Products & Solutions
ARC® Sound Subsystems
ARC Sound Subsystems are configurable, low power, licensable audio subsystems that deliver turnkey, end-to-end audio solutions optimized for quality, silicon cost and quick time-to-market. ARC Sound Subsystems offer state-of-the-art audio software, an ARC processor with custom audio extensions and a full suite of hardware and software development tools. ARC’s newest audio subsystem, the ARC Sound 210E (AS 210E), incorporates advanced power management techniques such as power shut-off and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling, will dramatically extend the battery life of next generation handheld, consumer appliances.
 Ready for Enhanced Audio Clarity, Detail and Realism
In addition to broad support of audio formats, ARC Subsystems are Sonic Focus-ready. OEMs who choose SoCs based on ARC Sound Subsystems have the additional benefit of award-winning audio post processing technology from Sonic Focus, an ARC International company. This revolutionary software, optimized for ARC Sound, recreates the clarity, detail and realism of an original performance from compressed audio sources such as stereo MP3.
For more information about Sonic Focus’s award-winning audio post-processing technology, visit www.sonicfocus.com.
Content On This Page
| A210E Block Diagram | A210E Description | AS 210 Description |
| Benefits | Why Licence a Subsystem? |
ARC Sound 210E Subsystem Block Diagram
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ARC Sound Subsystems
ARC Sound 210E Subsystem
The AS 210E is the industry’s first audio solution that incorporates advanced power management features such as power gating and DVFS. These features reduce both dynamic and static power consumption. As a result the AS 210E consumes 25% less power during MP3 decode and almost nothing when idle, making it the most energy efficient programmable audio solution. The emerging challenge for the next generation handheld consumer appliances is not just power consumption, but also energy efficiency – resulting in extended battery life. The AS 210E will extend the battery life of next-gen applications by three fold.
The AS 210E is capable of decoding and encoding a wide range of popular standards-based audio codecs such as MP3, AAC, WMA, Dolby Digital, etc. The AS 210E also includes a pre-verified and pre-integrated hardware platform, along with platform-optimized software codecs. Source code for each codec is included.
The AS 210E is also Sonic Focus-ready. Sonic Focus technology can be implemented on the subsystems to enhance the consumer experience. Sonic Focus software improves audio fidelity and creates a studio-quality, multi-channel surround sound experience even from lossy-compressed audio streams such as MP3.
ARC Sound 210 Subsystem
The AS 210 supports the same set of codecs as AS 210E. It also includes the power-saving features such as fine-grain and architecture clock gating. The AS 210 provides a cost-effective alternative for non power-sensitive applications.
The AS 210 is also Sonic Focus-ready. Sonic Focus technology can be implemented on the subsystems to enhance the consumer experience. Sonic Focus software improves audio fidelity and creates a studio-quality, multi-channel surround sound experience even from lossy-compressed audio streams such as MP3.
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Benefits
Cost Effective
ARC Sound Subsystems are one of the smallest audio systems in their performance class. ARC Sound Subsystems are unique in that each component within the subsystem has been designed to implement the smallest system size whereas many competitive solutions focus on processor area only. Utilizing ARC's superior DSP technology and a small set of processor extensions, ARC Sound Subsystems are up to 30% smaller than other solutions.
As important as the size of the processor, ARC Sound Subsystems have paid special attention to minimizing required memory. On-chip data memories are implemented using a pair of single-port, single-cycle non-cache-based RAM blocks. The instruction memory is implemented using a cache system, but can be configured as small as 2 KB with little impact to performance. Further system cost savings are achieved by the best-in-class program size, enabled by the 16-32-bit ARCompact™ ISA.
Data memories are implemented using a pair of single-port, single-cycle non-cache RAM blocks, saving area and power. The instruction memory is implemented using a cache system, but can be configured as small as 2 KB with little impact to performance. Program size is also reduced by the use of the 16-/32-bit ARCompact™ ISA, enabling up to a 40% reduction over a 32-bit only ISA.
Energy Efficient
Given the power sensitivities for many portable audio devices, ARC Sound Subsystems have been designed to run at very low power. The entire subsystem, including on-chip memories, requires up to 55% less power than other solutions. Two factors drive this dramatic power savings. First, ARC Sound occupies very little silicon area compared to the competition. Second, the ARC Sound audio software requires a lower clock rate on average to do the same amount of processing. As a result, overall system power is reduced.
Pre-Verified
ARC Sound Subsystems come with an FPGA-based sample implementation. The sample implementation integrates the ARC Sound Subsystem, ARC's MQX RTOS, AC97 and VMAC peripherals with ARC's FPGA-based prototyping board. The sample implementation supports streaming and all standard codecs supported by the ARC Sound Subsystems.
Easy to Integrate
ARC Sound Subsystems come with a full suite of easy-to-use hardware and software development tools. ARC Sound Subsystems incorporate several features, which simplify hardware integration. ARC Sound supports standard bus protocols (BVCI and AHB) and additional processor interfaces for co-processors and/or peripherals integration. ARC Sound Subsystems have also been designed to easily integrate with other application software. Each software package implements a common API and has been designed to support multi-streaming applications.
ARC Sound Subsystems support a rich set of commonly required audio standards to speed overall implementation, including: AAC decode and encode, MP3 decode and encode, Mp12 encode, WMA decode, AC-3 5.1 decode and AC-3 stereo encode. Click here to view information on individual standards supported by the ARC Sound Subsystems.
High Quality
Tomorrow's audio applications are demanding higher audio quality than ever and ARC Sound Subsystems have been designed for the future. ARC Sound Subsystems are Sonic Focus ready. Sonic Focus, an ARC International company, provides technology which vastly enhances audio fidelity and creates studio-quality sound. In addition, ARC Sound Subsystems use a mix of 16- and 32-bit arithmetic as well as an internal 32-bit data path to maintain the highest audio quality in the smallest footprint. By using double precision only in key pieces of an algorithm, ARC Sound Subsystems are able to use smaller execution units than would have otherwise been possible.
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Why License a Subsystem?
Products integrating digital media are often high volume, cost-sensitive designs with short product life cycles. Designers must address the demands for higher quality audio as well as support a wider range of standards.
ARC's preconfigured audio subsystems address these demands by providing a licensable platform for the efficient design of SoC silicon that is highly optimized to audio applications. In addition, ARC Sound Subsystems are pre-verified to mitigate the rising cost and risk of the design, verification and testing processes.
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