Renesas and Cyberon expand services with voice recognition

Renesas Electronics Corporation and Cyberon Corporation, an embedded speech solution provider, have announced that they have partnered to deliver voice user interface (VUI) solutions for customers using Renesas entire RA MCU line.

Renesas RA customers will now have complimentary access to Cyberon's continuous command-based VUI toolchain, enabling them to add voice-recognition to a variety of endpoint applications in home appliances, building automation, industrial automation, wearables and many more.

According to the company, voice recognition is growing rapidly worldwide, driven by the explosion of IoT applications and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cyberon's proven voice-recognition technology has been adopted in millions of devices worldwide. Renesas is making a Voice Reference Hardware Platform available to enable rapid prototyping and development of voice interfaces.

The new hardware platform enables local voice recognition without a network connection using Cyberon's DSpotter solution. DSpotter's phoneme-based modelling approach allows quick command customisation with only text input, eliminating the need for massive voice data collection and thereby reducing development costs and time, the company states.

DSpotter supports more than 40 global languages, empowering customers to adopt voice technology on embedded applications worldwide.

This Voice User Interface (VUI) solution demonstrates the ease of use when controling a system with a simple voice command interface, that doesn't require extensive coding experience or in-house expertise, Renesas states.

Mohammed Dogar, vice president of global bysiness development and ecosystem in Renesas IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit, says, "Customers in multiple segments are looking for help to quickly add reliable voice user commands to their products. Our partnership with Cyberon gives them access to proven voice technology across our entire line of RA MCUs, from entry-line to full-featured devices.

Alex Liou, vice president of Cyberon's Embedded Solution BU, comments, "We are honoured to collaborate with Renesas to simplify the development of embedded voice recognition functions.

"Cyberon's DSpotter algorithm meets the market's diverse requirements for both costs and performance. The combination of DSpotter and Renesas's leading MCU technology enables customers to develop high-performance, reliable and cost-efficient products in a timely manner.

Key Features of the Renesas Voice User Interface Reference Solution include:

• Complimentary access to the DSpotter Toolchain
• Voice Activity Detection (VAD) to reduce power consumption by more than 30%, allowing power-constrained IoT end-point applications to run in always-on mode
• Voice Audio Playback (VAP) to enable voice input and voice responses
• Support for up to two digital microphones and two analog microphones
• External QSPI flash provides the ability to store voice samples and library data
• Multiple communications interfaces including a Pmod interface (type-2A/3A/6A), USB type-C and micro-B, and on-board j-link Segger debugger/programmer