coreA2B: High-performance solution for testing audio performance on A2B® technologys

31. July 2019

Hands-free calling, voice recognition, personal audio zones and more: Providing high-quality audio is an important part of modern audio systems in vehicles. For this purpose, Analog Devices Inc. has developed Automotive Audio Bus^® (A2B^®) technology, optimized for delivering superior audio quality. Now, HEAD acoustics launches coreA²B, the A²B measurement technology: The new extension board for the multi-channel hardware platform labCORE is a high-performance solution for testing audio performance on the A²B bus technology. With coreA²B, the hardware platform connects for any A²B bus in four user-selectable modes: Master mode, Slave mode, Bus monitor mode and Proxy mode.

Proxy mode provides full control over all data on the bus

Proxy mode is the most skillful and thus primary mode of operation of coreA²B, because the extension board gains full control over all data on the bus. With this unique feature, the HEAD acoustics solution stands out significantly from the competition and comparable approaches on the market. In Proxy mode, coreA²B connects anywhere on the bus. Developers can manipulate all of the digital data on the bus via HEAD acoustics communication quality analysis software ACQUA as desired. Only Proxy mode enables to record, process and send user-defined audio and configuration data from and to any channel and any node while the bus itself remains fully operational. Furthermore, in conjunction with labCORE and ACQUA, this mode allows coreA²B to receive, mix and insert arbitrary signals to the bus without interference with the original, unaltered signal. coreA²B does not occupy the master or any slave node position, thus developers can use this mode also on fully equipped buses.

Another key characteristic of coreA²B is the Bus monitor mode. This mode is for analyzing data traffic on the bus without interference, e.g. when trouble-shooting an existing bus. The new extension board acts as a “neutral entity”, sniffing out audio and configuration data at any point on the bus.

Enables to act as Master and Slave node on the bus

Besides the above-mentioned modes, coreA²B can operate as a Master. In this mode, the new extension board replaces the original master (e.g. head unit) and acts as the new master for the bus. Developers can connect up to ten slave devices to coreA²B. The Slave mode, on the other side, enables the labCORE extension to act as a slave node on an existing bus. Developers are able to insert a node at any arbitrary position. In this mode, coreA²B can send and receive audio data as well as receive configuration data.

Moreover, developers can use coreA²B as an evaluation board for the A²B bus. In this case, it operates in Master mode and allows using all capabilities of analysing, filtering and manipulating signals that ACQUA offers.