Best-in-class audio features for Ambarella-based IP camera and wearables

Microsemi has announced its new Timberwolf audio processor is designed specifically for Ambarella, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMBA) camera system-on-chips (SoCs). The customized technology from Microsemi is engineered to be the best-in-class high-definition (HD) audio solution for Ambarella’s suite of video processors. The new audio processor is designed with AcuEdge Acoustic Technology on Microsemi’s innovative Timberwolf digital signal processor (DSP) platform, which features a set of complex, fully integrated algorithms that allow users to extract intelligible information from the audio environment in which they are communicating. Microsemi’s new ZL38AMB provides license-free, royalty-free intelligent audio algorithms. The comprehensive Microsemi AcuEdge package accelerates customers’ time-to-market with a complementary reference design and easy-to-use development tools such as the MiTuner acoustic echo cancelation (AEC) tuning kit. The Microsemi ZL38AMB device is an advanced wideband acoustic echo canceller designed to provide leading-edge echo cancellation, noise reduction, beam forming and sound location detection for the increasingly demanding IP camera and wearable markets. The capabilities of the new device boast important advancements to meet growing demand in this space. According to the latest research from IHS, the IP camera and wearable imaging market reached combined shipments of 21.6 million units during 2014, and are expected to see continued growth in shipments of 30 percent per year over the next four years, climbing to over 91 million units shipped annually by 2018. “Our second-generation family of audio processing solutions leverages the offerings of the Microsemi AcuEdge acoustic technology, which brings significant features such as far field microphone up to 30 meters as well as direction of arrival, allowing for camera users to know where sounds are located,” said Jacques Issa, vice president and business unit manager at Microsemi. “Now, manufacturers working on Ambarella-based IP and wearable camera designs can easily incorporate our leading edge audio solutions into their designs.” The ZL38AMB acoustic echo canceller is a highly-adaptable hardware platform designed to enable intelligent audio processing for camera applications. The ZL38AMB provides a powerful DSP with voice specific hardware accelerators, three digital microphone interfaces, two independent 16-bit DACs with headphone drivers and two flexible time-division multiplexing (TDM) interfaces in a single 64-pin QFN or 56-pin 3x3 CSP package. Additional features include 48 kHz stereo music playback with voice, ultra-low and standby power. It can run unattended (controller-less) and offers self-booting into a configured operational state. AcuEdge acoustic technology is the compilation of various voice processing blocks to offer the following: 1 - Acoustic echo cancellation 2 - Stationary and psychoacoustic noise reduction 3 - Howling detection and rejection 4 - Two and three microphone beam forming 5 - Sound location detection 6 - Compressor / limiter / expander that offers superior performance for both far-field microphone and automatic gain control (AGC) functionality These powerful capabilities are the foundation for enterprise level automatic speech recognition, sound classification and other intelligent decision making functions based on sound and audio detection. Microsemi’s ZL38AMB with its Microsemi AcuEdge acoustic technology will be available in July 2015, says the company.