Cadence licenses Fraunhofer AAC codecs

SAN JOSE, USA: Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Fraunhofer IIS, a leader in the innovation of audio codec technology, announced that Cadence has licensed the full suite of MPEG AAC codecs from Fraunhofer IIS for use with the Tensilica HiFi DSP.

Cadence plans to use the products to enhance the library of over 100 audio/voice software packages optimized for the HiFi DSP family. New standards include the AAC-ELD (Enhanced Low Delay) communication codec, which enables telephone conversations with the highest possible audio quality, and xHE-AAC (Extended High Efficiency AAC), which is the latest upgrade to the MPEG AAC family of codecs.

The xHE-AAC MPEG audio codec is the first to combine speech and general-purpose audio coding in a unified system, allowing for high quality delivery of any type of audio content at virtually any bit rate. In addition, the library adds full support for DRM Digital Radio Mondiale audio decoding according to the latest ETSI system specification, bundling xHE-AAC and HE-AACv2 for all DRM modes (DRM30, DRM+).

"The growth of multimedia applications and devices creates an opportunity for companies like Cadence to offer signal processors that can provide a richer experience for consumers through enhanced audio and speech quality," said Harald Popp, head of the Business department in the Audio & Multimedia division of Fraunhofer IIS. "Combined with Tensilica's extremely efficient HiFi Audio/Voice DSP architecture, customers can expect a wide range of codecs especially for home entertainment, automotive and mobile multimedia."

"Fraunhofer is the co-developer and innovation leader in AAC technology," said Larry Przywara, director of audio/voice IP marketing, Cadence. "This agreement with Fraunhofer allows us to offer our customers the broadest range of AAC codecs available on our HiFi product family, further enhancing our library of over 100 software codecs optimized for the HiFi architecture."