The BelaSigna R261 system-on-a-chip (SoC) from ON Semiconductor incorporates a highly optimized DSP with an advanced dual-microphone noise reduction algorithm to improve speech intelligibility in noise environments while preserving voice naturalness, according to the company.

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In applications such as smart phones, the BelaSigna R261 eliminates noise from the microphone signal while improving voice quality so users can be heard clearly in normal handset mode. While conferencing, the chip identifies and extracts speech within 6 meters from the surrounding noise in a 360° range. On Semiconductor says that this functionality enhances voice clarity and increases freedom of movement for users, even when they aren’t optimally aligned with the microphones or are far away.

The BelaSigna R261 is designed to offer a high level of integration, with a DSP, regulator, phase-locked loop (PLL), level translator, and memory, to reduce the bill-of-materials compared to other solutions. The integrated algorithm is customizable so the desired balance between noise reduction and voice quality can be tuned for each particular application. The solution also is designed to minimize the time and engineering effort required for design-in, as design teams don’t have to develop or acquire an algorithm or design complex support and interface circuitry.

The chip plugs directly into a digital microphone interface (DMIC) or into a baseband chip’s microphone inputs. It works with inexpensive omni-directional microphones in cost-sensitive OEM designs and offers greater flexibility in the placement of the microphones, the company says. Production-line tuning of the microphones is not required, saving further time and cost.

The BelaSigna R261 SoC from ON Semiconductor incorporates a highly optimized DSP with an advanced dual-microphone noise reduction algorithm to improve speech intelligibility in noise environments while preserving voice naturalness, according to the company.

The SoC comes in a 5.3-mm2 wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP) that occupies considerably less board space than alternative solutions, ON Semiconductor says, enabling it to fit into space-constrained portable electronics form factors. It targets voice capture applications including notebooks, mobile phones, and tablet computers. Also, it consumes less than 16 mA at 1.8 V, which is half the power consumption of competing solutions, the company says.

The BelaSigna R261 comes in a lead-free, RoHS-compliant (Restrictions on Hazardous Substances) WLCSP-30 and WLCSP-26 packages. It costs $2.00 each in 10,000-unit quantities.

On Semiconductor