Cadence Tensilica HiFi Audio Tunneling for Android Cuts Audio Processing Power by Up to 14X

Innovative new technology doubles smartphone audio playback time

SAN JOSE, Calif. --Feb 13, 2014 -- Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), a leader in global electronic design innovation, today announced the availability of Cadence® Tensilica® HiFi Audio Tunneling for Android™. As the industry’s first Android-compatible technology for a licensed digital signal processor (DSP), Tensilica HiFi Audio Tunneling for Android takes full advantage of enhancements in the recent KitKat release to prolong battery life in smartphones and mobile devices. The solution can cut audio processing power by up to 14X, which results in double the smartphone playback time. KitKat audio tunneling was developed based on input from the Low Power Android Consortium (LPAC), which was initially spearheaded by Tensilica, now a part of the Cadence IP Group.

“With battery life being so critical to smartphones and other mobile devices, the Tensilica HiFi Audio Tunneling for Android is crucial to providing the most power-efficient Android audio solution,” said Larry Przywara, Cadence’s director of audio/voice intellectual property (IP) marketing. “Until now, Android devices have had to run audio on the host processor or on an OEM proprietary offload framework that still required the encoded and decoded audio streams to be managed by the host CPU. Cadence, in cooperation with other companies, worked with Google to develop audio tunneling to the DSP in Android to solve this problem. To maximize the value of this feature in the new KitKat release of Android, we’ve developed the Tensilica HiFi Audio Tunneling for Android so that audio processing can now be fully offloaded from the host, significantly reducing power consumption and improving both battery life and time to market.”

The Tensilica HiFi Audio Tunneling for Android can be used with any of Cadence’s HiFi Audio/Voice DSP IP cores. By using any of the popular HiFi DSP cores, designers can take advantage of over 125 software packages that have been ported to the HiFi architecture by Cadence and over 55 partners. For more information, visit http://ip.cadence.com/ipportfolio/tensilica-ip/audio.

About Cadence

Cadence enables global electronic design innovation and plays an essential role in the creation of today’s integrated circuits and electronics. Customers use Cadence software, hardware, IP, and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer systems. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry. More information about the company, its products, and services is available at www.cadence.com.