
AMBE-2000 Vocoder Chip
User’s Manual Version 3.0
page 8
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2 AMBE -2000 Application Design Overview
2.1 Basic Operation
In its simplest model, the AMBE-2000 can be viewed as two separate components, the
Encoder
and the
Decoder
. The
Encoder receives an 8kHz. sampled stream of
speech
data (16-bit linear, 8-bit Alaw, or 8-bit ulaw) and outputs a stream of
channel
data at the desired rate. Conversely the Decoder receives a stream of
channel
data and synthesizes a stream of
speech
data. The timing for the interfaces for the AMBE-2000 Encoder and Decoder are fully asynchronous.
Figure 2-A Basic Operation
AMBE-2000
Encoder
8kHz Speech Data
Decoder
8kHz Speech Data
AMBE-2000
Decoder
8kHz Speech Data
Encoder
8kHz Speech Data
Compressed Data @ 2400-9600bps
Compressed Data @ 2400-9600bps
Typically the speech interface is an external A/D-D/A chip. The format of the incoming and outgoing speech data streams are
coupled, that is to say they must be the same format (16-bit linear, 8-bit Alaw, or 8-bit
μ
law). The channel interface is
commonly (but not limited to) an 8 or 16 bit microprocessor or other suitable ‘glue logic’ hardware capable of performing the
rudimentary formatting functions between the AMBE-2000 channel format and the format of the system channel under
design.
Optional functions of the chip, such as echo cancellation, voice activation/detection, power mode control, data/FEC rate
selection, etc. are controlled either through hardware control pins (see Section 0) and/or through the decoder command
interface (see Section 4) Data sent into the decoder for function control purposes is distinguished from the data to be decoded
into speech through a channel format which is described in Section 4.
2.2
Initial Design Considerations
Some of the initial design considerations the application engineer will face are the following:
Choice of A/D-D/A chip.
Choice of Channel Interface.
Speech and FEC Rates.
2.2.1
A/D – D/A Overview
The choice of the A/D-D/A chip is critical to designing a system with superior voice quality. Given that Alaw and
μ
law
companding chips are already incorporating some compression to reduce the number of bits per sample, it is recommended
that, when possible, a 16-bit linear device be used for maximum voice quality. When choosing a device, pay particular
attention to Signal to Noise ratios and Frequency Responses of any filters that may be present on the analog front end of these
chips. The Alaw and
μ
law interfaces are also provided for the design engineer who is trying to fit to pre-existing conditions or
is under other cost type restraints.