smart speaker News - Page 4 of 9 - CNX Software

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

3.5mm/USB Stereo Microphone Could Make Cheap 2-Mic Array

We previously wrote about the possibility of using Sony PS3 Eye camera as an inexpensive 4-mic array as at the time (August 2019) it sold for $7.5, and can still be found for $13 on Amazon. But I’ve come across a potential even lower-cost option with a tiny stereo microphone that connected to the 3.5mm audio jack on your phone or computer and sells for a couple of dollars ($2-$5) on sites like Aliexpress ($2.15) or GearBest. There’s not much in the way of specifications: Uni-directional stereo condenser microphone Left and right channel stereo recording Gold plug for maximum conductivity and minimum noise Sensitivity – 38 ± 3dB Frequency Response – 100-15,000Hz Plug – L-shap gold-plat mini plug, 3.5mm Dimensions – 5.7 x 5.5 cm If you click on the GearBest link, you’ll find there’s both a “mobile phone ” version and a “PC” version. I supposed it was because […]

April 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ESP32-Korvo AI Development Board Leverages ESP-Skainet Voice Assistant

Last September, Espressif Systems unveiled ESP-Skainet voice assistant optimized for ESP8266 and ESP32 wireless SoC with support for WakeNet wake word engine and MultiNet speech commands recognition with the former requiring just 20KB RAM for one word, and the latter supporting up to 100 offline commands as long as you had 4MP SPI flash or more. At the time, it only supported the Chinese language and worked on the upcoming “LyraT-Mini audio board“, now available for $26.99 shipped but only including one microphone. Espressif Systems has now announced a better AI development board with ESP32-Korvo AI development board includes featuring a mainboard with ESP32 processor and an audio ADC, and a subboard equipped with a 3-mic array, RGB LEDs, and various buttons. ESP32-Korvo specifications: Mainboard Wireless module – ESP32-WROVER-B with ESP32 dual-core Wi-Fi / BT processor, 128 Mbit SPI flash, and 64 Mbit PSRAM Storage – MicroSD card slot Audio […]

April 17, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Boardcon RK1808 SBC Targets Smart Audio & Computer Vision Applications

Rockchip RK1808 neural network processing unit was initially an IP Block inside RK3399Pro, but the company eventually launched RK1808 Cortex-A35 processor as a standalone solution now providing up to 3.0 TOPS for AI inferencing in modules, USB sticks, and development kits. Boardcon offers another option with EM1808, a Rockchip RK1808 SBC equipped with the processor. The board should be suitable for two main types of AI applications, namely smart audio applications thanks to four audio ports, speaker header, & an onboard 4-mic array, and computer vision with MIPI CSI & DSI interfaces. Boardcon EM1808 board is comprised of a baseboard and CPU module with the following overall specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK1808 dual Cortex-A35 processor up to 1.6GHz with 3.0 TOPS (for INT8) NPU, VPU supporting H.264 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode System Memory- 2GB LPDDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot, M.2 NVMe SSD interface Display I/F – 26-pin […]

March 27, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

Allwinner R329 Smart Speaker Processor Features Arm China’s AIPU (Artificial Intelligence Processing Unit)

Allwinner R328 is a dual-core Cortex-A7 processor with 64MB or 128MB built-in RAM designed for low-cost smart speakers that was introduced last year and found into smart speaker sold in mainland China. According to a recent press release (in Chinese only), the company has now released a 64-bit update with Allwinner R329 dual-core Cortex-A53 processor equipped with dual HIFI4 DSP for audio post-processing and pre-processing, as well as Arm China’s AIPU (Artificial Intelligence Processing Unit) delivering up to 0.256 TOPS at very low power. There’s no product page for Allwinner R329 yet, so I extracted some specifications from the press release: CPU – Dual-core Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz DSP- Dual-core HIFI4 DSP @ 400 MHz AI Accelerator – Arm China AIPU with 0.256 TOPS Built-in DDR RAM Audio Embedded second-generation VAD hardware 5x audio ADCs 2x audio DACs with 100dB SNR I2S and DMIC controller 5-1-channel and 7.1 […]

March 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Thundercomm Announces Qualcomm based Modules for Smart Speakers, LTE IoT, Smart Retail, and 5G Applications

Based in California in the US, Thundercomm Technology Co., Ltd. (aka Thundercomm) is a provider of IoT products & technologies for OEM/ODMs, enterprises and developers. The company introduced several Qualcomm based “TurboX Systems-on-Module” for smart speakers, LPWAN IoT devices with NB-IoT and LTE Cat M1 connectivity, smart retail applications, and 5G powered devices. TurboX C404 and C405 SOMs for Smart Speakers and Soundbars Key features and specifications: SoC – Qualcomm Snapdragon C404 / C405 with CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @, 1.4 GHz GPU (C405 Only) – Qualcomm Adreno 306 GPU @ 600 MHz DSP -2x Hexagon QDSP6 v66 – Low Power Audio Subsystem & Audio Compute DSP System Memory & Storage – 1GB LPDDR3 + 8GB eMMC flash in eMCP package; SD card signals Connectivity 2×2 MIMO WiFI 5 802.11 a/b/g/ac + Bluetooth 5.0 + FM via WCN3999 Gigabit Ethernet (RGMII) Display Interfaces (C405 Only) 4-lane MIPI DSI port […]

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Paranoid Mutes or Jams your Smart Speaker’s Microphone for Improved Privacy

Panaroid Smart Speaker Microphone Jammer

Smart speakers normally work by constantly listening to a wake-word, that is processed locally, before listening to your more complex command, and send the audio to the cloud for processing. That means most of the time no data is sent to the cloud, as continuously processing audio in the cloud would not be resource-efficient. However, in isolated cases, the company may want to listen to audio samples to improve their product(s) and it’s possible since the hardware is perfectly capable of doing this. Alternatively, hackers could always access your smart speaker. So if you worry about your privacy, while still wanting the convenience of using a smart speaker, a third-party solution controlling the microphone should protect your privacy. Pleasant Solutions “Paranoid” aims to provide such privacy solution by taking control of the microphone on your smart speaker. Due to the various smart speaker designs and features in the market, three […]

February 15, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Amlogic A113L Dual-Core Cortex-A35 Processor Targets Smart Audio and IoT Applications

Over two years ago, we reported about Amlogic A111, A112, A113 processors designed for audio applications such as smart speakers. A111 features four Cortex-A5 32-bit core, while A112 and A113D/A113X processors come with four Cortex-A53 cores instead. We have not heard much about those since then, but all those processors are still listed on Amlogic website, A112 is supposedly used in Xiaomi AI smart speaker, and Amlogic A113X1 Far-Field Dev Kit is still listed on Amazon’s list of devkits for Alexa voice service, but currently out of stock. Amlogic has been working on a more cost-efficient processor for smart audio and IoT applications with Amlogic A113L dual-core Cortex-A35 processor shown as Meson A1 in the Linux source code. It was just added in Linux 5.5. We don’t have much information about it, but it’s interesting as it’s the first Cortex-A35 processor from the company, and it targets the same smart […]

December 20, 2019December 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

UNISOC V5663 Arm Cortex-M33 AIoT SoC Comes with 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.1

UNISOC has launched a new processor for AIoT (Artificial Intelligence + IoT) applications with V5663 dual-core Cortex-M33 processor, supports for dual-band WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, and audio features such as a voice activity detector and microphone array support which should make it ideal for smart speakers, and other smart audio applications. UNISOC V5663 WiSoC specifications: CPU Arm Cortex-M33 processor @ 442 MHz with TrustZone, 32KB I-cache, 32KB D-Cache for application code Arm Cortex-M33 processor @ 416 MHz for WiFI and Bluetooth Memory – Built-in SRAM + external PSRAM interface Storage – eMMC, SDXC interfaces Connectivity – Dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi 5 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth 5.1 dual-mode (Classic + LE) Mesh Networking for WiFi and Bluetooth Indoor Positioning – WiFi RTT, Bluetooth direction finding (AoD / AoA) Audio – Voice Activity Detector (VAD), PDM and I2S/PCM interfaces Peripherals: USB 2.0 / 3.0, eMMC I2C, SPI, HS SPI, UART GPIO, PWM IR […]