Nordic powered TV streamer delivers high quality, reliable audio to Bluetooth LE or Auracast enabled devices

Swiss embedded electronics designer, Arendi, has unveiled a Bluetooth® LE Audio (LE Audio) and AuracastTM broadcast audio TV streamer, providing high quality streamed audio from a TV, stereo, PC, or similar device to an end user's Bluetooth LE- or Auracast-enabled headphones, speakers, or hearing aids. The 'Arendi Auracast TV Streamer' employs Nordic Semiconductor's dual core nRF5340 SoC and nRF21540 RF front-end module (FEM) to deliver low power, long range, reliable wireless connectivity with improved audio quality.

Current TV streamers use proprietary RF links to respect the limited energy of a hearing aid battery," says Thomas Rupp, CTO, Arendi AG. "With the release of the Arendi Auracast TV Streamer, a manufacturer independent, Bluetooth LE low power solution is now available.

Audio streaming over Bluetooth LE

LE Audio is the next generation of Bluetooth Audio, delivering True Wireless Stereo (TWS) and making audio streaming over Bluetooth LE possible. It also significantly reduces power consumption compared to Classic Bluetooth - extending battery life or allowing the use of smaller batteries for the same run time. Auracast enables that same audio source-such as the Arendi Auracast TV Streamer-to broadcast audio streams to an unlimited number of devices. This means, for example, a wearer of hearing aids can hear the audio stream with perfect clarity, while their friends and family members can simultaneously listen at a comfortable volume directly via the audio source, or through their own Auracast-compliant hearing aids, headphones, or earbuds.

We have for a long time had a good experience working with Nordic, but its early support for LE Audio made our decision to use its solutions an easy one

Nordic's nRF5340 SoC integrates powerful dual Arm® Cortex®-M33 processors; a high performance application processor capable of DSP and Floating Point (FP) with 1 MB Flash and 512 KB RAM, and a fully programmable, ultra low power network processor with 256 KB Flash and 64 KB RAM. The dedicated application processor provides ample computational resources to run the Arendi Auracast TV Streamer's audio codec - ensuring clear sound and stable transmission.

Long range and reliable transmission

The inclusion of Nordic's nRF21540 FEM in Arendi's TV streamer allows for higher transmission power (+ 20 dBm instead of +3 dBm for the nRF5340 SoC), resulting in longer range and more reliable transmission between the TV and the receiving device, even when the user, for example a wearer of hearing aids, turns their head away from the audio source.

We have for a long time had a good experience working with Nordic, but its early support for LE Audio made our decision to use its solutions an easy one," continues Rupp. "Specifically, we selected the nRF5340 SoC for our TV streamer because of the dual core performance needed for audio codecs, and the nRF21540 RF FEM for the improved transmission power.

The nRF Connect SDK with its software stack that supports LE Audio was also invaluable during development and was another of the main reasons behind our decision to use Nordic.

• About Arendi AG
• About Nordic Semiconductor