Although its team has been working on the field for many years, Sonical is just getting out of stealth mode. Following its first ever presence at a major international trade show - IFA 2022 in Berlin, Germany - Sonical has revealed some of its first strategic partnerships, intended to create an environment that will allow consumers to pick and choose apps for their hearables.
CosmOS, the operating system developed by Sonical, combined with a growing ecosystem of plugins and apps, enables users to have a customizable experience with headphones, headsets, earbuds, hearing aids, and more. CosmOS is intended to empower product makers in the transition to Headphone 3.0, which uses an ear computer and operating system allowing end-users to easily define and personalize their experience using apps, just like we do with our smartphones today.
The ability to run apps in small, ultra-low power hearable devices involves a new generation of ASIC/SoC that combines greater computing power and artificial intelligence, without requiring extra power consumption. The processing IP design platforms provided by Dolphin Design are supposed to bridge this gap. These new platforms are built around RAPTOR, a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) accelerator recently awarded at Embedded World 2022, and PANTHER, a software programmable RISC-V-based AI/DSP accelerator. Near-memory computing and parallel processing are among two of the key techniques that bring far superior energy efficiency as compared to existing implementations.
"Every person has a unique hearing preference which changes during the day depending on which activity you are doing," says Gary Spittle, Sonical CEO. "We have developed CosmOS to support the three pillars of hearable technologies that not only allow us to listen to audio but to also listen to the world and listen to our bodies. By downloading apps for your ears, we can deliver new experiences that are beyond the capabilities of regular Bluetooth headphones. With the inclusion of multiple sensors for biometric data capture, we are working with ear device companies to unlock a new wave of innovation, using AI-based algorithms, which of course requires a significant amount of low-power computation. The combination of our operating system and the Dolphin Design IP will enable chip manufacturers to build state-of-the-art ear computers."
Philippe Berger, Dolphin Design CEO added: "We have a long-lasting and successful experience in providing ultra-low power audio and power management IPs for the wearable market. Our recent addition of processing IP design platforms enables breakthroughs in performance without compromising on low-power. This market is now facing new technological advancements driven by enhanced user experience as proposed by Sonical thanks to CosmOS. These new applications require disruptive computing IPs with unprecedented energy efficiency to preserve the battery lifetime of the end device. We have co-designed our new accelerators from day one, considering both the Hardware and the Software sides to propose unrivaled energy efficiency. These performances are supported by a robust deployment framework and related drivers to democratize energy-friendly ambient computing."
Dolphin Design, a subsidiary of Soitec, is a fast-growing IP and ASIC turnkey design service company headquartered in Meylan, France. The company is enabling companies to realize their vision in different verticals such as edge AI, connected devices, 5G, automotive and aerospace markets wherever energy efficiency and/or low power consumption is a necessity.
www.sonical.ai
www.dolphin-design.fr
