Allwinner Launches New AI Voice Chip R329, Integrating Arm China’s “Zhouyi” AIPU

Smart speakers have always been a battleground for major internet giants as an important entry point in the early layout of smart homes.

According to incomplete statistics from I Love Audio Network: Apple, Amazon, Google, Baidu, HUAWEI, MI, Tmall Genie, Tencent, and others have launched multiple smart speaker products. I Love Audio Network has conducted detailed disassemblies of 56 smart speakers from 23 major brands. Since smart speakers are involved, the core component is undoubtedly the main control chip, which is akin to the heart of the smart speaker. Among the 56 smart speakers disassembled by I Love Audio Network, 15 products used Allwinner’s smart voice chip, which is a very high proportion. Allwinner Technology, established in 2007, is a leading designer of smart application processor SoCs, high-performance analog devices, and wireless interconnect chips. Allwinner has made early layouts in the smart speaker market, and by 2018, its R series products had already made certain breakthroughs. It is known that in 2015, iFlytek and JD.com launched the first domestic screenless smart speaker, JD Dingdong A1, and in 2018, Baidu released the first domestic smart speaker with a screen, Xiaodu at Home, both equipped with Allwinner’s processors. The most popular is the Allwinner R series; for example, the Allwinner R16 series processor is used in multiple smart speakers from brands like JD Dingdong, Meizu, Xiaomi, Sony, Tencent Tingting, and NetEase, indicating a high level of market recognition. In the 2019 disassembly by I Love Audio Network, it was found that products using the Allwinner second-generation smart voice application processor R328 were gradually increasing, including the Xiaodu Smart Speaker Play Youth Edition, Xiaomi Xiaoai Smart Speaker Play, Tmall Genie Fangtang R Smart Speaker, and Tmall Genie IN Sugar Smart Speaker, all of which are equipped with this SoC. Additionally, Allwinner has an R58 chip used in the Xiaodu at Home smart video speaker. As 2020 arrives, Allwinner Technology has launched the new highly integrated AI voice chip R329, with hardware specifications of: dual-core A53 1.5GHz, dual-core HIFI4 400MHz (2MB SRAM), Arm Zhouyi 0.256T AIPU; integrating multiple audio ADCs and audio DACs; with a built-in DDR design that is streamlined, making it a very powerful smart voice chip with AIPU. The Allwinner R329 can provide highly integrated application solutions for smart speakers and smart homes.

1. R329 Provides Powerful Hybrid Computing Power and Low Power Consumption Applications

1. Integrated dual-core A53 1.5GHz, providing strong general computing powerAs smart speakers and smart homes rapidly develop, they integrate more and more functions; the R329 adopts the A53 core, and from the comparison in the following figure, it is evident that it has a significant computational advantage over the A35 core; compared to the R328, the R329 provides 1.58 times the integer computing power and 1.94 times the floating-point computing power, providing sufficient foundational computing power for applications such as smart speakers and smart homes.

2. Integrated Arm China’s dedicated AI processor unit (AIPU) provides hardware core “heart”With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, it is becoming increasingly widespread in applications, and achieving local artificial intelligence on tens of billions of IoT devices is an inevitable trend for AI applications. Currently, edge devices are beginning to integrate more AI functions, such as ASR, NLP, TTS, etc., which has created an urgent demand for dedicated AI processors; on the other hand, traditional algorithms are gradually being replaced by AI algorithms, using deep learning for end-to-end algorithms, which outperform traditional noise reduction, echo cancellation, and keyword recognition algorithms, achieving higher recognition rates. To achieve this, it is necessary to further reduce the computational cost of artificial intelligence. Arm China has independently developed the “Zhouyi” platform, a highly adaptable and open general-purpose artificial intelligence platform, which mainly includes a new hardware processor—Artificial Intelligence Processing Unit (AIPU) and a complete software toolchain, as well as a runtime software framework Tengine. The Zhouyi AI platform also supports Arm NN, Android NN, and third-party runtime software, while also supporting Arm CPU, Mali GPU, and third-party hardware, significantly improving the productivity of AI application development.

The R329 integrates Arm China’s “Zhouyi” AIPU, leveraging advanced design, allowing the AIPU to achieve complete programmability for AI applications and excellent energy efficiency, providing ample AI computing power and low power consumption for voice AI applications; the R329 integrates AIPU with a maximum of 0.256TOPS computing power. The theoretical AI computing power is 25 times that of a single-core A7 1.2GHz and also 25 times that of a single-core HIFI4 600MHz, with significant advantages in low power consumption applications. R329 “Zhouyi” AIPU:

3. Integrated dual-core HIFI4 SRAM, providing high energy efficiency audio-specific computing powerIn traditional audio, DSP has a wide application ecosystem, and audio DSP has advantages of strong computing power and low power consumption compared to traditional CPUs; the R329 internally integrates DSP, using HIFI4 cores, which have a wide application ecosystem in speakers, mobile phones, and automotive systems; the DSP adopts a dual-core design, allowing one HIFI4 to perform audio pre-processing, such as noise reduction, echo cancellation, and wake word recognition, while another HIFI4 handles audio post-processing for audio decoding, sound enhancement, recording, etc.; the dual-core HIFI4 design maximizes audio computing power, achieving excellent energy efficiency solutions, reducing product heat during use, and providing a better experience. The R329 internally integrates SRAM, allowing algorithm model computing power to run in SRAM, which can significantly reduce power consumption compared to external DDR; by running small model wake word algorithms on HIFI4, the power consumption can be kept under 50mW, suitable for battery-powered solutions, with a 2500mA battery achieving a standby time of one week; the built-in hardware VAD can further reduce standby power consumption, extending standby time.

2. R329 Provides Powerful Audio Interfaces

1. Integrated multiple audio ADCs, providing multi-microphone voice pickup solutionsThe R329 internally integrates multiple audio ADCs, and through the built-in I2S and DMIC controllers, it can flexibly implement different microphone array solutions to meet various product design needs of customers. 2. Integrated dual audio DACs, providing high-quality audio output solutionsThe R329 internally integrates dual audio DACs, which can directly connect to analog amplifiers to achieve stereo and 2.1 channel output. Through the built-in I2S, it can achieve richer audio outputs such as 5.1 channel/7.1 channel; the high-performance DAC design features a 100dB high signal-to-noise ratio DAC, providing listeners with an amazing audio experience.

3. R329 High Integration Low-Cost Solutions

The R329 follows the design philosophy of the R328, with built-in DDR and dual LDOs, requiring only a few simple peripheral components to achieve a complete smart speaker solution; it provides supporting WIFI & BT chips and AUDIO ADC chips, offering customers a turnkey solution.

I Love Audio Network Summary

Compared to the Allwinner R328, the Allwinner R329 has received comprehensive upgrades: first is the core, the R329 integrates dual-core A53, 1.5GHz, providing stronger computing power for system and application development; secondly, the R329 integrates dual-core HIFI4 400MHz, providing audio-specific computing power; it integrates SRAM, significantly reducing power consumption; additionally, the R329 also integrates Arm China’s “Zhouyi” AIPU, which can provide ample computing power for deep learning voice recognition algorithms, greatly improving the efficiency of AI application developers, enabling artificial intelligence to be implemented on more IoT devices, accelerating the empowerment of the entire AI market. In terms of interfaces, the Allwinner R329 is also richer than the R328: the R329 integrates multiple audio ADCs and audio DACs, providing higher quality audio output solutions and multi-microphone voice pickup solutions for smart speakers. This allows brands to expand and customize more differentiated functions. Furthermore, in terms of integration, the R329 continues the design philosophy of the R328, with built-in DDR, dual LDOs, and supporting WIFI & BT chips, AUDIO ADC chips, resulting in a streamlined design that helps brand owners reduce product development costs and shorten development cycles. Overall, the Allwinner R329 is a highly competitive smart voice chip. Products using this chip may enhance product functions and experiences around portability, sound quality, call quality, low power consumption, AI intelligence, and edge computing, providing users with better smart speaker products. We may see them in the second half of this year, and I Love Audio Network will continue to monitor the disassemblies.

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