Using a "DSP-free" design for VOIP-enabled end-points

by David Brown and Michael Ward, Trinity Convergence

While ever-increasing volume demands help to drive some economies of scale, OEMs and ODMs are also looking to minimize product costs without sacrificing features or call quality.

VoIP end-points have been traditionally designed using a “tandem processor” architecture, which includes both a general-purpose applications processor and a DSP (Figure 1). The DSP handles the packet voice processing (voice encode/decode, tone generation and detection, echo cancellation, noise reduction, etc.), while the applications processor manages the VoIP call control protocol and user interface. This architecture has a number of drawbacks when attempting to address the design requirements of high-volume, low-cost VoIP end-points. For example: the need for both an applications processor and a DSP adds cost to the overall product; two discrete devices have a larger footprint than a single device; and the tandem processor architecture increases the overall power consumption.

Click here to read more ....