Sonitor’s Forkbeard is the first ultrasound-based technology that enables smart mobile devices to become highly accurate indoor positioning tools offering an innovative and convenient alternative to standard RTLS tags or badges. Lyra™, the first release of this breakthrough platform, delivers never before achieved smartphone positioning accuracy enabling wayfinding to within 1 foot in a corridor, 100% room level accuracy and 1-2 second update rates. Forkbeard is compatible with the billions of iOS, Android and Windows smart devices on the market today and has been heralded by leading mobile technology insiders as a disruptive force in indoor navigation and positioning. By leveraging the capacity of the smartphone’s microphone and powerful processor, no modifications or accessories are required to transform a smartphone into an accurate positioning device or tag.

“Forkbeard represents a fundamentally new approach to ultrasound decoding developed to deliver accurate distance measurements and to find powerful Doppler effects when a device is in motion,” said Sonitor Technologies CTO and lead developer, Wilfred Booij, Ph.D. “The result is a scalable and accurate indoor positioning platform that delivers GPS-like performance indoors.”

“Forkbeard is a major technology breakthrough with applicability in healthcare and other industries, such as retail and warehousing, where reliable and accurate indoor positioning can deliver significant value,” said Anne Bugge, Sonitor Technologies, Inc. President and CEO. “With the ubiquity of consumer and professional smart devices, and the fact that we spend over 80% of our life indoors, Forkbeard has the potential to make transformative changes across multiple markets.”

“Forkbeard” (Tveskæg) was a Scandinavian king who dethroned his father, King Bluetooth (Blåtand) in 986 AD. Bluetooth was known as a unifier and communicator, and Forkbeard as a navigator and conqueror. Bluetooth® (BLE) technology was developed for short range radio communication by a special interest group initiated by Intel, Ericsson and Nokia in the 1990s and has evolved into a globally adopted short range RF communication technology. Sonitor SenseTM and Forkbeard technologies were developed for determining indoor location in complex environments. Together they outperform BLE-only technology for navigation and indoor positioning because they combine BLE with the proven accuracy of Sonitor’s patented ultrasound positioning technology.

Sonitor was exhibiting at the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas, NV, March 5-9, 2018.  They had live demonstrations of both the Forkbeard and Sense™ platforms, and the booth was buzzing with activity. The announcement of Forkbeard and the launch as created enormous interest for the company.

Sonitor is a long standing member of Norway Health Tech and in addition to their US office, is located at Lysaker  (city border of Oslo) in Norway. This is also where all their proprietary technology is being developed and tech-knowledge accumulated.

 

About Sonitor
Sonitor is a leading provider and innovator of accurate and reliable ultrasound-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) and Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) linking the physical world with the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide real-time visibility and connected intelligence. As the first and only company to use proprietary ultrasound technology as the primary technology for indoor positioning, Sonitor’s SenseTM and ForkbeardTM platforms work seamlessly together to help users navigate indoor environments and automatically determine the real-time location of moveable equipment and people. With its open integration platform, Sonitor provides the flexibility to leverage best-in-class software application solutions covering use cases such as wayfinding, nurse call, patient flow, workflow and capacity management, hand hygiene, infection control and asset and inventory management.