Multimedia Processor Streamlines Infotainment Architectures
Providing automakers with the flexibility to address challenges such as regulatory guidelines and mounting system complexity, NXP Semiconductors' SAF9800 automotive audio and radio processor helps simplify infotainment architectures. The solution integrates analog radio (AM and FM) and AI/ML-enabled audio processing into a highly flexible single-chip solution that combines analog radio reception and high-performance audio processing.
This approach consolidates functions that traditionally required multiple discrete radio and audio components into a single, scalable device. The SAF9800 also leverages AI-driven acoustic source separation technology to optimize in-cabin microphone data, isolating critical sounds like vocal commands, mechanical failures, or emergency sirens from background noise.
The processor combines the long-lifecycle building blocks of infotainment such as broadcast radio and digital audio with artificial-intelligence/machine-learning (AI/ML)-powered audio capabilities. It ultimately enhance the in-car experience, enable in-cabin audio sensing, and support functional audio use-cases.
The SAF9800 integrates a HiFi 5 audio DSP with integrated neural-network processing capabilities, along with NXP’s hardware-based biquad accelerators. This combination provides more than 10X audio processing performance compared to legacy solutions.
Designed for software-defined architectures, the solution supports feature scalability through software to configure, upgrade, and differentiate radio and audio capabilities without changing hardware. NXP also offers support, such as its latest generation of AM denoising technology (EVAM-lite), on the new SAF9800 product series to address signal interference challenges.
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About the Author
Alix Paultre
Editor-at-Large, Microwaves & RF
Alix is Editor-at-Large for Microwaves & RF.
An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the U.S. military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications, most recently as Editor-in-Chief of Power Systems Design.
Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.