Reference platform for Alexa to simplify development of high performance voice-enabled devices

NXP Semiconductors has announced the release of the NXP reference platform for Amazon Alexa, that integrates their far-field voice recognition technology and the Alexa Voice Service (AVS). Designed to simplify the creation of new voice-control devices, the new NXP reference platform on i.MX is a complete system containing Amazon’s seveb-microphone array design, far-field audio processing technology, and AVS client to enable customers and partners to create their own high performance devices with Alexa. NXP’s i.MX applications processors offer the scalability to meet the requirements that are unique to each customer design within the IoT. The applications processor portfolio features the i.MX 6 series for general purpose applications, i.MX 7 series for low power applications, and the new advanced i.MX 8 series to enable rich interactive high performance multimedia and audio experiences. “Integrating high quality audio processing has made the development of advanced voice-enabled devices, a lengthy and complicated,” said Geoff Lees, senior vice president and general manager of microcontrollers at NXP. “NXP’s reference platform for Amazon Alexa is the definitive solution to this problem. This reference design integrates Amazon’s proven far-field voice recognition technology and our popular i.MX development platform to enable the creation of high-performance voice-enabled devices with Alexa and reduce time to market.” “Customers love being able to talk to Alexa from across the room with Amazon Echo,” said Priya Abani, director, Alexa. “We are excited to make it even easier for hardware makers to integrate the convenient hands-free Alexa experience into their products, while providing customers with new devices offering access to Alexa.”