Audinate has been offering development solutions in cooperation with Analog Devices since the introduction of a software-based Dante reference design kit for its popular ADSP-SC589 DSP + ARM processor, and the Australian company becoming a member of the Analog Devices Alliances program in 2019. The ADSP-SC589 board, combined SHARC DSPs with an ARM CPU, which combined with Dante Embedded Platform (DEP), provided a cost-effective and flexible means to deliver Dante technology in modern software-driven devices. The software development kit (SDK) for ARM-based audio products, which allows manufacturers to deploy Dante audio networking as on-chip software in their products, is available since January 2021.
The collaboration with Analog Devices is made possible by Audinate’s introduction of DEP – which offers Dante audio-over-IP as on-chip software. By adding DEP to a powerful, compact, audio feature-rich, and multi-core application processor – such as the SHARC ADSP-SC5xx – manufacturers ensure they deliver Dante connectivity with high performance, low latency, and deterministic audio processing. The result is a single-chip solution with impressive system design versatility.
“Audinate sees a shared opportunity as the AV industry migrates to products running on standard computing architectures,” says Bob Ehlers, Vice President of Product Management at Audinate. “The Analog Devices ADSP-SC5xx processors extend the premium audio quality of professional AV systems by adding the industry-standard Dante connectivity to more workflows. The addition of the validated support for Dante-as-software is truly a win-win for developers and end customers alike.”
With minimal additional hardware and low marginal costs, Dante Embedded Platform provides powerful, flexible and cost-effective software-based solutions with Dante audio networking already on board. The result is impressive interoperability with the thousands of Dante-enabled products – from hundreds of OEMs – already installed in countless installations.
The Dante Embedded Platform for Analog Devices’ ADSP-SC5xx DSPs offers an ARM Cortex core, up to two high-performance SHARC audio DSPs with high on-chip RAM, and audio connectivity peripherals. This is ideal for AV-over-IP applications and provides a single-chip system solution. Additionally, the SHARC DSPs provide a rich ecosystem of advanced audio processing algorithms enabled by Analog Devices’ Sigma Studio graphical programming environment that shortens customer time to market.
“Analog Devices is pleased to work with Audinate to bring Dante software to the ADSP-SC5xx SHARC DSP processors,” says David Dashefsky, Director Consumer AV at Analog Devices. “We can now enable an ecosystem of SHARC DSPs with Dante connectivity, providing a powerful and compelling solution for the professional AV industry.”
Dante replaces traditional analogue cables by transmitting perfectly synchronized AV signals across large distances, to multiple locations at once, using nothing more than an Ethernet cable. Dante technology powers products available from hundreds of leading audio partners around the world. The Dante Embedded Platform SDK for Analog Devices’ ADSP-SC5xx processors is expected to be available by May 2021.
For engineering support in new Dante and AoIP product developments with Analog Devices’ solutions there are experienced engineering companies ready to help. Contact Brewster LaMacchia at Clockworks Signal Processing.
www.analog.com
www.audinate.com
