Audio Codec Switching in the Linux Kernel for Automotive Edge Devices
In order to maximize battery life and guarantee safety-critical audio delivery, power-constrained automotive edge devices need to seamlessly switch between audio codecs (for example, Opus for high-quality infotainment to G.729 for low-power emergency calls). Because the Linux kernel's ALSA sound core does not have runtime codec switching, real-time audio is disrupted by >100 ms dropouts and 10-15% CPU spikes. This talk presents a kernel-level framework that achieves <2 mW power overhead and <15 ms latency, which is not possible with some automotive solutions. We address the low-power automotive audio challenges by introducing a new ALSA control interface, a power-aware codec scheduler, and triple-buffering in SoC drivers, which are improved by device tree profiles.
Rutvij Trivedi
With over a decade in Embedded Product Engineering and Software Development, I've driven complete product lifecycles for Fortune 500 companies across diverse sectors like Automotive, Healthcare, and IoT. My expertise spans a broad range of processors (NXP, TI, Qualcomm, Rockchip), firmware, Linux kernel/drivers, Android BSP, and Audio & Video, multimedia. I excel in board bring-up and optimizing complex embedded systems.