Why Is Sound the Best Way to Connect Headless IoT Devices – Trillbit

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The market for voice-assisted IoT devices is growing rapidly (e.g. Alexa in stove). Just in 2022, there will be more than 2 billion IoT devices sold with voice control built-in. This trend is changing the way consumers are interacting with their devices.

Most of these devices are “headless” i.e. they do not have a screen to interact with, so voice assistance is really a powerful tool to operate them. But first, these devices need to be connected with the internet or Wifi to enable voice-assistance.

Configuring the internet on these devices requires an initial pairing for transfer of credentials which is a cause of major user experience problems. Stuart Nixdorff, an ex Senior VP AAC Technologies and Sales veteran in IoT emphasizes the opportunity in IoT device set-up. “Smart Device setup and authentication is a well-known problem in the industry. Some companies even track the time it takes for an average user to onboard a device and the failure percentage. It is a constant challenge to improve the authentication process without compromising security. Some even track the number of touches it takes to onboard a device. And this is not just a UI / UX problem but can lead to costly product returns and customer service calls that have billions of dollars of negative impact in the industry. Data security is another major concern of network based control.”

Trillbit, a Boston based IoT startup has found a unique way to handle these pain points via their “data over sound” protocol which uses modulation of inaudible sound waves to communicate via speakers and microphones on IoT devices , allowing them to communicate via encrypted messages without a network connection. This solution is low cost, low power and provides flexible security via an offline communication channel. Trillbit is working with OEMs to provide their customers a better experience out-of-the box with easy set-up, while also providing superior security.

Mrigesh Parashar, co-founder & CPO of Trillbit says “ The ‘data over sound’ market is evolving and growing quickly. There are a handful of competitors, but interestingly most are focused on contactless payment, whereas we built the Trillbit technology from the ground up to tackle the real challenges with consumer adoption of IoT keeping ease and security aspects”.