QNX drives home (quietly) with embedded award

QNX Acoustics for ANC eliminates the need
for costly dedicated ANC hardware.

Every year, the organizers of the Embedded World conference hold the embedded AWARDs to recognize the most innovative software, hardware, and tools for embedded developers. And this year, they selected QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control, the new QNX solution for eliminating engine "boom" noise in cars, as the winner in the software category.

This marks the third time that QNX Software Systems has taken home an embedded AWARD. The company also won in 2004 for power management technology and in 2006 for its multicore tools and OS — and in 2010, it nabbed a finalist spot for its persistent publish/subscribe messaging. That's a lot of plaques.

So why did QNX Acoustics for ANC get the blue ribbon treatment? I can't speak on behalf of the Embedded World judges, but check out this overview I wrote a few months ago. Or better yet, read this deeper dive from my colleague Tina Jeffrey.

Or skip the middle man entirely and check out the product page, which does a nice job of summarizing what QNX Acoustics for ANC is all about.

A version of this post appeared on the QNX auto blog.

QNX acoustics technology shortlisted for 2014 embedded AWARD

Okay, first things first. I didn't get the capitalization wrong. The name of the award really is spelled that way. I thought it odd at first, but I'm getting used to it. And besides, who am I to complain? After all, I spend a good part of my life promoting a product whose name is spelled all uppercase, and... where was I? Oh yes, the award!

Every year, the folks who organize the embedded world Exhibition&Conference hold the embedded AWARDs, which honor the most innovative software, hardware, and tools for embedded developers. And this year, the competition judges selected QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control as a finalist in the software category.

If you aren’t familiar with our ANC solution, allow me to provide an overview — which will also help explain why the embedded AWARD judges are so impressed.

Automakers need to reduce fuel consumption. And to do that, they employ techniques such as variable engine displacement and operating the engine at lower RPM. These techniques may save gas, but they also result in "boom" noise that permeates the car's interior and can lead to driver distraction. And who needs more distraction?

QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control can integrate 

seamlessly into a vehicle's infotainment system.

To reduce this noise, automakers use ANC, which plays “anti-noise” (sound proportional but inverted to the offending engine tones) over the car's speakers. The problem is, existing ANC systems require dedicated hardware, which adds design complexity, not to mention significant Bill of Materials costs. And who needs more costs?

Enter QNX Acoustics for ANC. Rather than use dedicated hardware, QNX ANC provides a software library that can run on the existing DSP or CPU of the car's head unit or audio system. This approach not only reduces hardware costs, also enables better performance, faster development, and more design flexibility. I could go on, but I will let my colleague Tina Jeffrey provide the full skinny.

Did I mention? This wouldn’t be the first time QNX Software Systems is tapped for an embedded AWARD. It has won two so far, in 2006 and 2004, for innovations in multi-core and power-management technology. It was also a finalist in 2010, for its persistent publish/subscribe messaging. Here's to making it a hat trick.

This post first appeared on the QNX Auto Blog.

Adding sound to eliminate sound: a new solution for noisy engines

Car engines have been getting noisier.
But chances are, you haven't noticed. That's because automakers have been taking measures to mask the noise.

So where is the noise coming from? Automakers need to reduce fuel consumption. And to do that, they are employing techniques such as variable cylinder management and operating the engine at lower RPM. These techniques can result in more "boom" that permeates the car's interior.

So how are automakers masking the noise? Well, it's not by adding damping materials. In fact, many automakers are removing such materials to help make their cars lighter and more fuel efficient — a practice that can allow more engine sound to reach the driver and passengers.

The weapon of choice is, paradoxically, sound. By playing “anti-noise” (i.e. sound that is directly proportional but inverted to the offending engine tones) over the car’s speakers, automakers can, in effect, make engine noise disappear. This approach is similar to noise-cancelling headphones, but targeted specifically at engine sounds. It's also more complicated, as it must take into account the unique acoustic properties of each vehicle model — properties that change when you open and close windows, add or remove passengers, and so on.

Now here's the thing: The active noise control (ANC) systems currently used by automakers require dedicated hardware. This adds cost and complexity. So the acoustics engineers at QNX have come up with a different approach: a software-based solution that can run on existing infotainment or audio hardware. The result is significantly lower Bill of Materials costs and an ANC solution that integrates better with other audio tasks, including hands-free calling.

Mind you, there are other benefits as well. But don't take it from me. Check out this blog post from my inestimable colleague Tina Jeffrey, who provides the full skinny on the new QNX Acoustics for Active Noise Control product and why it offers a better approach to traditional solutions.

Sneak preview of new QNX concept car!

A few minutes ago, QNX announced a new concept car, which it will showcase this week at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. Mind you, this isn't the company's first concept car. It has already created a couple of them, including a specially modified Chevrolet Corvette. If you ask me, the QNX concept team did a pretty cool job with the Vette. But this time, they went cooler.

Way cooler.

The new car, based on a Porsche Carrera, comes equipped with an array of features, including one-touch smartphone pairing, tablet-based rear-seat entertainment, high-definition hands-free calls, and a reconfigurable digital instrument cluster. But hey, you can read all that in the press release! So instead, let's take a virtual tour of the car, using some of the first available photos...

The door
To get started, hop into the driver's seat — but before you do, note the QNX logo deftly emblazoned on the driver-side door:



The cluster
Once you get behind the wheel, the first thing you'll see is the digital instrument cluster:



It's too bad I don't (yet) have a video of the cluster. Because if I did, you'd see how it can dynamically reconfigure itself — in response to voice commands, no less. It even communicates with the navigation system to display turn-by-turn directions. Cool, that.

The head unit
Now look to your right, and you'll see the head unit. Here is the unit's main screen, from which you can access all of the system's key functions:



And here's another screen, showing the system's media player:



The tablet integration
Now, I know you're just getting comfortable, but let's step out and take a bird's-eye view of the car. As you can see, it comes equipped with two BlackBerry PlayBook tablets to demonstrate backseat entertainment. But what you can't see is the very cool integration between the tablets and the head unit. For instance, the head unit provides front-seat control of the backseat entertainment — great for when you want to control what your kids are watching or listening to. Better yet, any device can play videos and music stored on any other device. The head unit, for example, could play what's stored on the right tablet, or vice versa. And it all happens seamlessly.



The cool stuff you can't see
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but these photos don't capture everything. For instance, the car also features:

One-touch Bluetooth pairing — Lets you pair a phone to the car simply by touching the phone to the car's NFC reader; no complicated menus to wade through

Conversational voice recognition — Lets you enter navigation destinations naturally, without having to use artificially constrained grammars

Text-to-speech integration — Can read aloud incoming email, SMS, or BBM messages

Ultra HD voice technology — Uses 48KHz full stereo bandwidth for clearer, better-sounding hands-free calls

The car also runs a ton of applications, including TCS hybrid navigation, Vlingo voice-to-text, Poynt virtual assistant, Weather Network, and streaming Internet radio from Pandora, NoBex, Slacker, and TuneIn.

The point
The point of the concept car isn't just to be cool, but to show automakers (and everyone else, for that matter) what's possible in next-gen car infotainment systems. More to the point, the car is designed to showcase the new QNX CAR 2 application platform, which introduces a new HTML5 framework to help automakers "keep their vehicles fresh with new content and features, address consumer demands for the latest mobile apps and services, and leverage a huge developer community." I'm quoting from the QNX CAR 2 press release, which also hit the newswire today. You can read it here.

The rest of the week
I expect the car will garner a fair amount of media coverage, so stay tuned: I'll post links as the week progresses. And while you're at it, subscribe to the QNX auto blog, which will also discuss what QNX is doing this week at CES.
 

THE LOUDEST QNX VIDEO EVER!!!

Sorry for shouting, but I wanted you to hear me above the racket. Mind you, if I were using a handsfree system based on QNX's acoustic processing suite, I wouldn't have to shout for you to hear me.

Confused yet? Just check out this video, which pits sonic mayhem against QNX technology, and all will be revealed:



In case you're wondering, the suite doesn't prevent you from hearing sirens and other important sounds. Rather, it helps ensure that the person on the other end of the call hears you clearly, and vice versa. This clarity can help lighten your cognitive load, so, if anything, you are more, not less, aware of what's happening around you. How cool is that?
 

New software release from QNX means less noise, less tuning for hands-free systems

This just in: QNX has released version 2.0 of its acoustic processing suite, a modular software library designed to maximize the quality and clarity of automotive hands-free systems.

The suite, used by 18 automakers on over 100 vehicle platforms, provides modules for both the receive side and the send side of hands-free calls. The modules include acoustic echo cancellation, noise reduction, wind blocking, dynamic parametric equalization, bandwidth extension, high frequency encoding, and many others. Together, they enable high-quality voice communication, even in a noisy automotive interior.

Highlights of version 2.0 include:

Enhanced noise reduction — Minimizes audio distortions and significantly improves call clarity. Can also reconstruct speech masked by low-frequency road and engine noise.

Automatic delay calculation and compensation — Eliminates almost all product tuning, enabling automakers to save significant deployment time and expense.

Off-Axis noise rejection — Rejects sound not directly in front of a microphone or speaker, allowing dual-microphone solutions to hone in on the person speaking for greater intelligibility.

To read the press release, click here. To learn more about the acoustic processing suite, visit the QNX website.


The QNX Aviage Acoustic Processing Suite can run on the general purpose processor, saving the cost of a DSP.