CEVA Upgrades the Bluebud Platform

CEVA, a licensor of wireless connectivity and smart sensing technologies and integrated IP solutions, has enhanced the software offerings and tool kits for its Bluebud wireless audio platform with the addition of Bluebud-HD, a pre-configured software package that includes all the audio, voice, and context-aware software required in premium TWS earbuds, gaming headsets, hearables, wearables, and other smart audio products.

Bluebud-HD features immersive audio, wideband voice conversation, always-on voice assistant, assistive hearing, and IMU-based contextual awareness, all processed on the embedded CEVA-BX1 DSP.

CEVA also announced today that its SenslinQ software framework and the CEVA-BX1 DSP tool kit have been upgraded for the Bluebud platform to streamline the addition of third-partydigital signal processing algorithms and to facilitate migration of existing software from other processor architectures. Host CPU application developers benefit from the OpenAMP API for virtualized access to the feature sets enabled by Bluebud-HD and other audio, voice, and speech software available through the CEVAnet partner ecosystem. The SenslinQ framework enables Bluebud customers to consolidate all audio, voice and IMU-based contextual awareness workloads onto the CEVA-BX1 DSP rather than embedding separate DSPs for wireless and audio and results in smaller die size and lower power consumption.

"Since the launch of Bluebud last year, we have experienced tremendous interest and licensing success with this unique platform offering. On the back of this success, we are now introducing the Bluebud-HD software package, which democratizes access for the semiconductor companies, ODMs, and OEMs to the second largest consumer market by volume after smartphones," said Moshe Sheier, vice president of marketing at CEVA, in a statement. "The combination of the Bluebud-HD software package, the SenslinQ software framework and the CEVA-BX1 DSP tool kit encourages partners and customers using other processor architectures to standardize around Bluebud and reduce the cost, power consumption and complexity of their wireless audio solutions."

Bluebud-HD also supports audio processing using 96KHz/24-bit precision, enabling many high-resolution audio standards. The fully integrated software package includes the following:

• CEVA's ClearVox, enhanced to support up to 48KHz sampling rate, for super wideband voice conversations;
• VisiSonics RS3D software for an immersive 3D audio experience;
• CEVAs MotionEngine Hear software for head tracking, in-ear detection, and tap control;
• Personalized hearing tuning for adaptation to each listener's hearing;
• LHDC high-definition audio codec;
• CEVA's SenslinQ DSP software framework for plug and play native DSP algorithms; and
• Bluebud-HD SDK.

"The ability to solve our customers' pain points for the development of wireless audio products and allowing them to virtualize DSP applications from the host CPU without directly programming the DSP using the SenslinQ framework streamlines their development and further allows them to utilize the Bluebud platform for more advanced use cases," said Erez Bar-Niv, chief technology officer of CEVA, in a statement. "The breadth of features provided by the Bluebud-HD software solution, such as high-definition audio and voice, personalized hearing, 3D audio, and contextual awareness, is unprecedented and aligns with the most demanding use cases of top-tier audio device makers."