CEVA-HD-Audio High-Performance, Single-Core, Low-Power Audio, Speech, and Voice DSP Solution

The market for digital High Definition audio (HD audio) solutions, including Digital Televisions (DTVs), Set-Top Boxes (STBs), Blu-ray Disc players, and other home entertainment systems is dynamic and highly competitive. Digital HD audio devices are dramatically increasing in popularity, and there is a strong demand for lower cost and higher performance equipment. These market requirements translate into demand for integrated, optimized platforms utilizing smaller die size and consuming lower power without compromising on audio performance.
Existing audio codecs are evolving relentlessly while new codecs are appearing on the scene. In the case of Internet-enabled DTV and STB devices coupled with streaming TV services like Google TV, a wide range of audio codecs must be supported. In addition to mainstream codecs like MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA Pro, and RealAudio, it is also necessary to support compute-intensive lossy and lossless HD Audio codecs such as those from Dolby and DTS. Bit rates supported by some HD audio standards can be as high as 24.5Mbps, as opposed to less than 1Mbps for previous-generation codecs.
To meet these challenges, CEVA has developed CEVA-HD-Audio™, a family of audio DSP platforms targeting high-volume Integrated Circuits (ICs) for devices ranging from smartphones and tablets to Digital Televisions, Blu-ray Disc players and home entertainment systems. The CEVA-HD-Audio is comprised of a CEVA-TeakLite-III audio DSP core (either the CEVA-TL3210or the CEVA-TL3211), a set of fully certified audio codecs, and a software and hardware development kit.
Solution Highlights
- Audio DSP core and subsystem
- Broad range of certified audio codecs
- Short time to market
- Low risk
Strong technology heritage
- Leverages on widely-deployed CEVA-TeakLite technology
- Features audio codecs that are deployed in key cellular and consumer device markets
Qualified IP
- Fully verified, field proven solution
- Simulation environment allows verification of customer SoC integration
- Fully synthesizable RTL code
- Robust RTL to GDSII design flow using mainstream, industry-standard EDA tools
Single source solution
- Reduces risks and solution complexity
CEVA-HD-Audio Target Applications
A CEVA-HD-Audio implementation based on the CEVA-TL3210 or CEVA-TL3211 DSP cores satisfies the audio DSP processing requirements of a wide range of applications – from smartphones and tablets, to Digital Televisions, Set-Top Boxes, and Blu-ray Disc players – while providing ample headroom to implement today’s ubiquitous post-processing audio algorithms.
Features |
Benefits |
Fully programmable, high-performance audio DSP core and memory subsystems
|
Supports a broad range of audio, speech, and voice codecs and signal processing algorithms Enables customer differentiation through software Single-core solution covers toughest HD audio use-cases, reducing overall die size and cost |
State-of-the-art certified audio software codecs available directly from CEVA include the latest codecs of Dolby, DTS, Microsoft (WMA family), Real Networks, and more All codecs are optimized for small internal memory usage and tailored to reduce overall system speed and cost requirements |
Lowers development and integration costs and reduces time-to-market |
Open architecture and standard APIs |
Additional software components can be easily developed or licensed through CEVA’s partners; easy integration of full multimedia applications by designers |
Advanced IDE, optimizing C compiler, profiler, debugger and simulator, and third-party RTOS support |
Eases software development, reduces resource requirements, and speeds time to market |
CEVA-HD-Audio comprises several CEVA-developed technologies as follows:
CEVA-TeakLite-III audio DSP Engine: The CEVA-TeakLite-III is the underlying 32-bit audio DSP engine featured in the CEVA-TL3210 and CEVA-TL3211 DSP cores. The high-performance, low-power TeakLite-III audio DSP runs at 1GHz when implemented at a 40nm G process.
CEVA-TL3210 or CEVA-TL3211 DSP Cores: The CEVA-HD-Audio platform may use either the CEVA-TL3210 or CEVA-TL3211 DSP Cores. These high-performance cores satisfy the processing requirements of a wide range of audio applications – from low-cost mobile handsets and tablets to VoIP gateways to advanced Digital Televisions (DTVs) and Set-Top Boxes (STBs) – while providing plenty of headroom to implement additional post-processing audio algorithms.
Designers can use the core that best satisfies the unique requirements of their target application. The CEVA-TL3210 audio DSP, for example, offers a small local memory, fixed area, turn-key solution that is optimized for well-defined scenarios. By comparison, the CEVA-TL3211 offers a more robust user-configurable audio DSP solution that features a data cache for more flexible software design and an AXI bus for more advanced system connectivity.
Software Library of Audio Codecs and Post-processing: CEVA’s open, programmable HD-Audio platform features a comprehensive set of industry-standard, fully-certified audio, speech, and voice codecs. These codecs are optimized for small internal memoryusage and tailored to reduce overall system speed and cost requirements. A standard and consistent API for all codecs allows for easy integration and full multimedia applications creation by the designer.
Software and Hardware Development Kit (SDK): A complete software development suite, including development tools, full-speed CEVA-TeakLite-III-based silicon, and development boards facilitates easy application development and system integration from initial design through final tape-out.
|