Ambiq today introduced the new Ambiq Voice-on-SPOT (VoS) Kit, designed for manufacturers to introduce voice-command into their IoT devices with faster time-to-market. Aimed to deliver the complete ultra-low power solution at both the MCU and the system levels, the VoS Kit integrates Ambiq’s hardware and software with peripherals and third-party IP, including signal processing using DSP Concepts’ Audio Weaver, Sensory™ VoiceHub, and Retune DSP® VoiceSpot.
The speech and voice recognition market is projected to be worth $27.16 billion by 20251. Spurred by the pandemic, the adoption of voice assistants will continue to rise as both businesses and consumers look for easier, more convenient, and safer ways to interact. The VoS Kit is Ambiq’s solution to bring voice and audio capability to battery-powered devices with Always-on-Voice (AoV) functionality. Targeted applications include remote controls, gaming controllers, smart sensors, smartwatches, remote mics, and health trackers.
“Voice is the most convenient but least utilized input modality to interact with a product. The mass adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in our everyday lives has accelerated the shift toward voice applications,” said Marc Miller, the Director of Solutions Marketing at Ambiq. “With the Ambiq VoS Kit, manufacturers finally have a complete solution to implement always-on voice command in their IoT devices while achieving up to one year battery life.”
Available now, the first VoS Kit, built on the Apollo3 Blue Plus MCU, will support Always-on-Voice with application and cloud service driven options for one or two mics, signal processing, wake word/command detection, codec, and Bluetooth® LE (BLE) communication. The next generation, the Apollo4 Blue VoS Kit, targeted for the third quarter of 2021, will further lower always-on power with 2 analog mic inputs, while increasing capabilities with up to 8 digital mic inputs, 120dB SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) PDM (Pulse Density Modulation) to PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) converter, 192MHz Arm® M4F MCU, highly precise clocking and advanced interconnectivity with hardware rate matching. The Apollo4 Blue VoS Kit will expand Ambiq’s repertoire with excellent voice input for phone calls, translation, and audio conferencing.