As with all Vesper microphones, the VM3000 solves a critical need for stable, reliable and long-lasting microphone arrays that operate in environmentally harsh surroundings, ensuring high performance voice applications with its Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) Digital Output and dust and moisture resistance. All Vesper microphones are natively immune to environmental contaminants such as dust, water, moisture, oil and particles.
The VM3000 is the first digital microphone in Vesper's portfolio and greatly expands the number of applications that can be serviced with robust piezoelectric MEMS microphones. This high performance, low power microphone with an ultra-fast startup of less than 200 microseconds delivers superior performance in all environments. Applications that can benefit from a digital interface include smartphones, automobiles, laptops and smart speakers.
The VM3000 features a PDM output, which enables multiplexing of two microphones on a single data line. It also boasts a high immunity to radio-frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic-interference (EMI), offering designers more flexibility in how the microphones are positioned and the routing in their wire systems.
Because piezoelectric MEMS do not require a bias voltage, they have an ultrafast startup time. This fast startup allows systems to wake up fast enough to capture entire keywords and has demonstrated up to a 2X improvement in keyword accuracy when used in combination with Vesper's ZeroPower Listening technology. The fast startup also eliminates the need to keep microphones in standby mode, thereby further saving power.
“The VM3000 is our first digital microphone and will allow Vesper's piezoelectric MEMS to be used in a very broad range of applications and be paired with virtually any audio chip. It will be especially useful for large arrays, physically large systems and situations where there is a lot of RF interference," says Matt Crowley, CEO of Vesper. “This proves Vesper can develop complex high performance application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to pair with our disruptive MEMS technology.”
The VM3000 achieves a typical 63db dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at 1kHz signal and offers an acoustic overload point (AOP) of 122 db sound pressure level (SPL). It has an industry standard 3.5mm x 2.65mm footprint, and it is reflow solder-compatible with no sensitivity degradation. The VM3000 is currently volume sampling and will be in mass production in Q4 2019.
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