Syntiant, an AI chip company providing custom always-on voice solutions at the edge, today announced that it is now a member of the Qualcomm® Extension Program, offering OEMs and ODMs accelerated integration of its ultra-low-power neural network technology with Qualcomm® Bluetooth audio platforms and SOCs.
With support from the Qualcomm Extension Program, Syntiant plans to deliver a touch-free, cloud- free, machine learning voice solution for always-on speech applications in battery-powered devices, such as Bluetooth-enabled earbuds and hearable devices.
“As a member of the Qualcomm Extension Program, we’re able to support a wide spectrum of edge applications, from wake word detection, to voice commands like ‘on,’ ‘off,’ ‘volume up,’ ‘volume down,’ to event detection, without the use of touch and with very low power consumption,” said Kurt Busch, CEO of Syntiant. “Our machine learning solution helps ensure privacy because we run at the edge, and it also supports Alexa wake word capabilities, reducing integration and development time for device manufacturers.”
Manufacturers can easily combine the Syntiant® NDP100 microwatt-power Neural Decision ProcessorTM (NDP) with Qualcomm Bluetooth SoCs (such as the Qualcomm® QCC5100 ultra-low power series) to offer enhanced touch-free functionality, including detection of multiple wake words and cloud-free command programmability with very low latency.
Syntiant’s processors also come with the Amazon Alexa Voice Service keyword model, which enables a close-talk built-in Alexa experience. Other development capabilities include audio event and environment classification, and sensor analytics.
“As a member of our Qualcomm Extension Program, Syntiant can combine its always-on word recognition and event detection solution with our ultra-low power Bluetooth audio platforms,” said Chris Havell, senior director, product marketing, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. “Technologies like this enables powerful compute-on-edge processing to be offered in headsets, earbuds and hearables without an Internet connection and with very low power consumption.”
Custom-built to run neural workloads, the NDP100 and NDP101 can support up to 63 local voice commands and consume less than 140 microwatts, while continuously listening for the corresponding wake word. Syntiant’sprocessors provide battery-powered devices approximately 200x more efficiency and 20x the throughput of the typical low-power MCU solution.
Syntiant’s NDPs have been designed into a wide-range of devices, such as earbuds, laptops, mobile phones and smart speakers. Recently named a CES® 2020 Best of Innovation Awards Honoree, demonstrations of the company’s silicon technology are available at the Bosch Global booth (LVCC, Central Hall – 12401) during CES 2020.