Published in Mobiles

Qualcomm releases two home hub products

by on09 January 2018


SDA624 and SDA212 system SoCs support Android Things

Qualcomm has announced two Home Hub platforms supporting Google’s Android Things.

Based on the Qualcomm SDA624 and SDA212 system on chips (SoCs), the platforms are designed to help developers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) develop home hubs featuring Google services such as the Google Assistant.

Home hubs, which rely on cloud connectivity and edge compute capabilities for a variety of form factors, are a fast-growing industry.

Additionally, the platform also includes System-on-Modules (SoMs), development boards and reference designs.

This set of platforms should help OEMs to accelerate the design, development and commercialisation of a new generation of artificial intelligence (AI) -enabled consumer electronics products featuring rich digital assistant, touch display, video camera and immersive media.

Harman and Lenovo are currently working with Qualcomm on home products including the new Lenovo Smart Display using the Qualcomm Home Hub platforms.

Qualcomm product management senior vice president Raj Talluri said the design of AI-enabled home hubs can be a complex task, requiring OEMs to bring together connectivity, compute and security hardware and software elements quickly.

“Our Home Hub platforms using Android Things are able to integrate the necessary technologies, with support for voice interfaces, connectivity to several ecosystems, and cloud integration to enable a wide range of IoT devices,” he said.

The first of the Qualcomm Home Hub platforms for Android Things, based on the Qualcomm SDA212 SoC, is designed to enable home devices and appliances such as refrigerators, ovens and washing machines with digital assistant and audio capability. It brings together processing capability, connectivity options, voice user interfaces and premium audio technologies all in one platform, allowing OEMs to deliver comprehensively featured and highly intuitive devices to consumers.

The platform incorporates echo-cancellation, noise suppression and “barge-in” capability, supporting a voice user interface in loud or noisy environments even when users are far from the device.

The more feature-rich variant of the Qualcomm Home Hub platform for Android Things, based on the Qualcomm SDA624 SoC, adds edge computing capabilities while bringing multimedia, video camera, touch display and more to Android Things devices such as smart displays, home monitoring cameras, smart thermostats and security panels. With this variant, home hub devices can support advanced tasks including video conferencing, remote video monitoring, movie and video streaming and more.

Both platforms support Wi-Fi 802.11ac 2x2 MU-MIMO and Bluetooth connectivity using Qualcomm Technologies’ QCA9379 chip.

Qualcomm is working with distributors to design and make available certified SoMs, reference designs and development boards based on the Qualcomm Home Hub platform – for both variants based on SDA212 and SDA624. OEMs of all sizes will be able to purchase these platforms and use Android Things software to make products that provide consistent and familiar interactions, while adding custom Android Package Kits (APKs) to create differentiated user experiences.

Software and security updates can be pushed to installed devices through the Google Cloud, helping OEMs to quickly and efficiently add new features, fix bugs and security updates while reducing cost of product life cycle maintenance – even at global scale.

In addition to Google Assistant, devices based on the Android Things Qualcomm Home Hub platforms can use additional Google cloud-based services. Google Cast for audio allows consumers to easily stream music, while TensorFlow supports machine learning applications The variant using SDA624 supports video streaming using Google Cast, Video conferencing using Google Duo and Google Maps which can provide the latest traffic updates.

Last modified on 09 January 2018
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