Ethernet TCP/IP-Based Audio Interface for DSP System Verification

With advances in digital technologies, development and verification of DSP audio systems are becoming more and more challenging. Due to high communication requirements introduced with surround audio channel- and latest object-based technologies such as DTS:X and Dolby Atmos, computer's sound card capabilites are expanded with an external audio interface for exchanging high-resolution content between computer and DSP device under test. In this article, the Ethernet TCP/IP-based audio interface solution is proposed. The main idea was to come with the cost-effective communication solution using standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3 hardware, free open-source network stacks, and finally implementing TCP application protocol in point-to-point topology instead of porting custom UDP streaming protocol. Experiments conducted in order to observe overall performance of the system indicate that expected throughput is achieved, but at the cost of long delays and high memory consumption.