XMOS and Revolabs have announced that the Executive Elite, Revolabs’ four- and eight-channel wireless microphone systems, feature Audio-Video-Bridging (AVB) functionality powered by the xCORE multicore microcontroller from XMOS.
The Executive Elite system comprises a range of microphones and supporting units, and is designed for easy installation and set up while delivering superior audio quality. The provision of AVB functionality using XMOS’ xCORE technology allows the Executive Elite interoperability with AVB-equipped third-party products, ensuring a future-proofed and flexible system based on open IEEE standards.
“We needed to implement a solution into the Executive Elite that would provide universal communications with USB-ready audio, the AVB standard, and daisy chaining capability,” said Holger Stoltze, senior product manager, Revolabs. “As the AVB standard becomes more widely adopted, we wanted to ensure the Executive Elite was equipped to keep pace with this trend.”
With its new distributed architecture, the Executive Elite’s base unit can be separated from its remote antenna without compromising high-quality audio. The system also features a receiver and a range of adapters and microphone types including omnidirectional, directional, gooseneck, and wearable microphones, which can be ‘mixed and matched.’ Moreover the Executive Elite systems employ Revolabs’ OTA (Over the Air) technology, allowing microphones in proximity to automatically optimise available audio channels.
“By including both USB and AVB connectivity, XMOS’ xCORE devices give us the flexibility we need to tailor communications for our DSP on the remote antenna of the Executive Elite,” commented Tim Root, CTO, Revolabs. “We took the core code and layered ours on top for quicker and easier implementation. As well as providing future-proofed programmability, XMOS also provided great support during the development process.”
XMOS xCORE multicore microcontrollers, which the Executive Elite system leverages, combine timing-deterministic performance with low latency and programmable digital I/O flexibility. This makes them ideal for processor-intensive, real-time applications that benefit from parallel multitasking, such as AVB, general DSP tasks and digital audio interfacing. Programmed entirely in high-level C software, XMOS microcontrollers also offer developers the freedom to implement control and data processing functions as well as any mix of peripheral interfaces.
“With its concurrency, low latency, and predictable timing, xCORE is the perfect platform for a software-defined implementation of this kind of AVB functionality,” commented Laurence Strong, director of Audio Products, XMOS. “We’re very proud to have been selected for this product. The Executive Elite presents proof of the strengths of AVB; an open standards-based solution that offers the ultimate in convenience alongside a highly-differentiated feature set and high-quality audio.”
