Automotive Audio Solutions: Redefining Surround Sound in Cars

Birgit Bartel-Kurz (Senior Engineer at Fraunhofer IIS) details the ongoing research at the Fraunhofer IIS institute on more immersive audio solutions for automotive applications. The article explores how to apply new audio processing algorithms in actual playback systems for cars, and how the Sonamic Panorama signal processing technology from Fraunhofer creates an immersive in-car sound experience from a simple stereo source. This article was originally published in audioXpress, June 2020.

Smaart v8.3 is the third major update to the Smaart v8 measurement platform, originally introduced in 2016. This free update includes integration with the Roland Octa-Capture USB 24-bit/192 kHz audio interface, major Client Window improvements, new Frequency-domain Time Windowing (FTW) for complex averaged transfer function measurements, and numerous enhancements and bug fixes in almost every area of the program. This update is recommended for all Smaart v8 users.

Keysight Technologies announced the availability of a newly updated Method of Implementation (MOI) document for cable and connector assembly compliance tests defined in Rev. 1.1 of the USB Type-C specification and Rev. 1.0 of the USB Type-C Compliance Test Specification (CTS). The step-by-step document provides measurement procedures for compliance testing USB Type-C cables and connectors in the time and frequency domains, using the ENA Network Analyzer.

My recent visit to the new LinearX headquarters in Battle Ground, WA, confirmed that this very powerful new audio analyzer is finally in production. The first LX500 release will be the frequency domain version and the list of features is seriously impressive.