Renesas and Cyberon Partner to Deliver Integrated Voice User Interface Solutions for Renesas RA MCUs Supporting Over 40 Global Languages

By Taryn Engmark

Associate Editor

Embedded Computing Design

July 05, 2022

News

Renesas and Cyberon Partner to Deliver Integrated Voice User Interface Solutions for Renesas RA MCUs Supporting Over 40 Global Languages

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 more.

Renesas Electronics Corporation, an advanced semiconductor solutions supplier, and Cyberon Corporation, an embedded speech solution provider, have partnered to deliver voice user interface (VUI) solutions for customers using Renesas’ entire RA MCU line. Voice recognition is growing rapidly worldwide, driven by the explosion of IoT applications and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 modeling approach allows quick command customization with only text input, eliminating the need for massive voice data collection and thereby reducing development costs and time. This VUI solution demonstrates the potetntial simplicity of controlling a system with a voice command interface without extensive coding experience or in-house expertise.

Key Features of the Renesas VUI Reference Solution

  • 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

More information on Renesas’ VUI solutions, including a link for qualified customers to request the new kit and the VUI solution package, is available at www.renesas.com/voice-recognition.