Qualcomm makes smart speaker development kit, based on the Qualcomm Smart Audio Platform, available through distribution

Highly integrated and flexible solution helps manufacturers to reduce development time of smart speakers with support for leading voice services at a variety of price points

Jan 8, 2018 | LAS VEGAS

At CES® 2018, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), today announced, that it plans in the first half of 2018, to make a smart speaker development kit based on the Qualcomm® Smart Audio Platform available through its authorized distribution channels. The development kit is engineered to help developers and audio manufacturers simplify the development of smart speaker products, at a range of price points, thereby helping them take advantage of the commercial opportunities presented by this rapidly growing ecosystem.

The Smart Audio Platform is a highly flexible solution engineered to bring together a unique combination of processing power, connectivity options, voice user interfaces and premium audio technologies. The platform is designed to be a unique end-to-end single-vendor smart speaker solution integrating our unique and powerful processing, as well as proprietary audio technologies engineered for high resolution audio, networked audio, echo cancellation, beamforming, noise suppression and barge-in wake-word detection. With support for both Linux and Android Things operating systems, as well as voice services from major cloud providers, the Smart Audio Platform offers manufacturers a variety of choices to help them participate in the growing smart speaker opportunity.

Built on the Smart Audio Platform, the development kit features a Wi-Fi® certified System-on-Module (SoM) that integrates the key system components, helping to reduce development time and overall design cost. The kit also includes schematics and design files to support easier customization and differentiation in the manufacturers’ products. Manufacturers can use a single design for different SKUs with varying operating systems and capabilities, which helps to improve cost efficiency and reduce development time.

“By providing the rich feature capabilities of our Smart Audio Platform and integrated into this development kit, we are helping to streamline development for manufacturers looking to build smart speaker devices more efficiently,” said Anthony Murray, senior vice president and general manager, voice and music, Qualcomm Technologies International, Ltd. “Our platform and kit help manufacturers seeking to design products at a variety of price points to reduce development time and create smart speaker products that include the complex connectivity, premium audio and voice capabilities that consumers now expect.”

Additionally, the development kit offers a reference design for smart speaker devices. This reference design features a six-microphone array and speaker housing to support far-field voice interface and high-performance wake-word detection – including barge-in capabilities supported by echo cancellation technology, pre-tuned to the hardware. The speaker housing is designed for a rich 360-degree sound experience.

The Qualcomm Smart Audio Platform will be demonstrated at CES in our booth in Central Hall #10948.