible with one another. So, older devices
simply aren't up to the job of connecting, and
newer devices struggle to talk to each other.
A good example of the interoperability problems
can be seen in the payments industry. Many
ATMs and till systems still run on Windows XP,
sometimes with even older systems connected
behind them. They simply cannot talk to growing
number of modern technologies to enable
seamless mobile transactions. It's a situation that
is holding back the industry.
The technologies designed to overcome some
24 breakthrough, Spring 2017
of these shortcomings, like Bluetooth, work up
to a point. But they require installed hardware to
operate ruling out many older devices. They also
highlight another challenge: friction. Devices that
are trying to communicate over Bluetooth need to
be connected to each other first. While this need
can be overcome by other technologies, like RFID
(radio frequency identification) and NFC (near
field communication), both have relatively short
range capabilities and are not widely available.
And so the Chirp team set about developing
a solution to connect disparate platforms and
networks seamlessly by pairing them securely.
Explaining the original concept behind Chirp,
Moran said: "The Chirp team realised that sound
is everywhere, it's the original form of human
communication. There are a plethora of devices
with speakers and microphones built-in, and they
all work on the same, universal, protocol; sound."
There was clearly a gap for a widely compatible,
low-friction method for devices to connect to
While on the surface it
may look simple, Chirp
went through years of
research
each other and to networks. Drawing on this
insight, Chirp was designed as a new protocol
that can share data between devices that have
speakers and microphones, using just sound.
While its conceptual origins do lie in the legacy
modem technologies, a key difference is that the
Chirp technology transfers data over the air rather
than through cables.
While on the surface it may look simple, Chirp
went through years of research and four years
of intensive market testing with a consumer
application for transferring photos, links, music
and other media content using just sound.
How to Chirp
Any device with a speaker can emit a Chirp and
any device with a microphone, and a relatively
small amount of processing power, can decode
one.
Chirps can be audible or ultrasonic, depending
on the equipment or application they are
designed for. There are situations where the
sound indicating a transfer is an advantage and
others where the sound is unwanted, while some
speakers and microphones are simply unable to
handle the ultrasonic frequencies involved in the
inaudible Chirps.
The standard Chirp technology draws on a
network application programming interface (API)
A Chirp can be
reconstructed with
anything up to 25% of its
content missing
which essentially converts data to a ten character
shortcode and an audio protocol which turns
a set of characters into a series of tones. This
method gives a Chirp a data capacity of 50 bits.
That may not sound like much, but when you
consider switching on and off a light takes just
one bit, you can see there is a lot you can do with
50.
For transmission, the shortcode is embedded
into a string of 20 characters, which has what's
known as a 'front door' element at the beginning,
to tell the receiving device that the sound is a
Chirp. At the end of the string are eight 'Reed-
Solomon' characters to enable state-of-the-art
error correction. This is a technique that is widely
used by data technologies including DVDs and
satellite communications
This error correction was one of the most
challenging and critical aspects of the Chirp
project. The Chirps have to work in a wide
variety of real-world situations and surroundings
breakthrough, Spring 2017 25
26 breakthrough, Spring 2017
and need to be able to cope with background
noise and other disruptions. The Chirp team
are pretty tight-lipped when pressed about how
they developed the robustness, but they do say
it took a lot of work and tackling this challenge
was a major part of the four-year development
programme that went into Chirp. Once perfected,
the error correction meant that a Chirp could
be reconstructed with anything up to 25% of its
content missing or misheard.
Theres an app available in the Android and iOS
app storesChirp Sharethat demonstrates
the technology, its simple but does a good job
of showing how the technology works. Pop your

Using semi-tone
intervals made a Chirp
sound more melodic
phone into aeroplane mode, and you can marvel
as you transfer symbols between your phone and
a computeror indeed another phone running
the app. Try it in a room with background noise,
and you will see just how robust the technology
can be.
The effort that went into developing Chirp
was not all under the hood, however. The
development team realised how unpleasant
noises produced by the old modem technology
could be. So they engineered their sounds to
be more pleasing to the ear by using semi-
tone intervals which made a Chirp sound more
melodic. There were no engineering benefits
to this, but the focus on aesthetics made a
significant difference to the experience of the
audible Chirps.

The benefits of Chirp-ing

The technology isnt looking to replace networks;
rather it has been designed to act as a universal
interfacethe last, or first, three feet of the
connection between a device and its destination,
which could be another device, system, network
or the Internet.
What it does offer are many other advantages.
Universal access is a significant benefit and helps
to overcome the issues of enabling a broad range
of new and legacy devices to communicate.
There is also a lack of friction in the Chirp
solution. Other technologies, like Bluetooth for
example, need to be joined before they can
communicate; Chirp doesn't. The sound-based
approach doesn't suffer from contention issues
either. These are problems experienced when
too many devices are trying to access a network.

breakthrough, Spring 2017 27

The game has around
200 million children
playing it worldwide
And data transfer through a Chirp can give users
a far greater level of anonymity, as the lack of
requirement for devices to formally join, means
that no identifying information needs to be
transferred for a Chirp to work.
Initially, the technology was used to launch
a consumer-focused appone that enabled
people to share anything from pictures to Mp3s,
across a range of devices. However, when Moran
joined the team, he realised that commercialising
the technology as a business-to-consumer
tool would be tough. Many had tried before,
and only a few survived. So the direction of the
business changed to focus on business-to-
business applications, where Chirp technology
is embedded directly into customers products,
regardless of the platform used.
In the business-to-business space the
applications are endless, but, the team are
approaching it along two primary paths.
They work with partners on bespoke projects
and implementations of the technology. A
28 breakthrough, Spring 2017
practical example of this approach has been
work with the digital games company Activision.
Skylanders, one of Activision's flagship games,
is a character-based console game aimed at the
under-tens. Within the game, players create their
own unique characters, and as part of the game's
ecosystem, they are encouraged to share them.
The game has around 200 million children
playing it worldwide. However, due to their
young average age, Activision established that
a significant majority of players wouldn't be able
to access data networks on their mobile devices.
This barrier to communication constrained
the ability to share characters and limited this
function and its potential to support the games
growth.
Sound was the perfect solution. It enabled
players to transfer characters from the screen
to their mobile devices without the need for
any dedicated connection, complicated user
accounts or data requirements. Once on the
childs mobile devicea tablet perhapsthey
could then easily use another Chirp to share their
character with a friend.
However, in the Activision example, 50 bits of
data wasn't enough, so the Chirp team adapted
the technology to be able to transfer enough data
to represent the character using a custom built
1.2Kbit protocol. As a result, the technology is
being used by millions of kids to enhance their
enjoyment of Skylanders.
There was also an added benefit that the team
didn't initially anticipate. The kids quickly realised
they could share screencasts of themselves
sharing their characters via Youtube, and then
other users, anywhere in the world, could access
the Chirp, and the character, by watching the
video and capturing the Chirp. This unintended
consequence took character sharing from
something that was done between friends to a
craze with global reach.
Moran and the team also want Chirp to be
accessible, so the other path the company is
following has seen it release a series of software
development kits (SDKs), which enable the Chirp
technology to be used with a range of software,
devices and platforms that might otherwise be
interoperable with the other. Technology and
software developers can access the SDKs and
integrate Chirp technology into their projects. As
an example, the team have used a Raspberry
Pia widely available, low-cost, programmable
boardto receive Chirps and use them to control
a series of colour adjustable lights.
It is a simple but effective way of showing the
technology in action. But some of the other real-
world applications the team have worked on have
far more significant benefits.
For example, in India Chirp has worked with
a bus ticketing company, Shuttl, to enable a
payment and ticketing solution. Mobiles are
prolific in India, but the majority are old with basic
technical capabilities. The ticketing system in
the region requires tickets to be purchased in
advance of travel and then authorised by the bus
driver. To enable electronic ticket sales a method
for them to be authorised electronically was
needed too. However, connecting to the network
on a bus is simply too slow and not possible for
every passenger. QR codes were tried but also
suffered from issues with device compatibility. So,
Shuttl was looking for an off-line solution, with
broad compatibility, and Chirp fitted the brief.
Now, millions of customers board the bus and
play a Chirp from their phone; the sound tells the
driver they have a ticket for travel and the ticket
details are recorded.
As well as enabling the move to electronic
ticket sales, the solution has significantly reduced
the time it takes to get passengers on board.
Alongside applications in consumer
Millions of customers
board the bus and play a
Chirp from their phone
Embedded Chirp
technology enables
sound to be used to give
commands to robots
technologies, the fast growing Industrial Internet
of Things (IIoT) space is seen as having a
significant scope for the technology too.
There is currently an exponential growth in
IIoT and related services, which means that the
increase in complexity of these systemsas they
have to be continuously available and highly fault-
tolerantis hyper-exponential. Using sound as
a complementary technology offers advantages
through its simplicity, as other technologies
become increasingly more complex.
If a device that may or may not otherwise be
connected to a network, is broadcasting data via
Chirp technology, it doesn't matter what else is
going on. The network could be down, the data
centre could even be on fire, but if a technician
is within earshot, they can still access the data
being broadcast.
There are other advantages in IIoT applications.
Chirp technology is platform-independent, so the
cost of joining discrete networks and systems
with Chirp can be far less than other options. And
sound does not cause, or suffer, from issues that
can affect radio-based networks.
This last advantage is why Chirp was asked if it
could help with data capture in a nuclear facility.
These sites are strictly regulated on safety grounds
and introducing wifi technology is a not an option.
Sound, however, is inert. So Chirp was able to
implement its system, ultrasound in this instance,
and allow engineers to access data from sensors
right across the site. As a result, an enormous
amount of time has been saved on tasks that,
traditionally, need to be carried out manually.
The team is also working with several major
manufacturers of industrial robotics. Embedded
Chirp technology enables sound to be used as
a method to give commands to the robots. The
robots can also communicate with each other
or share diagnostic information, and this can
be done quickly and safely in radio-sensitive
environments.
The more you consider the possible
applications, the more you realise that a
technology that was all but written off at the dawn
of the broadband era may never have been more
relevant. Where else could this be the case? Is
anyone up for resurrecting the fax or Telex?
Chirp
www.chirp.io
breakthrough, Spring 2017 29
 breakthrough

breakthrough magazine
If your company is involved in
manufacturing, toolmaking, engineering
design or developing new products, you
should be getting government cash for all
INNOVATION IN ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING Spring 2017
that hard work.

Some people call it R&D tax credits,

we just call it cash for innovation.

Its
payback
time!

Get what youre owed at www.breakthroughfunding.com A sound

networking
idea
CASH FOR
INNOVATION?

9 772514

ISSN 2514-149X
YEAH.
Renewable energy storage

149001
WE DO THAT.
Spring 2017

with a trick up its sleeve

03
5.99