Interview with Renato Pellegrini,Co-founder and CTO of Sonic EmotionSONIC

EMOTIONAbsolute 3D Sound Fixing Equipment Oddities

Radio Core for IoT Devices

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How Product Innovation Happens:

Engineers who use oscilloscopes are typically focused on solving problems and looking for ways to make better products. It turns out that engineers who design oscilloscopes are essentially doing the same thing.

More than a decade ago, an Agilent Technologies oscilloscope designer named Scott Genther was getting ready to launch a massive, multiyear project to design a new chip for an advanced algorithmic oscilloscope trigger—affectionately known in the Agilent R&D lab as the “nerd trigger.” Before the project even got off the ground, he came up with a remarkably simple idea for a trigger that ultimately redefined how engineers use Agilent oscilloscopes.

Where do innovative ideas like Genther’s come from? And how do you get from the original spark of inspiration to its implementation in an innovative product? Genther’s story sheds light on how product innovations happen.

The Origin of Agilent’s Oscilloscope Trigger

CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMER FRUSTRATIONS

In a quest to define the features he needed to include in his trigger ASIC, Genther visited oscilloscope customers to understand how they used triggering and what stumbling blocks they faced. “In the lab here at Agilent, R&D engineers know how to use all the triggers on their scopes,” said Genther. “But I quickly discovered our customers don’t. They don’t like thinking about triggers. A lot of customers just pick a mode and turn the knob to clean up the display. They don’t have time to sit down and think about it.”

The first customer Genther visited was having trouble defining a trigger to capture the clock edge reads he wanted to see. In frustration, he jabbed a finger at the screen and wondered why he couldn’t just click on a piece of a waveform and get what he wanted. At the time, Genther just assumed it was impossible.

The second customer Genther visited had come back from lunch and discovered a bad trace on his oscilloscope screen. The scope’s infinite persistence showed him something had happened when he was away. To figure out what caused it, he wanted to get a view of the trace by itself so he could correlate it to activity on other channels.

The customer had been doing single-shot acquisitions for days trying to locate the infrequently occurring glitch. He pushed the “single” button over and over and still couldn’t locate the problem. Watching the engineer laboriously pecking away at the button, Genther experienced his big “aha” moment. He could see that pressing the “single” button a million times is a painful way to find a one-in-a-million glitch, and he realized he could make both customers’ jobs easier using Agilent’s existing oscilloscope technology.

“The nerd trigger was going to take forever to complete, but I figured we could create very similar functionality using the scope’s mask test infrastructure,” Genther said. “We could qualify acquisitions with mask testing and use that feature to push the button for him.”

Mask testing shows all the waveforms that fail or exceed the limits of the mask. Genther’s brainstorm was to ignore all the waveforms that fail and just display the ones that do meet the mask limits. This process could happen behind the scenes, using digital technology to accomplish what the customer was doing manually.

CHAMPIONING THE IDEA

Coming up with the idea to use a reverse mask test to achieve an easier version of the trigger was just the first step in the process of bringing it to market. Next, Genther had to convince his boss and teammates the project was worth pursuing.

Figure 1: Example of a hard-to-capture signal anomaly with infinite persistence turned on

Scott GentherKey inventor of Agilent Zone Trigger

of timbre and sound scene perception. Sonic Emotion is now partnering with Cadence® Tensilica® for the first licensable DSP IP core on their HiFi 2 processor. With this software implementation, customers will be able to have premium audio in TVs, sound bars laptops, and myriad mobile devices.

Developing key technologies to analyze, measure and tune loudspeaker characteristics has provided clear guidelines and algorithms to optimize sound pressure levels, improve bass performance and reduce distortions. Devices are considered in their entirety, making use of and optimizing natural baffling effects and their influence on the radiation of each loudspeaker. As a result, Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology recreates a proper artifact-free sound field from an ensemble of loudspeakers with optimum sound quality and outstanding clarity.

One of the biggest challenges in developing this sound technology was bringing the number of enclosed loudspeakers down to a reasonable number. After much research, Sonic Emotion created an ASIC chip solution which later evolved into offering their latest software solution. The Absolute 3D software solution was launched at CES earlier this year with Samsung where the technology is being implemented in their lineup of sound bars

Other sound specialization techniques use compact loudspeaker arrays with either transaural or beamforming sound technologies. Transaural technologies assume a very strict positioning and head orientation of the listener. If the listener moves or turns her/his head, the effect collapses and all sound sources seem again to originate from the loudspeaker array. Beamforming technologies rely on sound beams that reflect off the walls of the listening room and create virtual loudspeakers. Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D™ sound technology relies on advanced sound field control including spatial analysis of stereo/5.1 input signals and wave field synthesis [3|. This approach enables to optimally control the sound field emitted by the loudspeaker array into the reproduction space using only two, three, four to six plus channels in one device. As a result, consumers hear the sound in its truest, most authentic form from any device, anywhere in the room. Since using software,

any of these devices having the Absolute 3D software integration includes the entire audio spectrum: TVs, multi-channel sound bars and audio devices Bluetooth – Wifi, laptops, headphones, smartphones, tablets and many more.

More specifically, this sound technology, allows accurate control of the sound field, providing precise positioning of discrete sound objects and directing the diffuse and non-localizable portion of the sound into the ambient field of the listening room. In short, it seeks to create the most natural three-dimensional sound field, where sound objects (voice, instruments, etc.) can be clearly localized independent of the listener’s position.

In continuing development, Sonic Emotion has created a model for estimating and optimizing localization accuracy and distance perception in an extended listening area. Using advanced signal processing, the Swiss company has put a new focus on the listening experience in terms

Figure 1: Example of Absolute 3D with 6 channels within soundbar Figure 2: Example of placing multiple subfigures with simulation results.

"Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D™ sound technology relies on advanced sound field control including spatial analysis of stereo input signals and wave field synthesis."

Your software does sound wave analysis, but does the room where the speakers are play into the result?

That’s one of the benefits we bring to the marketplace. With our new customizable Absolute 3D sound software, we don’t need to calibrate our system in any given room. That said, it means the natural wave field that we create will not rely on any specific reflections that would bounce off walls.

Who do you see as your main competitor in the industry?

A lot of the stereo providers out there simply provide surround sound with the potential of add-ons to provide an idea of the speaker position. However, from a technology perspective, our offering is entirely different. We are the only ones that actually recreate those sound fields in a way that you, the listener, can really move around in a much larger scale and area around the room. Whenever you experience an SRS or DTS system, if you are outside of the “sweet spot,” you will lose the full effect. We believe that today’s customers are not sitting in a chair to experience music for an hour, they are out walking or in the kitchen or answering e-mails in the office. Our product offers a sound quality that is simply above the current state-of-the-art technology of our competitors.

A lot of technology trends in the consumer space are focused more towards HD TVs and displays—do you see people still interested in the latest audio equipment as much?

I would put it two ways. I do see a strong link to video and the latest TVs, but the link has not been a healthy one. TVs have been getting thinner and flatter over the years and so has the sound. TVs have gotten so slim that it has become very difficult to provide the proper audio to go with it within the frame of the TV. Because of this, there has been a growth in the marketplace for audio accessories and a lot of our partner customers come to us looking for the proper 3D sound technology to solve this problem. but also because we can increase speech intelligibility. There are a number of benefits in adding the proper sound to your state-of-the-art TV and Sonic Emotion can provide this solution using its new Absolute 3D sound software which is applied across the entire spectrum of consumer electronics. If you create that 3D sound field properly, you can easily distinguish between the sounds in your room and the sound that should be in front of you. We have used the human possibilities of the listen to dialogue properly because it is clearly coming from in front of you.

The big difference from the consumer end is that in stereo or surround sound recordings, you need to sit still to gain the full effect. In our environments you can actually explore a sound field—you can walk about the sound field and hear the sound field change accordingly like in a real or natural environment.

How do you conduct your sound testing?

That’s a very good question. With us, sound testing occurs on three levels. The first level is strictly a physical measure. We want to learn early on about the radiation of speakers inside the box. We want to define the air volumes and the device itself and take measures and create a mock-up that allow us to understand the directivity of each and every speaker. We are able to recreate the sound field from the device early on.

The next step includes some polar voicing together with whatever brand we are working with. The clients will work with our audio engineers to get the best possible sound out of the device that is similar to the end customer’s expectation. The third step is to go into blind contests. We will compare our product with other popular devices on the market in a blind psychoacoustic test with real subjects.

“Our product offers a sound quality that is simply above the current state-of-the-art technology of our competitors.”

“If you create that 3D sound field properly, you can easily distinguish between the sounds in your room and the sound that should be in front of you.”

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410

Featured ProductsThis week’s latest products from EEWeb.

1424

Components of Total JitterThis installment of the series takes a look at the

various categories that comprise total jitter.

2626

10

Fixing Equipment OdditiesRobert Swink shares some of the odd designs he’s encountered over the years and what it

took to repair them.

32

INTERNET OF THINGS

MICRO DEVICES:SUNRISEUnlocking the Potential of the

According to IHS Research, more than 49 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices will ship between 2014 and 2020—this means all those devices will

need to be connected to the Internet either directly or through gateway devices. Recognizing this opportunity, tech. companies are scurrying to develop interoperable devices for IoT adoption. Although companies are focusing on developing unique IoT technologies, what becomes apparent, is that, at the heart of every IoT device is a radio core capable of communicating with other devices in the ecosystem. In this market, the areas of true differentiation will come in the form of unique application specific features built around these extremely low power radio cores that provide the efficient connection mechanism for the IoT ecosystem. 14

Unlocking the Potential of the Internet of Things

The new sub-volt radio core IP from Sunrise Micro Devices allows for stronger interconnectivity that

will unlock the true potential of the IoT.

32

Renato PellegriniCo-founder & CTO of Sonic EmotionA conversation about Sonic Emotion’s

revolutionary 3D sound technology and where this technology will be implemented in the future.

RTZReturn to Zero Comic

Absolute 3D SoundSonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D technology is

moving way beyond conventional surround sound set-ups.

40

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Common Mode ChokeCoilcraft’s 0603USB Series Common Mode Chokes virtually eliminate common mode noise in high-speed, differential mode signal transmission applications such as USB 3.0, HDMI, SATA, IEEE1394 and LVDS, supporting data rates up to 4.8 Gbit/s. These miniature chokes feature an EIA 0603 footprint and measure just 1.07 mm tall. Most values provide greater than 15 dB common mode attenuation and greater than 100 ohms impedance. The 0603USB Series is RoHS compliant and offers a maximum reflow temperature of 260°C...Read More

Wide and Reliable Microwave and Milimeterwave PortfolioDigi-Key Corporation has announced the signing of a global distribution agreement with M/A-COM Technology Solutions (MACOM), a market innovator offering one of the widest and most reliable RF, microwave and millimeterwave offerings in the industry. Recognized for its broad catalog portfolio of technologies and products, MACOM serves diverse markets, including satellite, radar, wired and wireless net-works, CATV, automotive, industrial, medical, and mobile devices...Read More

Integrated SPS Module with High Power DensityHigh efficiency and power density are critical factors that designers are challenged to provide within the shrinking available board space in next-generation server and telecom system power delivery applications. To meet this challenge, Fairchild Semi-conductor developed the smart power stage (SPS) module family – a next-genera-tion, ultra-compact, integrated MOSFET plus driver power stage solution. This family leverages Fairchild’s DrMOS expertise to deliver high efficiency...Read More

0.18µm CMOS Technology Fujitsu’s CE81 is a series of high performance, 0.18µm (0.13µm Leff) CMOS embed-ded arrays that include full support of diffused high-speed RAMs, ROMs, analog, mixed-signal macros, and a variety of embedded functions. The CE81 series offers density and performance similar to those of standard-cell implementation, yet has the time-to-market advantage of gate arrays. The CE81 series devices include 44µm, 66µm, or 70µm pad pitch for a cost-effective solution for both pad-limited and core-limited designs...Read More

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High Quality Analog Video DecoderM The TW9966 includes four high quality NTSC/PAL/SECAM video decoders that con-vert analog composite video signal to digital component YCbCr data for automo-tive applications. Each channel contains a 10-bit ADC and proprietary clamp and gain controllers and utilizes a 4H comb filter for separating luminance and chromi-nance to reduce cross noise artifacts. The TW9966 adopts the image enhancement techniques, such as IF compensation filter, CTI and programmable peaking. TW9966 also includes one NTSC/PAL video encoder with two 10-bit DACs to support CVBS and YC output...Read More

8-bit Single Chip CMOS MicrocontrollerThe S3F8S28/S3F8S24 single-chip CMOS micro-controller is fabricated using a highly advanced CMOS process and is based on Samsung’s newest CPU architecture. Its design is based on the powerful SAM8RC CPU core. Stop and idle (power-down) modes were implemented to reduce power consumption. The S3F8S28/S3F8S24 microcontroller is ideal for use in a wide range of electronic applications requiring simple timer/counter, PWM, ADC. S3F8S28/S3F8S24 is available in a 24/20-pin SOP Package and a 24-pin TSSOP package and a 20-pin DIP package...Read More

Adhesive Meets NASA Low Outgassing SpecsThe Master Bond EP21ND-LO is a two component, room temperature curing epoxy system for bonding, sealing and coating featuring outstanding physical properties. EP21ND-LO has a convenient one to one mix ratio by weight. It has a paste-like vis-cosity after mixing. EP21ND-LO can be applied without sagging or dripping even on vertical surfaces. EP21ND-LO produces high strength, durable bonds which hold up well to thermal cycling and resist many chemicals including water, oils, fuels, acids, bases and salts...Read More

Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) ChipsetsEngineers can now design high-resolution automotive infotainment applications with either traditional STP or lighter, less expensive coax cables using new 3.12Gbps Gi-gabit Multimedia Serial Link (GMSL) SerDes chipsets from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. Current vehicle designs use STP cables to drive data to automotive infotainment displays. However, OEMs are beginning to turn to coax cabling instead, as it low-ers cable cost and weight by up to 50%. With Maxim’s SerDes chipsets, OEMs can continue using STP cables in their designs, and seamlessly transition to coax cabling in future models using the same chipset...Read More

FSK/ASK Transmitter with Clock OutputThe TH72016 FSK/ASK transmitter IC is designed for applications in the European 433 MHz industrial-scientific-medial (ISM) band, according to the EN 300 220 telecommu-nications standard; but it can also be used in other countries with similar standards, e.g. FCC part 15.231. The transmitter’s carrier frequency fc is determined by the frequency of the reference crystal fref. The integrated PLL synthesizer ensures that carrier frequencies ranging from 380 MHz to 450 MHz, can be achieved...Read More

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4-kbit Serial Presence Detect EEPROMMicrochip Technology Inc. announced a new 4Kb I2C™ Serial Presence Detect (SPD) EEPROM device—the 34AA04. This device is specifically designed to work with the next generation of Double Data Rate 4 (DDR4) SDRAM modules used in high-speed PCs and laptops, while also supporting older DDR2/3 platforms. This new device is designed for the price-competitive consumer products market and is capable of operating across a broad voltage range (1.7V to 3.6V). This device is JEDEC JC42.4 (EE1004-v) Serial Presence Detect (SPD) compliant and is designed to be compatible with DDR4 SDRAM modules...Read More

Wide Input Switching POL RegulatorThe SR7805 Low Cost, Non-isolated, Wide Input, Single Output POL switching regu-lator series has an input voltage range of 4.75 ~ 32.0 Vdc and an output voltage range of 1.5 ~ 15.0 Vdc, with an output current accuracy of ±2.0 %. The device’s line regulation is at ±0.2 % and its load regulation is at ±0.4 %. The SR7805 Series’ operat-ing temperature range is at -40 ~ +85 degrees Celsius...Read More

68 MHz I2C Programmable OscillatorThe I2C-OSC board is an 8-pin CMOS 1 kHz – 68 MHz Programmable Oscillator device using I2C bus. There are no external components required. Only two signal lines SDA and SCL plus supply voltage and ground are required to be connected. This makes it perfect for embedded systems that require programmable oscillator. This board features innovations that set it apart from other programmable oscillator module. Innovations feature like on board I2C address jumpers, pull-up resistors, and power LED...Read More

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High Speed 9-Input Priority EncoderThe 74HC/HCT147 are high-speed Si-gate CMOS devices and are pin compatible with low power Schottky TTL (LSTTL). They are specified in compliance with JEDEC standard no. 7A. The 74HC/HCT147 9-input priority encoders accept data from nine active LOW inputs (A0 to A8) and provide a binary representation on the four active LOW outputs (Y0 to Y3). A priority is assigned to each input so that when two or more inputs are simultaneously active, the input with the highest priority is represented in the output...Read More

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Low Voltage Low Power ComparatorThe NCX2200 provides a single low voltage, low power comparator. This device has a very low supply current of 6 μA and is guaranteed to operate at a low voltage of 1.3 V and is fully operational up to 5.5 V which makes this device convenient for use in both 3.0 V and 5.0 V systems. The device has a wide supply voltage range from 1.3 V to 5.5 V (functional operating range) and rail-to-rail input/output performance...Read More

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BACK TO BASICS:The Components of Total Jitter

In an earlier post, we began looking at the topic of jitter, a topic of keen interest to anyone working with high-speed serial communications or the components of such a system, including transmitters, receivers, and data channels. To gain an understanding of jitter, an important first step is getting to know a little about the various categories that comprise total jitter.

Referring to Figure 1, total jitter (Tj) is composed of two broad categories of jitter: random and deterministic. Random jitter (Rj) is what it sounds like: it’s timing variation, or noise, that cannot be predicted because it has no discernible pattern to it. It’s also termed Gaussian jitter, because it typically follows a Gaussian (or normal) distribution. A good example of random noise is the static you hear when your radio is tuned between stations. Most random jitter is the product of thermal noise, which itself has a Gaussian distribution.

The other broad category of jitter is deterministic jitter (Dj). The main difference between random and deterministic jitter is that the former is unbounded

David MaliniakTechnical Marketing Communication SpecialistTeledyne LeCroy

while the latter has determinable bounds or limits. Deterministic jitter, unlike random jitter, is predictable and reproducible. It has a peak-to-peak value that is bounded and observable. Deterministic jitter can either be correlated to the data stream (data-dependent jitter) or uncorrelated to the data stream (bounded uncorrelated jitter).Bounded uncorrelated jitter breaks down further into periodic jitter (Pj) and other bounded uncorrelated jitter (OBUj). Periodic jitter is also called sinusoidal jitter in that it takes on a sine-like shape. Its source is most typically interference from signals related to the data pattern, ground bounce, or power-supply variations. These external sources of deterministic jitter couple into the data-transmission system from adjacent circuitry. OBUj is jitter that is neither Gaussian or periodic, stemming from sources such as crosstalk from non-repeating data (live traffic), high rate frequency modulation of the Pj component, power-supply switching noise, EMI, and simultaneous switching noise.

Data-dependent jitter consists of intersymbol interference (ISI) and duty-cycle distortion (DCD). All three subcategories are timing errors that vary with the data pattern. Their primary sources are component and system bandwidth limitations. Higher frequency signals have less time to settle than lower frequency ones. This leads to changes in the start conditions for transitions at different frequencies and produces timing errors dependent on the data pattern being applied.

Total(Tj)

Random(Rj)

Deterministic(Dj)

Bounded, uncorrelated Data Dependent(DDj)

Periodic(Pj)

Other bounded,uncorrelated

Duty CycleDistortion

(DCD)

Inter-symbolInterference

(ISI)

Intersymbol interference is the most common form of DDj. It is usually caused by bandwidth limitations of transmission lines. It affects single bits surrounded by the bit of the opposite state.Duty-cycle distortion jitter is caused when certain bit states have different durations; i.e. a logical one is always longer than a logical zero or vice versa. DCD jitter is caused by bias setting and by an insufficient VCC supply of a component.

There’s a brief rundown of the broad categories of jitter. In later posts, we’ll look at some of the ways to perform measurement and characterization of jitter.

Figure 1: An overview of the jitter hierarchy, or “jitter tree,” showing the various elements that make up total jitter

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TECH ARTICLE

BACK TO BASICS:The Components of Total Jitter

In an earlier post, we began looking at the topic of jitter, a topic of keen interest to anyone working with high-speed serial communications or the components of such a system, including transmitters, receivers, and data channels. To gain an understanding of jitter, an important first step is getting to know a little about the various categories that comprise total jitter.

Referring to Figure 1, total jitter (Tj) is composed of two broad categories of jitter: random and deterministic. Random jitter (Rj) is what it sounds like: it’s timing variation, or noise, that cannot be predicted because it has no discernible pattern to it. It’s also termed Gaussian jitter, because it typically follows a Gaussian (or normal) distribution. A good example of random noise is the static you hear when your radio is tuned between stations. Most random jitter is the product of thermal noise, which itself has a Gaussian distribution.

The other broad category of jitter is deterministic jitter (Dj). The main difference between random and deterministic jitter is that the former is unbounded

David MaliniakTechnical Marketing Communication SpecialistTeledyne LeCroy

while the latter has determinable bounds or limits. Deterministic jitter, unlike random jitter, is predictable and reproducible. It has a peak-to-peak value that is bounded and observable. Deterministic jitter can either be correlated to the data stream (data-dependent jitter) or uncorrelated to the data stream (bounded uncorrelated jitter).Bounded uncorrelated jitter breaks down further into periodic jitter (Pj) and other bounded uncorrelated jitter (OBUj). Periodic jitter is also called sinusoidal jitter in that it takes on a sine-like shape. Its source is most typically interference from signals related to the data pattern, ground bounce, or power-supply variations. These external sources of deterministic jitter couple into the data-transmission system from adjacent circuitry. OBUj is jitter that is neither Gaussian or periodic, stemming from sources such as crosstalk from non-repeating data (live traffic), high rate frequency modulation of the Pj component, power-supply switching noise, EMI, and simultaneous switching noise.

Data-dependent jitter consists of intersymbol interference (ISI) and duty-cycle distortion (DCD). All three subcategories are timing errors that vary with the data pattern. Their primary sources are component and system bandwidth limitations. Higher frequency signals have less time to settle than lower frequency ones. This leads to changes in the start conditions for transitions at different frequencies and produces timing errors dependent on the data pattern being applied.

Total(Tj)

Random(Rj)

Deterministic(Dj)

Bounded, uncorrelated Data Dependent(DDj)

Periodic(Pj)

Other bounded,uncorrelated

Duty CycleDistortion

(DCD)

Inter-symbolInterference

(ISI)

Intersymbol interference is the most common form of DDj. It is usually caused by bandwidth limitations of transmission lines. It affects single bits surrounded by the bit of the opposite state.Duty-cycle distortion jitter is caused when certain bit states have different durations; i.e. a logical one is always longer than a logical zero or vice versa. DCD jitter is caused by bias setting and by an insufficient VCC supply of a component.

There’s a brief rundown of the broad categories of jitter. In later posts, we’ll look at some of the ways to perform measurement and characterization of jitter.

Figure 1: An overview of the jitter hierarchy, or “jitter tree,” showing the various elements that make up total jitter

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INTERNET OF THINGS

MICRO DEVICES:SUNRISEUnlocking the Potential of the

According to IHS Research, more than 49 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices will ship between 2014 and 2020—this means all those devices will

need to be connected to the Internet either directly or through gateway devices. Recognizing this opportunity, tech. companies are scurrying to develop interoperable devices for IoT adoption. Although companies are focusing on developing unique IoT technologies, what becomes apparent, is that, at the heart of every IoT device is a radio core capable of communicating with other devices in the ecosystem. In this market, the areas of true differentiation will come in the form of unique application specific features built around these extremely low power radio cores that provide the efficient connection mechanism for the IoT ecosystem.

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TECH ARTICLE

INTERNET OF THINGS

MICRO DEVICES:SUNRISEUnlocking the Potential of the

According to IHS Research, more than 49 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices will ship between 2014 and 2020—this means all those devices will

need to be connected to the Internet either directly or through gateway devices. Recognizing this opportunity, tech. companies are scurrying to develop interoperable devices for IoT adoption. Although companies are focusing on developing unique IoT technologies, what becomes apparent, is that, at the heart of every IoT device is a radio core capable of communicating with other devices in the ecosystem. In this market, the areas of true differentiation will come in the form of unique application specific features built around these extremely low power radio cores that provide the efficient connection mechanism for the IoT ecosystem.

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INTRODUCTIONSunrise Micro Devices, a privately held, wireless semiconductor tech company located in South Florida, is poised and ready to provide their groundbreaking smart radio IP to companies looking to truly differentiate their IoT devices. EEWeb spoke with Co-founder &CEO of Sunrise Devices, Fred Martin, along with VP of Sales and Marketing, Bob Morris, about their sub-volt CORDIO™ BT4 radio core IP, and why the time is now to start enabling

IMPROVED BATTERYWith devices becoming increasingly smaller and thinner, the ability to create an equally thin and powerful battery is becoming more and more difficult. For Sunrise Micro, the solution for increased battery life came from their sub-volt radio operation. At the low end of operation, the radio goes down to 1.0 volt, which allows the use of an alkaline battery

Bluetooth Smart Market Potential More life from a battery

to a much lower voltage. At the high end of operation, the radio operates up to 3.6 volts, allowing for the use of a lithium battery. “Our native sub-volt capability allows us to get more life out of the battery” Martin explains. Ultimately, this means the radio can use any type of battery as a power source and achieve the maximum life out of them—up to 60% better than traditional 1.2 V radios.

semiconductor vendors with smart radio capabilities to unlock the true potential in the Internet of Things.

According to Martin, what Sunrise Micro is doing is, “moving radios from an art form to mass enablement.” In order to achieve this ambitious task, the team had to tackle three things that had previously plagued pervasive adoption of radio core IP: improve battery life, lower the cost of development, and improve the ease of integration.

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TECH ARTICLE

INTRODUCTIONSunrise Micro Devices, a privately held, wireless semiconductor tech company located in South Florida, is poised and ready to provide their groundbreaking smart radio IP to companies looking to truly differentiate their IoT devices. EEWeb spoke with Co-founder &CEO of Sunrise Devices, Fred Martin, along with VP of Sales and Marketing, Bob Morris, about their sub-volt CORDIO™ BT4 radio core IP, and why the time is now to start enabling

IMPROVED BATTERYWith devices becoming increasingly smaller and thinner, the ability to create an equally thin and powerful battery is becoming more and more difficult. For Sunrise Micro, the solution for increased battery life came from their sub-volt radio operation. At the low end of operation, the radio goes down to 1.0 volt, which allows the use of an alkaline battery

Bluetooth Smart Market Potential More life from a battery

to a much lower voltage. At the high end of operation, the radio operates up to 3.6 volts, allowing for the use of a lithium battery. “Our native sub-volt capability allows us to get more life out of the battery” Martin explains. Ultimately, this means the radio can use any type of battery as a power source and achieve the maximum life out of them—up to 60% better than traditional 1.2 V radios.

semiconductor vendors with smart radio capabilities to unlock the true potential in the Internet of Things.

According to Martin, what Sunrise Micro is doing is, “moving radios from an art form to mass enablement.” In order to achieve this ambitious task, the team had to tackle three things that had previously plagued pervasive adoption of radio core IP: improve battery life, lower the cost of development, and improve the ease of integration.

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LOW COST OF DEVELOPMENTIt takes an experienced and skilled team to design and build a radio—usually taking two or three passes at it before you have a product that is built to a standard. At the end of the day, the radio will not offer key differentiation. “What will differentiate you is what you put around that radio,” Morris explained. “A standards-based radio product makes a lot more sense to buy as

Make vs. buy

IP rather than go through the arduous process of creating it yourself.” By licensing radio IP, product developers will save radio development money by implementing an already-standardized radio core. Another key advantage is the time saved from licensing IP will allow for a significant increase in time to market, which is a huge advantage in this market.

Ease of intergration

EASE OF INTEGRATIONWhile the radio IP is merely one aspect of an end product, it helps to have assured performance to speed up the process of integrating the IP in your design. The CORDIO™ solution is a self-contained block including transceiver, baseband, link-layer controller, and necessary firmware up to

the Host Controller Interface, allowing for quicker radio integration at all levels of the products’ development. The CORDIO™ solution is implemented as a Hard Marco at the IC level, and offers pass-through Bluetooth qualification for the end product incorporating it, which reduces a lot of the risk and time involved with integrating IP.

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TECH ARTICLE

LOW COST OF DEVELOPMENTIt takes an experienced and skilled team to design and build a radio—usually taking two or three passes at it before you have a product that is built to a standard. At the end of the day, the radio will not offer key differentiation. “What will differentiate you is what you put around that radio,” Morris explained. “A standards-based radio product makes a lot more sense to buy as

Make vs. buy

IP rather than go through the arduous process of creating it yourself.” By licensing radio IP, product developers will save radio development money by implementing an already-standardized radio core. Another key advantage is the time saved from licensing IP will allow for a significant increase in time to market, which is a huge advantage in this market.

Ease of intergration

EASE OF INTEGRATIONWhile the radio IP is merely one aspect of an end product, it helps to have assured performance to speed up the process of integrating the IP in your design. The CORDIO™ solution is a self-contained block including transceiver, baseband, link-layer controller, and necessary firmware up to

the Host Controller Interface, allowing for quicker radio integration at all levels of the products’ development. The CORDIO™ solution is implemented as a Hard Marco at the IC level, and offers pass-through Bluetooth qualification for the end product incorporating it, which reduces a lot of the risk and time involved with integrating IP.

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THE CORDIO™ BT4 SOLUTIONThe CORDIO™ BT4 Solution is a 2.4 GHz Bluetooth smart radio, with integrated power management for 1V or 3V battery applications. “The interesting thing about this is the way it is architected,” Martin explains. “If you look at the Bluetooth stack, you’ll see that it’s constructed with a natural boundary layer called the host controller interface (HCI). Typically, when IP vendors partition the microcomputer from the hardware, they will draw their boundaries down in the stack, but we actually have our natural boundaries

Sunrise Micro Devices’ offering is a complete stack solution. Together with a San Diego-based company, WiCentric, the team developed the Link Layer controller software, which is available in the ROM of the BT4 core itself. “The IP block that we have is all self-contained,” Morris explains. “This means that a software developer that needs to make a system work doesn’t have to worry about all the code that runs inside—they can write the software for the upper part of this stack and only communicate at the HCI level and not worry about timing.”

up to the HCI, making it easy for software development.”

At the chip level, designers will find that the CORDIO™ BT4 has an extremely small footprint. For implementation, the designer will take the CORDIO™ BT4, add an application processor system—which, could be an ARM Cortex M-Series—and add memory and peripherals. The bill of materials for external components is relatively small, and the area of the BT4 is around 4mm2—offering a simple template for easy integration.

With software integration in the Bluetooth-qualified subsystem, Sunrise Micro eliminates the headache that developers have by offering a fully qualified and interoperable radio solution. As products become more dependent on communicating with each other for IoT integration, hardware and software developers will seek the most power- efficient, and easy-to-integrate solution to get these products to market—which is why the CORDIO™ BT4 Solution will unlock the true potential of the Internet of Things.

CORDIO™ BT4 – Bluetooth Smart IP solution Chip-Level Design

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TECH ARTICLE

THE CORDIO™ BT4 SOLUTIONThe CORDIO™ BT4 Solution is a 2.4 GHz Bluetooth smart radio, with integrated power management for 1V or 3V battery applications. “The interesting thing about this is the way it is architected,” Martin explains. “If you look at the Bluetooth stack, you’ll see that it’s constructed with a natural boundary layer called the host controller interface (HCI). Typically, when IP vendors partition the microcomputer from the hardware, they will draw their boundaries down in the stack, but we actually have our natural boundaries

Sunrise Micro Devices’ offering is a complete stack solution. Together with a San Diego-based company, WiCentric, the team developed the Link Layer controller software, which is available in the ROM of the BT4 core itself. “The IP block that we have is all self-contained,” Morris explains. “This means that a software developer that needs to make a system work doesn’t have to worry about all the code that runs inside—they can write the software for the upper part of this stack and only communicate at the HCI level and not worry about timing.”

up to the HCI, making it easy for software development.”

At the chip level, designers will find that the CORDIO™ BT4 has an extremely small footprint. For implementation, the designer will take the CORDIO™ BT4, add an application processor system—which, could be an ARM Cortex M-Series—and add memory and peripherals. The bill of materials for external components is relatively small, and the area of the BT4 is around 4mm2—offering a simple template for easy integration.

With software integration in the Bluetooth-qualified subsystem, Sunrise Micro eliminates the headache that developers have by offering a fully qualified and interoperable radio solution. As products become more dependent on communicating with each other for IoT integration, hardware and software developers will seek the most power- efficient, and easy-to-integrate solution to get these products to market—which is why the CORDIO™ BT4 Solution will unlock the true potential of the Internet of Things.

CORDIO™ BT4 – Bluetooth Smart IP solution Chip-Level Design

Copyright 2013, Silicon Frameworks, LLC PCBWeb.com

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Copyright 2013, Silicon Frameworks, LLC PCBWeb.com

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©2013 Intersil Americas LLC. All rights reserved.

PURE DIGITAL POWER

INTERSIL.COM/ZL8800

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Not only can you now track and control every aspect of your power supply without additional monitors or sequencers, the ZL8800’s ChargeMode™ control loop technology delivers best-in-class transient response and eliminates the need for complex compensation. This all adds up to a pure digital solution that lowers system cost, reduces design time and increases available board space.

ZL8800 Combines Digital Control Loop Technology and PMBus™ Interface for the Industry’s Most Advanced Digital Power Solution

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New Digital Power Knowledge CenterWatch and learn at intersil.com/DigiPowerTraining

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ODD MODIFICATIONS

I cringe when I open up equipment and find odd modifications. Sometimes there are components missing from boards, circuit board traces that have been cut, or wires soldered to components on the board and or control knobs. Many times these modifications are not documented on the schematics that I have.

Manufacturers tell me that these are just engineering changes, but these mods make it very difficult for the service technician, especially when these changes have been applied in a sloppy way. It’s hard to tell what’s going on, and you begin to doubt what you’re really troubleshooting.

For example, I recently worked on some equipment that was blowing fuses. When I opened the box, I saw so many modifications that I was distracted away from my basic troubleshooting approach of using your senses when troubleshooting test equipment that I just shared with you all last posting! I was so focused on these modifications, that I forgot to do a smell check and missed the fact that one of the boards had a burnt component. I finally got past all the mods and did find the bad component, but it took a lot longer than if the boards had been clean.

STRANGE SETUPS

Setups can be odd, too. For example, some of the older travelling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) require that you load their inputs and outputs before operating the amplifier. Failure to do this can damage the TWTA.

Some equipment requires even stranger setups. One piece of equipment that I worked on

needed to have the proper buttons pushed on the front panel prior to turning on the power. The manual stated that, should the proper buttons not be pushed in and or pushed out, the equipment will fail and may even enter a complete inoperative state. How odd is that?

CONFUSING CONTROL PANELS

Often, a manual will warn you not to turn off a piece of equipment until the internal calibration is complete. They never tell you what happens if the power goes out or if the power gets turned off inadvertently. When I see that kind of instruction I wonder if anyone has actually done this and what happened when they did? If that’s you, what happened?

Some control panels are so unusual that they’re almost impossible to use, and the manuals are often not much help. I’ve had customers call me and say, “I’ve read the manual several times, and I still can’t figure out how to do it.”

Other panels are so bizarre that I find myself wasting hours just figuring out how to use it, let alone determining if the equipment works. I wonder what the engineers were thinking when they designed this unusual interface? Don’t they realize that the harder something is to use, the less inclined people will be to use it?

Well, that’s my tale of woe. Now it’s your turn, what equipment oddities have you come across? Share your experiences here so we can all learn.

Click here to comment

By Robert Swink, Lab Manager at Axiom Test Equipment

I’ve dealt with a lot of different types of test equipment over the years, but I’m still amazed sometimes at what lands on my bench. The only way to explain this is it’s just plain odd. As if dealing with all the sophisticated circuitry in modern test equipment isn’t tough enough, I’ve had to deal with odd modifications, strange setups, and confusing control panels.

MAKE REPAIR A CHALLENGE

EQUIPMENTODDITIES

25Visit: eeweb.com

TECH ARTICLE

ODD MODIFICATIONS

I cringe when I open up equipment and find odd modifications. Sometimes there are components missing from boards, circuit board traces that have been cut, or wires soldered to components on the board and or control knobs. Many times these modifications are not documented on the schematics that I have.

Manufacturers tell me that these are just engineering changes, but these mods make it very difficult for the service technician, especially when these changes have been applied in a sloppy way. It’s hard to tell what’s going on, and you begin to doubt what you’re really troubleshooting.

For example, I recently worked on some equipment that was blowing fuses. When I opened the box, I saw so many modifications that I was distracted away from my basic troubleshooting approach of using your senses when troubleshooting test equipment that I just shared with you all last posting! I was so focused on these modifications, that I forgot to do a smell check and missed the fact that one of the boards had a burnt component. I finally got past all the mods and did find the bad component, but it took a lot longer than if the boards had been clean.

STRANGE SETUPS

Setups can be odd, too. For example, some of the older travelling wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) require that you load their inputs and outputs before operating the amplifier. Failure to do this can damage the TWTA.

Some equipment requires even stranger setups. One piece of equipment that I worked on

needed to have the proper buttons pushed on the front panel prior to turning on the power. The manual stated that, should the proper buttons not be pushed in and or pushed out, the equipment will fail and may even enter a complete inoperative state. How odd is that?

CONFUSING CONTROL PANELS

Often, a manual will warn you not to turn off a piece of equipment until the internal calibration is complete. They never tell you what happens if the power goes out or if the power gets turned off inadvertently. When I see that kind of instruction I wonder if anyone has actually done this and what happened when they did? If that’s you, what happened?

Some control panels are so unusual that they’re almost impossible to use, and the manuals are often not much help. I’ve had customers call me and say, “I’ve read the manual several times, and I still can’t figure out how to do it.”

Other panels are so bizarre that I find myself wasting hours just figuring out how to use it, let alone determining if the equipment works. I wonder what the engineers were thinking when they designed this unusual interface? Don’t they realize that the harder something is to use, the less inclined people will be to use it?

Well, that’s my tale of woe. Now it’s your turn, what equipment oddities have you come across? Share your experiences here so we can all learn.

Click here to comment

By Robert Swink, Lab Manager at Axiom Test Equipment

I’ve dealt with a lot of different types of test equipment over the years, but I’m still amazed sometimes at what lands on my bench. The only way to explain this is it’s just plain odd. As if dealing with all the sophisticated circuitry in modern test equipment isn’t tough enough, I’ve had to deal with odd modifications, strange setups, and confusing control panels.

MAKE REPAIR A CHALLENGE

EQUIPMENTODDITIES

26 Visit: eeweb.com

PULSE

Sonic Emotion is a 3D sound technology that will eliminate the idea of surround sound systems. Back in 2010, the Sonic Emotion team was able to overcome the classic problem of waveform

synthesis, allowing the speaker to be in one spot, but fill the room with full 3D sound. Since then, the company has developed single-source sound bars that give the effect of surround sound, without the need for strategic speaker placement. After rave reviews of their speaker system, the company developed a proprietary app for mobile devices, the Headquake Pro, that enables smartphones and tablets with 3D sound.

We spoke with Renato Pellegrini, Co-founder and CTO of Sonic Emotion, about the development of their revolutionary sound devices, some surprising new applications with the technology, and where he sees this technology being implemented in the future.

An interview with Renato Pellegrini

Absolute 3D Sound

SONIC EMOTION

27Visit: eeweb.com

INTERVIEW

Sonic Emotion is a 3D sound technology that will eliminate the idea of surround sound systems. Back in 2010, the Sonic Emotion team was able to overcome the classic problem of waveform

synthesis, allowing the speaker to be in one spot, but fill the room with full 3D sound. Since then, the company has developed single-source sound bars that give the effect of surround sound, without the need for strategic speaker placement. After rave reviews of their speaker system, the company developed a proprietary app for mobile devices, the Headquake Pro, that enables smartphones and tablets with 3D sound.

We spoke with Renato Pellegrini, Co-founder and CTO of Sonic Emotion, about the development of their revolutionary sound devices, some surprising new applications with the technology, and where he sees this technology being implemented in the future.

An interview with Renato Pellegrini

Absolute 3D Sound

SONIC EMOTION

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Could you give us a little background on the company and how it got started?

Mattias Rosenthal and myself started the company about 11 years ago. The company was based off the foundation of a European research project at the time. I was working for a large audio mixing console company here in Switzerland and was in the research part of the company doing research in wave field synthesis. At the time, that technology had proven to be far beyond what you could expect from any stereo system. We had an idea that this could actually lead to a new generation of sound reproduction devices. At that time, we didn’t actually believe there would be a lot of consumer electronics, because wave field synthesis requires a lot of speakers surrounding the listening area. That’s pretty much in direct contrast to what we can do today. The original wave field synthesis—where we came from—actually required a lot of speakers. However, we still felt that there was enough meat on the bone to actually create a company around that. We took the initiative and closed the research project from our former company and started our own company and got the lucky first project in the threshold field of aerospace technology, so we actually were working on flight simulators as our

first official project. From there, we moved on to more artistic installations. The name Sonic Emotion already implies that we are already interested in entertaining people at combining 3D sound with the emotional aspect that sound can give you.

So you went from flight simulator audio to museum installations—what’s the next step for Sonic Emotion?

Back in 2010, the big step for us was that we were able to invert the classic problem of wave field synthesis into something where all speakers could be in one spot, rather than surrounding you all over the place. We used a similar technology to feed a sound field into a room from one device. Obviously that has a lot more applications on the consumer end, because now you can have just one sound bar or sounding device in front of you and it will fill the whole room, and wherever you are in that room, with sounds from all around. We took some initial investment money to cover the costs of this consumer application. From there, we built the first chip-based product to allow us to actually sell technology to manufacturers and OEMs in Asia so they can embed our technology into their products.

Traditional

Nowadays, we have moved one step further from just chip manufacturing to software-based products. We have software offerings for any kind of consumer electronic audio product, be it sound bars, docking stations, compact 2 speaker devices, Bluetooth devices, laptops, TVs and even headphone products. Following rave reviews of our own app, Headquake Pro, we also are white labeling mobile applications that enable 3D sound for music and video players on tablets and smartphones. Most recently, Samsung became the first to adapt our Absolute 3D sound software technology to the marketplace – now offering it to their customers in their 2014 sound bar lineup of products.

How do you create 3D sound with just one device?

A Dutch physicist named Christiaan Huygens initially proposed the wave field synthesis concept back in the 1600s. He showed that you can create any real source by creating a number of secondary sources by just adding signals together. At that time Huygens could not

actually demonstrate because all he had was a pencil and paper. Today, signal processing allows us to simulate what he was thinking in real time by creating signals for each speaker in place. By adding the signals correctly and in phase with each other, we allow ourselves to recreate wave fronts that represent a specific sound source.

Our technology involves an important analysis because we obviously don’t want to change the whole production line of music or movie content. We want to keep using the standard stereo or surround sound material at the input, analyze that sound so we can learn what is localizable and diffuse, and take those parts and analyze where they should be coming from. Once we learn that from the incoming signal, we produce a wave front for a signal that comes from that very spot. In that way, it’s totally different from stereo reproduction where one speaker is supposed to create one channel of incoming sound. In our view, every speaker will do a portion of every incoming signal. All together, they add up to create the entire sound field.

“The big difference from the consumer end is that in stereo or surround sound recordings, you need to sit still to gain the full effect. In our environments you can actually explore a sound field.”

Absolute 3D™

29Visit: eeweb.com

INTERVIEW

Could you give us a little background on the company and how it got started?

Mattias Rosenthal and myself started the company about 11 years ago. The company was based off the foundation of a European research project at the time. I was working for a large audio mixing console company here in Switzerland and was in the research part of the company doing research in wave field synthesis. At the time, that technology had proven to be far beyond what you could expect from any stereo system. We had an idea that this could actually lead to a new generation of sound reproduction devices. At that time, we didn’t actually believe there would be a lot of consumer electronics, because wave field synthesis requires a lot of speakers surrounding the listening area. That’s pretty much in direct contrast to what we can do today. The original wave field synthesis—where we came from—actually required a lot of speakers. However, we still felt that there was enough meat on the bone to actually create a company around that. We took the initiative and closed the research project from our former company and started our own company and got the lucky first project in the threshold field of aerospace technology, so we actually were working on flight simulators as our

first official project. From there, we moved on to more artistic installations. The name Sonic Emotion already implies that we are already interested in entertaining people at combining 3D sound with the emotional aspect that sound can give you.

So you went from flight simulator audio to museum installations—what’s the next step for Sonic Emotion?

Back in 2010, the big step for us was that we were able to invert the classic problem of wave field synthesis into something where all speakers could be in one spot, rather than surrounding you all over the place. We used a similar technology to feed a sound field into a room from one device. Obviously that has a lot more applications on the consumer end, because now you can have just one sound bar or sounding device in front of you and it will fill the whole room, and wherever you are in that room, with sounds from all around. We took some initial investment money to cover the costs of this consumer application. From there, we built the first chip-based product to allow us to actually sell technology to manufacturers and OEMs in Asia so they can embed our technology into their products.

Traditional

Nowadays, we have moved one step further from just chip manufacturing to software-based products. We have software offerings for any kind of consumer electronic audio product, be it sound bars, docking stations, compact 2 speaker devices, Bluetooth devices, laptops, TVs and even headphone products. Following rave reviews of our own app, Headquake Pro, we also are white labeling mobile applications that enable 3D sound for music and video players on tablets and smartphones. Most recently, Samsung became the first to adapt our Absolute 3D sound software technology to the marketplace – now offering it to their customers in their 2014 sound bar lineup of products.

How do you create 3D sound with just one device?

A Dutch physicist named Christiaan Huygens initially proposed the wave field synthesis concept back in the 1600s. He showed that you can create any real source by creating a number of secondary sources by just adding signals together. At that time Huygens could not

actually demonstrate because all he had was a pencil and paper. Today, signal processing allows us to simulate what he was thinking in real time by creating signals for each speaker in place. By adding the signals correctly and in phase with each other, we allow ourselves to recreate wave fronts that represent a specific sound source.

Our technology involves an important analysis because we obviously don’t want to change the whole production line of music or movie content. We want to keep using the standard stereo or surround sound material at the input, analyze that sound so we can learn what is localizable and diffuse, and take those parts and analyze where they should be coming from. Once we learn that from the incoming signal, we produce a wave front for a signal that comes from that very spot. In that way, it’s totally different from stereo reproduction where one speaker is supposed to create one channel of incoming sound. In our view, every speaker will do a portion of every incoming signal. All together, they add up to create the entire sound field.

“The big difference from the consumer end is that in stereo or surround sound recordings, you need to sit still to gain the full effect. In our environments you can actually explore a sound field.”

Absolute 3D™

30 Visit: eeweb.com

PULSE

Your software does sound wave analysis, but does the room where the speakers are play into the result?

That’s one of the benefits we bring to the marketplace. With our new customizable Absolute 3D sound software, we don’t need to calibrate our system in any given room. That said, it means the natural wave field that we create will not rely on any specific reflections that would bounce off walls.

Who do you see as your main competitor in the industry?

A lot of the stereo providers out there simply provide surround sound with the potential of add-ons to provide an idea of the speaker position. However, from a technology perspective, our offering is entirely different. We are the only ones that actually recreate those sound fields in a way that you, the listener, can really move around in a much larger scale and area around the room. Whenever you experience an SRS or DTS system, if you are outside of the “sweet spot,” you will lose the full effect. We believe that today’s customers are not sitting in a chair to experience music for an hour, they are out walking or in the kitchen or answering e-mails in the office. Our product offers a sound quality that is simply above the current state-of-the-art technology of our competitors.

A lot of technology trends in the consumer space are focused more towards HD TVs and displays—do you see people still interested in the latest audio equipment as much?

I would put it two ways. I do see a strong link to video and the latest TVs, but the link has not been a healthy one. TVs have been getting thinner and flatter over the years and so has the sound. TVs have gotten so slim that it has become very difficult to provide the proper audio to go with it within the frame of the TV. Because of this, there has been a growth in the marketplace for audio accessories and a lot of our partner customers come to us looking for the proper 3D sound technology to solve this problem. but also because we can increase speech intelligibility. There are a number of benefits in adding the proper sound to your state-of-the-art TV and Sonic Emotion can provide this solution using its new Absolute 3D sound software which is applied across the entire spectrum of consumer electronics. If you create that 3D sound field properly, you can easily distinguish between the sounds in your room and the sound that should be in front of you. We have used the human possibilities of the listen to dialogue properly because it is clearly coming from in front of you.

The big difference from the consumer end is that in stereo or surround sound recordings, you need to sit still to gain the full effect. In our environments you can actually explore a sound field—you can walk about the sound field and hear the sound field change accordingly like in a real or natural environment.

How do you conduct your sound testing?

That’s a very good question. With us, sound testing occurs on three levels. The first level is strictly a physical measure. We want to learn early on about the radiation of speakers inside the box. We want to define the air volumes and the device itself and take measures and create a mock-up that allow us to understand the directivity of each and every speaker. We are able to recreate the sound field from the device early on.

The next step includes some polar voicing together with whatever brand we are working with. The clients will work with our audio engineers to get the best possible sound out of the device that is similar to the end customer’s expectation. The third step is to go into blind contests. We will compare our product with other popular devices on the market in a blind psychoacoustic test with real subjects.

“Our product offers a sound quality that is simply above the current state-of-the-art technology of our competitors.”

“If you create that 3D sound field properly, you can easily distinguish between the sounds in your room and the sound that should be in front of you.”

31Visit: eeweb.com

INTERVIEW

Your software does sound wave analysis, but does the room where the speakers are play into the result?

That’s one of the benefits we bring to the marketplace. With our new customizable Absolute 3D sound software, we don’t need to calibrate our system in any given room. That said, it means the natural wave field that we create will not rely on any specific reflections that would bounce off walls.

Who do you see as your main competitor in the industry?

A lot of the stereo providers out there simply provide surround sound with the potential of add-ons to provide an idea of the speaker position. However, from a technology perspective, our offering is entirely different. We are the only ones that actually recreate those sound fields in a way that you, the listener, can really move around in a much larger scale and area around the room. Whenever you experience an SRS or DTS system, if you are outside of the “sweet spot,” you will lose the full effect. We believe that today’s customers are not sitting in a chair to experience music for an hour, they are out walking or in the kitchen or answering e-mails in the office. Our product offers a sound quality that is simply above the current state-of-the-art technology of our competitors.

A lot of technology trends in the consumer space are focused more towards HD TVs and displays—do you see people still interested in the latest audio equipment as much?

I would put it two ways. I do see a strong link to video and the latest TVs, but the link has not been a healthy one. TVs have been getting thinner and flatter over the years and so has the sound. TVs have gotten so slim that it has become very difficult to provide the proper audio to go with it within the frame of the TV. Because of this, there has been a growth in the marketplace for audio accessories and a lot of our partner customers come to us looking for the proper 3D sound technology to solve this problem. but also because we can increase speech intelligibility. There are a number of benefits in adding the proper sound to your state-of-the-art TV and Sonic Emotion can provide this solution using its new Absolute 3D sound software which is applied across the entire spectrum of consumer electronics. If you create that 3D sound field properly, you can easily distinguish between the sounds in your room and the sound that should be in front of you. We have used the human possibilities of the listen to dialogue properly because it is clearly coming from in front of you.

The big difference from the consumer end is that in stereo or surround sound recordings, you need to sit still to gain the full effect. In our environments you can actually explore a sound field—you can walk about the sound field and hear the sound field change accordingly like in a real or natural environment.

How do you conduct your sound testing?

That’s a very good question. With us, sound testing occurs on three levels. The first level is strictly a physical measure. We want to learn early on about the radiation of speakers inside the box. We want to define the air volumes and the device itself and take measures and create a mock-up that allow us to understand the directivity of each and every speaker. We are able to recreate the sound field from the device early on.

The next step includes some polar voicing together with whatever brand we are working with. The clients will work with our audio engineers to get the best possible sound out of the device that is similar to the end customer’s expectation. The third step is to go into blind contests. We will compare our product with other popular devices on the market in a blind psychoacoustic test with real subjects.

“Our product offers a sound quality that is simply above the current state-of-the-art technology of our competitors.”

“If you create that 3D sound field properly, you can easily distinguish between the sounds in your room and the sound that should be in front of you.”

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MOVING BEYOND SURROUND SOUND

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, nearly 40% of consumers surveyed stated they would be willing to pay more for better quality sound

equipment. Clearly, consumers crave entertainment and a quality sound experience. Yet,the technology industry is oversaturated with companies that claim to produce 3D sound leading to confusion on how best to achieve it and a preponderance of mind-numbing options.

As devices – from televisions to mobile smartphones and tablets—grow ever thinner, the market is crying out for a simpler way. We are at a true inflection point.

Sonic Emotion has worked to tackle this challenge as well as fulfil this burgeoning demand by creating Absolute 3D ™ which moves beyond conventional surround sound set-ups.

ABSOLUTE 3D™from Sonic Emotion:

33Visit: eeweb.com

FEATURED ARTICLE

MOVING BEYOND SURROUND SOUND

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, nearly 40% of consumers surveyed stated they would be willing to pay more for better quality sound

equipment. Clearly, consumers crave entertainment and a quality sound experience. Yet,the technology industry is oversaturated with companies that claim to produce 3D sound leading to confusion on how best to achieve it and a preponderance of mind-numbing options.

As devices – from televisions to mobile smartphones and tablets—grow ever thinner, the market is crying out for a simpler way. We are at a true inflection point.

Sonic Emotion has worked to tackle this challenge as well as fulfil this burgeoning demand by creating Absolute 3D ™ which moves beyond conventional surround sound set-ups.

ABSOLUTE 3D™from Sonic Emotion:

34 Visit: eeweb.com

PULSE

of timbre and sound scene perception. Sonic Emotion is now partnering with Cadence® Tensilica® for the first licensable DSP IP core on their HiFi 2 processor. With this software implementation, customers will be able to have premium audio in TVs, sound bars laptops, and myriad mobile devices.

Developing key technologies to analyze, measure and tune loudspeaker characteristics has provided clear guidelines and algorithms to optimize sound pressure levels, improve bass performance and reduce distortions. Devices are considered in their entirety, making use of and optimizing natural baffling effects and their influence on the radiation of each loudspeaker. As a result, Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology recreates a proper artifact-free sound field from an ensemble of loudspeakers with optimum sound quality and outstanding clarity.

One of the biggest challenges in developing this sound technology was bringing the number of enclosed loudspeakers down to a reasonable number. After much research, Sonic Emotion created an ASIC chip solution which later evolved into offering their latest software solution. The Absolute 3D software solution was launched at CES earlier this year with Samsung where the technology is being implemented in their lineup of sound bars

Other sound specialization techniques use compact loudspeaker arrays with either transaural or beamforming sound technologies. Transaural technologies assume a very strict positioning and head orientation of the listener. If the listener moves or turns her/his head, the effect collapses and all sound sources seem again to originate from the loudspeaker array. Beamforming technologies rely on sound beams that reflect off the walls of the listening room and create virtual loudspeakers. Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D™ sound technology relies on advanced sound field control including spatial analysis of stereo/5.1 input signals and wave field synthesis [3|. This approach enables to optimally control the sound field emitted by the loudspeaker array into the reproduction space using only two, three, four to six plus channels in one device. As a result, consumers hear the sound in its truest, most authentic form from any device, anywhere in the room. Since using software,

any of these devices having the Absolute 3D software integration includes the entire audio spectrum: TVs, multi-channel sound bars and audio devices Bluetooth – Wifi, laptops, headphones, smartphones, tablets and many more.

More specifically, this sound technology, allows accurate control of the sound field, providing precise positioning of discrete sound objects and directing the diffuse and non-localizable portion of the sound into the ambient field of the listening room. In short, it seeks to create the most natural three-dimensional sound field, where sound objects (voice, instruments, etc.) can be clearly localized independent of the listener’s position.

In continuing development, Sonic Emotion has created a model for estimating and optimizing localization accuracy and distance perception in an extended listening area. Using advanced signal processing, the Swiss company has put a new focus on the listening experience in terms

Figure 1: Example of Absolute 3D with 6 channels within soundbar Figure 2: Example of placing multiple subfigures with simulation results.

"Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D™ sound technology relies on advanced sound field control including spatial analysis of stereo input signals and wave field synthesis."

35Visit: eeweb.com

FEATURED ARTICLE

of timbre and sound scene perception. Sonic Emotion is now partnering with Cadence® Tensilica® for the first licensable DSP IP core on their HiFi 2 processor. With this software implementation, customers will be able to have premium audio in TVs, sound bars laptops, and myriad mobile devices.

Developing key technologies to analyze, measure and tune loudspeaker characteristics has provided clear guidelines and algorithms to optimize sound pressure levels, improve bass performance and reduce distortions. Devices are considered in their entirety, making use of and optimizing natural baffling effects and their influence on the radiation of each loudspeaker. As a result, Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology recreates a proper artifact-free sound field from an ensemble of loudspeakers with optimum sound quality and outstanding clarity.

One of the biggest challenges in developing this sound technology was bringing the number of enclosed loudspeakers down to a reasonable number. After much research, Sonic Emotion created an ASIC chip solution which later evolved into offering their latest software solution. The Absolute 3D software solution was launched at CES earlier this year with Samsung where the technology is being implemented in their lineup of sound bars

Other sound specialization techniques use compact loudspeaker arrays with either transaural or beamforming sound technologies. Transaural technologies assume a very strict positioning and head orientation of the listener. If the listener moves or turns her/his head, the effect collapses and all sound sources seem again to originate from the loudspeaker array. Beamforming technologies rely on sound beams that reflect off the walls of the listening room and create virtual loudspeakers. Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D™ sound technology relies on advanced sound field control including spatial analysis of stereo/5.1 input signals and wave field synthesis [3|. This approach enables to optimally control the sound field emitted by the loudspeaker array into the reproduction space using only two, three, four to six plus channels in one device. As a result, consumers hear the sound in its truest, most authentic form from any device, anywhere in the room. Since using software,

any of these devices having the Absolute 3D software integration includes the entire audio spectrum: TVs, multi-channel sound bars and audio devices Bluetooth – Wifi, laptops, headphones, smartphones, tablets and many more.

More specifically, this sound technology, allows accurate control of the sound field, providing precise positioning of discrete sound objects and directing the diffuse and non-localizable portion of the sound into the ambient field of the listening room. In short, it seeks to create the most natural three-dimensional sound field, where sound objects (voice, instruments, etc.) can be clearly localized independent of the listener’s position.

In continuing development, Sonic Emotion has created a model for estimating and optimizing localization accuracy and distance perception in an extended listening area. Using advanced signal processing, the Swiss company has put a new focus on the listening experience in terms

Figure 1: Example of Absolute 3D with 6 channels within soundbar Figure 2: Example of placing multiple subfigures with simulation results.

"Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D™ sound technology relies on advanced sound field control including spatial analysis of stereo input signals and wave field synthesis."

36 Visit: eeweb.com

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Figure 3: The Sonic Emotion Absolute 3D software with two channel in home entertainment environment.

in 2014. The software implements a product independent sound rendering algorithm. Custom filters are are optimized for each specific product. The software receives sound inputs from various formats that are converted into an internal 3D sound representation. The

software produces up to 8 sound outputs (7 loud- speakers + subs) which take the form of an 8 channel PWM stream which can directly drive digital amplifiers or 4 I2S stereo streams which should be converted before driving analog ampli- fiers. Users can control specific parameters to further optimize their sound for different listening situtations (volume, ambiance, balance, clarity). Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D post-processing provides premium audio quality to their customer, enabling the creation of a natural virtual 3D sound field across an entire listening area. This brings a hyper-realistic and immersive audio experience no matter where the device or listeners are positioned in order to enjoy their favorite movies, music and games, ensuring premium sound. Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology solution has also proven successful for professional applications ranging from

Figure 4: Example of software integration into different form factors and channel products with simulation results. Products in photo are: Samsung HW-H600 Sound Stand and Samsung HW-H750 sound bar with external subwoofer.

“Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D post-processing provides premium audio quality to the user, enabling the creation of a natural virtual 3D sound field across an entire listening area.”

movie theatres and museums to clubs and luxury brand store fronts, the technology was adapted to meet the demands of the consumer electronics industry. By choosing to embed Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology, consumer brands are breaking the barrier of conventional speaker set-ups and empowering consumers to hear sound in its truest form. Sonic Emotion’s technology is incredibly cost effective and creates an uncomplicated experience with no additional cabling or set up. What other brands do with five or six multiple speaker devices, Sonic Emotion does with one. A snapshot of current partners ranges from

Samsung, RadioShack, Toshiba, and Onkyo®. Earlier this year, Sonic Emotion released the next generation version of its consumer app, Headquake® Pro, and has been earning rave reviews from media and consumers alike. Since its launch in 2012, the Headquake Pro app has been downloaded more than a quarter of a million times, achieved and sustained a 4.5 star rating, and is already ranked 13th among the top 100 music apps on USA iTunes. In 2014, Sonic Emotion is expanding its mobile app audience even further with the rollout of Android app versions featuring Absolute 3D through white labelling opportunities with partnered brands.

37Visit: eeweb.com

FEATURED ARTICLE

Figure 3: The Sonic Emotion Absolute 3D software with two channel in home entertainment environment.

in 2014. The software implements a product independent sound rendering algorithm. Custom filters are are optimized for each specific product. The software receives sound inputs from various formats that are converted into an internal 3D sound representation. The

software produces up to 8 sound outputs (7 loud- speakers + subs) which take the form of an 8 channel PWM stream which can directly drive digital amplifiers or 4 I2S stereo streams which should be converted before driving analog ampli- fiers. Users can control specific parameters to further optimize their sound for different listening situtations (volume, ambiance, balance, clarity). Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D post-processing provides premium audio quality to their customer, enabling the creation of a natural virtual 3D sound field across an entire listening area. This brings a hyper-realistic and immersive audio experience no matter where the device or listeners are positioned in order to enjoy their favorite movies, music and games, ensuring premium sound. Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology solution has also proven successful for professional applications ranging from

Figure 4: Example of software integration into different form factors and channel products with simulation results. Products in photo are: Samsung HW-H600 Sound Stand and Samsung HW-H750 sound bar with external subwoofer.

“Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D post-processing provides premium audio quality to the user, enabling the creation of a natural virtual 3D sound field across an entire listening area.”

movie theatres and museums to clubs and luxury brand store fronts, the technology was adapted to meet the demands of the consumer electronics industry. By choosing to embed Sonic Emotion’s Absolute 3D sound technology, consumer brands are breaking the barrier of conventional speaker set-ups and empowering consumers to hear sound in its truest form. Sonic Emotion’s technology is incredibly cost effective and creates an uncomplicated experience with no additional cabling or set up. What other brands do with five or six multiple speaker devices, Sonic Emotion does with one. A snapshot of current partners ranges from

Samsung, RadioShack, Toshiba, and Onkyo®. Earlier this year, Sonic Emotion released the next generation version of its consumer app, Headquake® Pro, and has been earning rave reviews from media and consumers alike. Since its launch in 2012, the Headquake Pro app has been downloaded more than a quarter of a million times, achieved and sustained a 4.5 star rating, and is already ranked 13th among the top 100 music apps on USA iTunes. In 2014, Sonic Emotion is expanding its mobile app audience even further with the rollout of Android app versions featuring Absolute 3D through white labelling opportunities with partnered brands.

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www.partsim.com

PartSim includes a full SPICE simulation engine, web-based schematic capture tool, and a graphical waveform viewer.

Some Features include:• Simulate in a standard Web Browser• AC/DC and Transient Simulations• Schematic Editor• WaveForm Viewer• WaveForm Viewer• Easily Share Simulations

Online Circuit Simulator

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