High Data Rate Near-Ultrasonic Communication with Consumer Devices

TL;DR

This paper presents a near-ultrasonic communication system for consumer devices that achieves high data rates of 4 kbps over 5 meters by adapting underwater acoustic communication techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a novel high data rate NUSC system tailored for consumer devices, leveraging UWAC methods for improved performance.

Findings

Achieves 4 kbps data rate over 5 meters

Uses coherent modulation and adaptive equalization

Outperforms similar systems in literature

Abstract

Automating device pairing and credential exchange in consumer devices reduce the time users spend with mundane tasks and improve the user experience. Acoustic communication is gaining traction as a practical alternative to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi because it can enable quick and localized information transfer between consumer devices with built-in hardware. However, achieving high data rates (>1 kbps) in such systems has been a challenge because the systems and methods chosen for communication were not tailored to the application. In this work, a high data rate, near-ultrasonic communication (NUSC) system is proposed to transfer personal identification numbers (PINs) to establish a connection between consumer laptops using built-in microphones and speakers. The similarities between indoor near-ultrasonic and underwater acoustic communication (UWAC) channels are identified, and appropriate UWAC techniques are tailored to the NUSC system. The proposed system uses the near-ultrasonic band at 18-20 kHz, and employs coherent modulation and phase-coherent adaptive equalization. The capability of the proposed system is explored in simulated and field experiments that span different device orientations and distances. The experiments demonstrate data rates of 4 kbps over distances of up to 5 meters, which is an order of magnitude higher than the data rates reported with similar systems in the literature.