The THaW team is proud to announce the issuing of a patent for new methods to pair wireless devices resulting from the THaW project.

Current Internet of Things (IoT) device authentication protocols are functional, but not scalable, which is increasingly pertinent as more and more homes and health-focused establishments have multiple ‘smart’ devices. For example, a manufacturer of an Internet-connected blood oxygen monitor will not know the name or Wi-Fi password of an end-user’s wireless network and cannot program the device to immediately pair with the user’s access point (AP). As a result, end-users may have to set up the monitor on their own… along with dozens of other home devices. Traditional pairing protocols also rely on a one-way authentication scheme, which does not prevent the user from pairing a new device with a spoofed AP.

This recently patented pairing process involves two devices sending signals between each other and leverages the movement of objects near both of these devices, which similarly impacts both devices’ signal strength. The devices can confirm trust in each other if the signal-strength-pattern they receive substantially matches the signal-strength-pattern the other device receives.

Interested in learning more? Check out the patent here or below!

Pierson, Timothy J., and Jonathan F. Alter. Methods and software for pairing wireless devices using dynamic multipath signal matching, and wireless devices implementing the same. US11856408B2, issued December 26, 2023. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11856408B2/en.