- First demonstration by EMASS of AI function fusion on ECS-DoT
- Keyword detection and voice recognition running together
- Sub-milliwatt always-on operation
- Keyword-detection model a compact 8-bit network
Advanced semiconductor company Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) has announced its EMASS chip has had a breakthrough demonstration in real-time keyword detection and voice recognition fused as two AI functions.
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Notably, EMASS has been able run the two functions entirely on its ECS-DoT edge AI co-processor.
Both capabilities run at sub-milliwatt average power and around four ms latency directly on ECS-DoT, bringing accurate, low-latency voice intelligence to computing devices such as tablets and PCs while the host processor remains asleep until a command or an authorised user is detected.
CEO of semiconductor technologies, Mark Goranson, said voice is becoming a primary control surface for computing devices.
He noted that manufacturers are increasingly seeking those experiences to run on-device for responsiveness, privacy and reliability, rather than depending on the cloud, with the voice AI agents market projected to reach US47.5 billion by 2034.
“Today we are demonstrating two AI voice models, keyword detection and voice recognition, running together on ECS-DoT at sub-milliwatt average power, which is significant in its own right,” he said.
“But the bigger point is what it proves about the platform: ECS-DoT is multi-sensor and multimodal, so the same always-on engine is built to run image and other sensor models on these devices too. That provides optionality for device makers to add layered, low-power intelligence across voice, vision and beyond, while the main processor stays asleep.”
Delivering always-on, instantly responsive voice processing has traditionally involved a three-way trade-off between power, latency and privacy:
• Power: keeping microphones and a capable processor continuously active delivers responsiveness, but drains the battery and adds thermal load.
• Latency: duty-cycled and wake-on-demand schemes preserve power, but introduce delay and depend on repeatedly waking higher-power processors.
• Privacy: an always-listening microphone pipeline that processes audio off the sensor creates an always-on privacy surface.
EMASS has demonstrated two complementary voice capabilities running entirely on the ECS-DoT edge AI co-processor. The first is keyword detection: recognising spoken commands and wake words in real time. The second is voice recognition: confirming whether the person speaking is the enrolled, authorised user.
Nanoveu acquired Singapore-based Embedded AI Systems (EMASS) to develop ultra-low-power, Edge-AI System-on-Chips (SoCs).
NVU is down 4.00% to 4.8¢. Mkt cap $22.28M.
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