IP and Software Speeds up TWS Earbud SoC Development

IP and Software Speeds up TWS Earbud SoC Development
by Tom Simon on 03-18-2021 at 10:00 am

CEVA Bluebud TWS Platform

The global market for earphones and headphones in 2020 is estimated to have been $34B and is expanding at a compound rate of over 20% per year. Of this almost 50% is said to be earphones which are shifting rapidly to True Wireless Stereo (TWS). We have seen the sales of TWS devices grow from 1M units is 2016 to 109M units in 2019, though … Read More


Combining AI and Advanced Signal Processing on the Same Device

Combining AI and Advanced Signal Processing on the Same Device
by Lauro Rizzatti on 08-04-2020 at 6:00 am

Figure 1 1

A lot has been written and even more spoken about artificial intelligence (AI) and its uses. Case in point, the use of AI to make autonomous vehicles (AV) a reality. But, surprisingly, not much is discussed on pre-processing the inputs feeding AI algorithms. Understanding how input signals are generated, pre-processed and used… Read More


Waking Up to the Requirements of Voice Activity Detection

Waking Up to the Requirements of Voice Activity Detection
by Tom Simon on 07-07-2020 at 6:00 am

Dolphin Design Waking Up

There is a famous scene in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver when Robert De Niro’s character Travis is pretending to have a conversation looking in the mirror and repeatedly saying “Are you talking to me?”. I think about this scene every time I use a voice active device – Hey, are you talking to me? Yes, I am, but are you listening?

Voice command,… Read More


Synopsys Announces IP Supporting 5G’s Game Changing Low Power IoT Spec

Synopsys Announces IP Supporting 5G’s Game Changing Low Power IoT Spec
by Tom Simon on 05-22-2020 at 6:00 am

5G NB IoT Processor from Synopsys

If you are like me, you will get a 5G phone because of the high bandwidth it offers. However, there is a lot more to 5G than just fast data. In fact, one of the appealing features of 5G is low bandwidth communication. This is useful for edge devices that perform infrequent and low volume data transfers and depend on long battery life. Prior… Read More


Using ML Acceleration Hardware for Improved DSP Performance

Using ML Acceleration Hardware for Improved DSP Performance
by Tom Simon on 04-24-2020 at 6:00 am

nnMAX Flex Logix Tile

Some amazing hardware is being designed to accelerate AI/ML, most of which features large numbers of MAC units. Given that MAC units are like the lego blocks of digital math, they are also useful for a number of other applications. System designers are waking up to the idea of repurposing AI accelerators for DSP functions such as … Read More


TinyML Makes Big Impact in Edge AI Applications

TinyML Makes Big Impact in Edge AI Applications
by Tom Simon on 02-12-2020 at 10:00 am

TimyML ECM3532 Architecture

Machine Learning (ML) has become extremely important for many computing applications, especially ones that involve interacting with the physical world. Along with this trend has come the development of many specialized ML processors for cloud and mobile applications. These chips work fine in the cloud or even in cars or phones,… Read More


New ARC VPX DSP IP provides parallel processing punch

New ARC VPX DSP IP provides parallel processing punch
by Tom Simon on 10-29-2019 at 6:00 am

The transition to the digital age from a mostly analog world really began with the invention of the A-to-D and D-to-A converters. However scalar processors can easily be overwhelmed by the copious data produced by something as simple as an audio stream. To solve this problem and to really jumpstart the digital age, the development… Read More


Visual SLAM at the Edge

Visual SLAM at the Edge
by Bernard Murphy on 06-06-2019 at 5:00 am

SLAM – simultaneous localization and mapping – is critical for mobile robotics and VR/AR headsets among other applications, all of which typically operate indoors where GPS or inertial measurement units are either ineffective or insufficiently accurate. SLAM is a chicken and egg problem in which the system needs to map its environment… Read More


Using ML to Build Efficient Low Power Platforms for Augmented Vision

Using ML to Build Efficient Low Power Platforms for Augmented Vision
by Tom Simon on 04-16-2019 at 7:00 am

We are all pretty familiar with augmented reality, where real world images are overlaid with computer generated images, graphics and even audio. Of course, our first exposure to augmented reality might have been images of heads up displays in fighter jets or perhaps in the movie The Terminator. Augmented reality is moving rapidly… Read More


DSP SoC a la Française

DSP SoC a la Française
by Lauro Rizzatti on 02-04-2018 at 11:00 am

I enjoyed reading Eric Esteve’s article “ French Tech at CES, 2nd country after USA with 274 Start-Up at Eureka Park!” It brought back happy memories of my time at EVE until Synopsys purchased it in 2012.Here is another intriguing story by a French startup named VSORA and founded by Khaled Maalej with a team of scientists and engineers.Read More