Well Look Who is Chirping Now

IoT technology is advancing so quickly. Do you remember the IOT brand Helium and how they took the world by storm well, here comes Chirp technology! Chirp is a data-over-sound communications firm whose technology is embedded in IoT devices and sensors. It allows data to be encoded on a sending device before being transmitted, over the air, to a receiving device, or group of devices where it is decoded. IoT devices with a speaker can emit ‘Chirps’ and others with a microphone and a small amount of processing power can receive and decode them.

Chirp is integrated through a software development kit (SDK). These SDKs work on different technology platforms including iOS, Mac OS, Android, Windows UWP, JS, Web Browsers, Python, Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Linux. This allows sensors to connect with a range of devices. Chirps can be generated on-device with dynamic data, or recorded as an audio file for later playback – like a sonic barcode

Remember a few months ago, may be more like a year or may be 2 years ago if you read my blog, COVID19 has distorted my sense of time to some degree, I was talking about the internet of things and the Helium network and Helium miners. Well now time has advanced and so has the technology, we are now in the period of Chirping? What exactly is that and why am I talking about it? Well chirping is not only for birds and where there is money to be made or information that may be leveraged for a benefit I glad to chirp all day long.

Why is Chirp technology better

Most IoT systems assume there will be some form of connectivity. But what happens when there isn’t any Bluetooth, WiFi or cellular connectivity? How can sensors share data when connectivity isn’t available? How can IoT devices be designed to last longer without being recharged? How can legacy equipment be retrofitted affordable to communicate with other devices?

Most IoT devices communicate through either a Bluetooth, WiFi, LoRaWAN, SIGfox or cellular connection. The mode chosen is determined by the size of the payload to be transmitted, distance to be traversed, and the power available to the transmitting device. Walls, other electronic equipment and conflicting radio signals also influences the selection of the protocol to be used. What’s needed is that can work in ‘noisy’ environments and work with very little power.

Bluetooth operates at 2.4 GHz with a range of under 33 feet while WiFi works at 2.4 GHz and has a range of around 60 feet depending on obstructions. Audio signals work at much lower frequencies around 20 to 20,000 Hz. Audio signals can traverse over 500 feet using simple speakers and microphones that require very little power. The amount of data that can be transmitted with audio signals, however, is much less than with Bluetooth and WiFi.

The Benefits of Chirping

IoT sensors have to conserve power so they can work for extended periods without recharging. They have to communicate with other sensors and devices that are installed later without requiring reconfiguration. Chirping handles these constraints, and also has other benefits:

1. The data to be transmitted is encoded by generating a new signal whose properties are determined by the data to be transmitted, and does not require an existing audio signal.

2. The information to be transmitted is encoded and decoded in real-time, without any external resources that might require a network connection.

3. It’s ideal for small, dynamic payloads such as a network of sensors and gateways. It isn’t designed for mission critical IoT applications with large data payloads such as industrial gear.

Consumer applications

Consider a home monitor that’s designed to connect through a home WiFi network. What happens when the customer is trying to install it is having problems as it can’t connect to the WiFi network? It’s difficult for a remote technician to troubleshoot the device as they can’t check the status of the device. But with ‘chirping’ capability built into the home monitor it’s possible to have the customer simply hold their phone near the device and the support technician could query the status of the home monitor through chirp sound signals.

Chirp Wireless Opportunity

Now enough about this brilliant technology and lets talk about $Chirps brought to us by Chirp Wireless. This project is currently in the prelaunch phase and this is when you really want to be involved. Always be early to the party, this is when the best wine and hors d'oeuvres are being served.

The project is very similar to that of Helium and all the other IOT network services, but with each iteration or generation of network providers that comes to market the offerings are getting better.

Chirp says, it is HARNESSING THE POWER OF DECENTRALIZATION TO BUILD THE WORLD’S MOST ROBUST AND SEAMLESS NETWORK: FULLY WIRELESS, ANYWHERE, ON ANY DEVICE, FROM HIGH-SPEED INTERNET, TO IOT.

Chirp's CEO Tim Kravchunovsky with the most advanced dual-band LoRa gateway built to connect IoT devices from across industries and technologies.

Join the thousands of users on the miner waitlist to reserve your place in the network of the future.

Refer your friends to the Chirp waitlist and join our pre-launch campaign. Top referrers will receive a FREE miner and will shoot to the top of the waitlist. Early adopters will get the most tokens on the network, so don't miss this opportunity to skip the lines and earn top-tier rewards.