Products

Avnera makes ICs and modules for both wireless transmitters and receivers for manufacturers to build into their products.

Avnera’s Innovations: Sound Quality, Cost, Ease Of Use

Sound quality – Traditional wireless audio technologies are known for having poor sound quality because their RF systems were designed to transmit data, not real-time audio. If a packet is dropped in a data transmission system it’s just resent by the transmitter, which is fine for data applications but can create interruptions in music, as well as noise, clicks, and pops.

To address this problem Avnera created a real-time streaming transmission technology designed specifically for music. Avnera incorporates six sound quality innovations that reconstruct corrupted packets when they arrive rather than just re-sending them, improving signal reception and eliminating interference problems.

• Avnera employs audio specific forward error correction to let the receiver repair lost data due to bursts of interference. This feature allows the system to forgo the typical retransmission regime used in many wireless systems.
• Avnera also employs psycho-acoustic techniques and time dispersion to spread out errors in time. These features allow the AvneraAudio system to conceal longer bursts of interference.
• Avnera has a small spectrum footprint in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. This feature allows the system to use any of 40 possible channels, making the system more resilient to interference in addition to making it less of an interferer to other systems.
• Avnera’s technology system uses a dynamic frequency selection algorithm to choose the optimal channel for communication. This feature monitors the entire 2.4 GHz spectrum for interference and seamlessly switches channels if required while maintaining a perfect audio link.
• Avnera’s chips support two separate antennas and chooses the one that is sending/receiving the best signal, switching instantaneously. This feature gives Avnera superior performance in indoor and in-motion (e.g. headphone and headset) applications.
• Avnera uses dynamic power control to allow the radio frequency amplifier to increase power if the receiver is far away, or decrease if it’s close. This feature makes the system very power efficient and less of an interferer to other wireless systems which is critical in a crowded usage environment.

Reduced cost – The AvneraAudio-branded technology provides CD-quality audio performance at a 30 percent lower system cost than competitors. The costs are lower because Avnera has integrated all of the different chips normally used in a wireless audio device on to a single chip. This integration drives down the cost of the entire system, ensures audio quality, and accelerates time to market. For instance, a typical wireless stereo headset requires eight chips and 131 separate parts. An Avnera-based solution requires just 2 chips and 65 parts.

Ease of use – Many wireless systems are difficult to use because they require you to download software, install drivers, etc. Avnera’s products are plug-and-play. You plug them in and they work – no software installation, no profiles. Many wireless systems are little better than wired systems because of their short range. Avnera-enabled products have 50% more range at the same output power as other wireless products and aren’t affected by other wireless devices.