Recent NJIT Grad Creates App That Turns a Cell Phone into a Microphone

David Daudelin, of Hackettstown, graduated just two years ago, yet he has already created a technology that his employer --AT&T -- is developing into a commercial product.

David developed what he calls the SmartMic, an application that transforms your cell phone into a wireless microphone -- one that can be heard over a regular sound system in a conference room with no special hardware needed.

The technology will let people attending conferences use their smartphones as microphones. The new app works over Wi-Fi or by way of cellular data connection to a laptop computer. The laptop is simply plugged into the speaker system in the conference room and, voila: Your cell phone is transformed into a SmartMic. The app can be used by corporations, hotels, schools and universities or by any entity that sponsors conferences.   

David, a technical architect in AT&T’s Emerging Markets Group in Plano, Texas, says SmartMic was born from the frustration he and a co-inventor felt while attending conferences where questioners had to wait for microphones to be passed laboriously around the room.

“I think everyone has attended a conference and seen the presenters pass the wireless microphone around the room, which eats up time and is a bit of a hassle,” says David, who received both a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2012 from NJIT. “That’s the problem this app solves.”

David developed SmartMic with another NJIT grad: John Borges (2012, computer science), who works as a specialist applications developer for AT&T. The company has an internal website called TIP through which employees can submit ideas for new technologies. Employees review the ideas and then vote on the submissions they think are best. SmartMic was picked. Then, two months later, the two formed a team that participated in an AT&T Hackathon. Participants had 24 hours to develop working prototypes for new technologies. The team, comprised of David, John, a third employee and an intern, won first place. And that win, and their prototype, got the attention of senior AT&T management.  In the following interview, David explains what happened next and why the SmartMic is targeted to become an AT&T commercialized product.