Infineon launches partner network to advance Voice User Interface
From smart speakers and smart TVs to conferencing systems and smart home appliances: electronic devices can be operated much more easily and intuitively with speech recognition. Consequently, demand for voice user interfaces (VUI) in electronic devices is increasing dramatically. Market researchers expect that the smart speaker market alone will grow 20 percent per year on average.
Premium MEMS microphones and cutting-edge audio processing are the key elements for making voice-controlled devices truly ready for everyday situations. To facilitate their development and integration into a broad range of devices, Infineon Technologies AG is now launching the VUI partner network. Infineon and its partners will provide device manufacturers innovative reference platforms and ready-to-use next-generation VUI solutions. Already available now are solutions from Aaware, CEVA, Creoir, SoundAI, Sugr, and XMOS.
“Voice recognition that works reliably, regardless of whether commands are given in noisy surroundings or whispered, will become a key feature of connected devices,” said Oliver Henning, Head of Partnership Management at Infineon’s Power Management & Multimarket division. “Infineon’s VUI partner ecosystem strives to enable fast and easy integration of high-performing VUI functionality into smart devices and applications. Together with our partners we will be able to provide system reference designs as well as engineering and design-house capabilities to support our customers with their projects.”
Earlier generations of VUI focused mainly on enabling the core functionality of voice input and reaction. With the growing sophistication of voice technology and rising user expectations, this is no longer enough. Devices need to understand commands precisely even if they are whispered or spoken from another room.
Infineon’s XENSIV MEMS microphones introduce a new performance benchmark overcoming existing audio chain limitations. The IM69D130 is designed for applications where low self-noise (high SNR), a wide dynamic range, low distortion and a high acoustic overload point are required. This solution supports far field and soft audio signal pick-up, enables precise steering of audio beams and other advanced audio algorithms that are becoming increasingly frequent in VUI applications. Different power modes can be selected to suit specific current consumption requirements like those of battery powered speakers.
