Development kit adds intelligent voice control to connected devices, facilitates prototyping and provides a fast path to market
Arrow Electronics, Synaptics Incorporated and NXP Semiconductors have released a variant of the Synaptics® AudioSmart® 2-Mic Development Kit for Amazon AVS compatible with a commercially available NXP SoC (system on chip) processor. This new development kit variant enables device manufacturers to quickly and cost-effectively integrate Amazon's Alexa Voice Service (AVS) into a fully functional prototype and then move it into manufacturing design and production. The Synaptics AudioSmart 2-Mic Development Kit for Amazon AVS contains the Synaptics CX20921 speech input processor with dual microphone card and "Alexa" tuned wake word engine.
It is built on the pico-imx7d board, a compact hardware platform built specifically for this system that includes NXP's i.MX7D dual-core processor optimized for the Internet of Things (IoT). This kit also has: stereo microphones with integrated processor, microphone support plate, cabling such as micro-USB, USB type AB and +5V power supply. The development kit includes a reference client built with the AVS Device SDK (Software Development Kit) that enables commercial device manufacturers to bring Alexa-enabled products to market sooner. The Synaptics AudioSmart 2-Mic Development Kit for Amazon AVS with NXP SoC is only available at arrow.com for $375. For more information or to purchase the kit: www. arrow.com/en/products/synapticsnxp2micavs/arrow-development-tools.
Executive Officer Quotes
“This new Synaptics development kit with an NXP SoC for Amazon Alexa voice service can add intelligent voice control to microphone and speaker connected products, so developers and engineers can quickly create proof-of-concepts and prototypes compatible with Alexa," said Murdoch Fitzgerald, Vice President of Semiconductor Marketing at Arrow. "Arrow is excited to collaborate with Synaptics and NXP to bring this new kit to the developer community and to help accelerate innovation for new smart home products."
“Voice as a human interface is spreading rapidly in smart homes and the broader IoT environment due to the widespread global expansion of services like Amazon Alexa,” said Saleel Awsare, vice president and general manager, Audio and Imaging at Synaptics. "By combining voice services with Synaptics' AudioSmart far-field digital speech signal processors, new voice-activated human interface devices can be quickly translated into numerous consumer, enterprise, or commercial IoT applications."
“Industry leaders are developing and investing to meet the growing demand for the voice-controlled smart home of the future,” said Martyn Humphries, Vice President and General Manager, IoT Media and i.MX Processors at NXP. "Collaborating with leaders like Amazon and the companies it works with is essential to deliver key tools and support needed to meet the demands of this nascent market." The new evaluation kit goes beyond the scope of a processor card with unique integrated functions designed for the AVS developer community. This allows for greater flexibility in designs while reducing time to market, so customers can go from prototype to production as quickly as possible.”
