NXP reference design offers fast route to Amazon Alexa-enabled designs
For NXP, chief enablement architect for i.MX applications processors, Robert Thompson, adds that the company believes that “voice is going to be huge” and that although previous attempts at voice-commanded products have come to little, the (in particular) DSP available with today’s microcontrollers will see more successful applications. Nevertheless, Thompson acknowledges that, “voice is challenging… and hard to roll out worldwide,” due to the complexities of multiple languages, dialects and accents (to mention just one factor). Expect, says Thompson, a, “very staged roll-out [of voice services] with English and the most-spoken European languages first.”
Implementations of the NXP/Amazon reference design – which will be available “by invitation only” at Amazon’s discretion (see below) will not involve a fee for the voice service itself – rather, Amazon is seeking to create a grouping of device manufacturers around its service. And, presumably, add to the database of captured and processed voice captures that, anecdotally, is believed to constantly analyse to improve the recognition algorithms.
The reference design comprises Amazon’s far-field voice recognition technology and the Alexa Voice Service (AVS); in this form, it is specific to end-products that will be integrated, functionally and commercially, with Amazon’s services. That is, it will retain the attributes of local wait-for-keyword processing, but streaming of subsequent captured voice to Amazon’s servers for interpretation.
NXP’s reference platform for Amazon Alexa on i.MX is a complete system containing Amazon’s 7-microphone array design, far-field audio processing technology – that is, the talk-to-the-box-across-the-room feature – and the 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 Internet of Things (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 recently-announced i.MX 8 series to enable rich interactive high performance multimedia and audio experiences.
Thompson says that the platform can be viewed as a way for users to understand what the voice-input approach can achieve, and as an integration of all the major components, with a low barrier to entry, with which to being experimenting with voice.
The NXP Reference Platform for Amazon Alexa features the same high performance far-field technology developed by Amazon for Amazon Echo. With advanced microphone arrays, audio processing algorithms, and beam forming technology, devices using the NXP reference design for Amazon Alexa will be able to recognize a customer’s request from across the room, even when loud music is playing. The NXP reference platform for Amazon Alexa on i.MX will be available to commercial device manufacturers.
NXP; www.nxp.com and www.nxp.com/alexa
Amazon’s statement on extension of this dimension of Alexa to the “wider world” says that, “…for the first time it is making the high-performance far-field microphone array and voice processing technology found in Amazon Echo available to hardware makers who want to build the Alexa experience into their products. With the Amazon Alexa 7-Mic Far-Field Development Kit, Amazon is making it easier for commercial developers to build and launch far-field voice initiated products with Alexa by reducing development time and cost.
“‘Since the introduction of Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, device makers have been asking us to provide the technology and tools to enable a far-field Alexa experience for their products,’ said Priya Abani, Director, Amazon Alexa. ‘With this new reference solution, developers can design products with the same unique 7-mic circular array, beamforming technology, and voice processing software that have made Amazon Echo so popular with customers. It’s never been easier for device makers to integrate Alexa and offer their customers world-class voice experiences.’
“The hardware-based reference solution will be supported by leading chipset providers. The solution includes: the same 7-microphone array found in Amazon Echo; Amazon’s proprietary software for wake word recognition, beam forming, noise reduction, and echo cancellation; and the reference client software for local device control and communication with the Alexa Voice Service.
“The Amazon Alexa 7-Mic Far-Field Development Kit will be available to commercial device manufacturers through an exclusive, invite-only program. OEMs can request an invite on developer.amazon.com and learn more about the reference solutions currently available for hardware makers wanting to integrate Alexa.”
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