TI DSP drives Harman/Becker infotainment system in 2005 S-Class Mercedes

Texas Instruments said its Aureus audio digital signal processor DSP (TMS320DA610) and analog components are inside the HARMAN/BECKER infotainment system and the Harman Kardon amplifier in the 2005 S-Class Mercedes-Benz. Harman Kardon is using TI's processor technology to offer software-based Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) encryption and decryption for multichannel audio transmission over the Media Oriented System Transport(MOST) multimedia network.

The HARMAN/BECKER head unit and Harman Kardon audio system offers 600 Watts, 13 channels, 14 speakers, a memory card slot, and MP3 compatibility. The audio system supports DTS CD and DVD video and DVD audio formats. The Aureus DSP-enabled Harman Kardon to transmit DTCP-protected, multichannel DVD audio over the MOST bus. It also enabled Harman Kardon to implement a Logic7 technology-based surround processing system, which is designed to ensure that each listener in the car is always in the "sweet spot."

"Content-protected multichannel transmission over the MOST network was needed to eliminate quality degradation due to stereo down-mixing," said Hans-Juergen Nitzpon, manager of advanced signal processing at HARMAN/BECKER. "TI's technology enabled us to avoid creating custom chips for each product."

TI's DA610 is a 225 MHz floating point DSP that delivers 1,800 million instructions per second (MIPS) and features 32/64-bit native processing. Analog components in the Harman Kardon sound system include bus switches and a processor supervisory circuit.