Pipeline Stage 1

Stage1 is typically the first stage in an audio pipeline. It orchestrates delay alignment, Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), and Adaptive Delay Estimation/Canceller (ADEC), and propagates per-frame metadata downstream.

Overview

The Stage1 component in lib_voice integrates the Acoustic Echo Canceller, Automatic Delay Estimation and Correction, and delay buffering to provide echo-cancelled audio with automatic delay correction. Stage1 operates at a fixed 16 kHz sample rate.

Stage1 manages the transition between normal AEC operation and delay estimation mode, applies delay corrections to maintain optimal AEC performance, and generates metadata (reference energy, correlation factors, and activity flags) for downstream processing stages.

Two pipeline architectures are supported:

• Standard Architecture: Processes multiple microphone channels through both AEC and IC sequentially

• Alternating Architecture: Selectively enables AEC or IC based on reference signal presence, reducing memory requirements and enabling longer AEC filter tails

Signal Representation

Stage1 processes audio on a frame-by-frame basis. Each frame consists of 15 ms of audio (240 samples at 16 kHz), with input and output data in fixed-point 32-bit 1.31 format.

Inputs:

• Microphone (Y) channels: Up to 2 channels of microphone input

• Reference (X) channels: Up to 2 channels of reference (loudspeaker) input

Outputs:

• Echo-cancelled audio: Same number of channels as microphone input

• Metadata: Maximum reference energy, AEC correlation factors, reference activity flag

Standard Architecture

In the Standard Architecture pipeline form, all the modules are enabled and called sequentially. This is shown in Fig. 16.

Fig. 16 The Standard Architecture Pipeline.

The AEC is configured for 2 mic input channels, 2 reference input channels, 10 phase main filter and a 5 phase shadow filter. The IC is configured for 2 mic input channels, and 10 phase main filter.

When ADEC goes in delay estimation mode, the AEC gets reconfigured as a 1 mic input channel, 1 reference input channel, 30 main filter phases and no shadow filter, as described in the Automatic Delay Estimation and Correction documentation. During this, the IC remains active.

Once the new delay has been measured and the delay correction is applied, the AEC gets configured back to its original configuration and starts adapting and cancellation. The AEC stage generates the echo cancelled version of the mic input that is then sent for processing through the IC.

Alternating Architecture

In this pipeline form, the AEC and the IC frame processing are selectively enabled and disabled based on the presence of reference input signal. This is shown in Fig. 17.

Acoustic Echo Cancellation is performed only if activity is detected on the reference input channels and disabled otherwise.

Interference Cancellation is performed only when AEC is disabled so in the absence of reference channel activity and disabled otherwise.

This means that only 1 microphone signal requires processing by the AEC, reducing the number of filters required. This saves memory, which can then be used to increase the AEC filter tail length. This can improve AEC performance in more reverberant environments.

Fig. 17 The Alternating Architecture Stage 1.

When reference audio is detected, the AEC is enabled and the IC is disabled. The AEC processes one microphone input to remove any echo from the reference signal. This is shown in Fig. 18. Note the VNR output from the IC is still generated so that it can be used by the AGC.

Fig. 18 The Alternating Architecture Stage 1 when the reference signal is present.

When no reference audio is detected, the AEC is disabled and the IC is enabled. The IC processes both microphone inputs to remove any unwanted noise sources in the environment. This is shown in Fig. 19.

Fig. 19 The Alternating Architecture Stage 1 when no reference signal is present.

The AEC is configured for 1 mic input channel, 2 reference input channels, 15 phase main filter and a 5 phase shadow filter giving an extended tail length for highly reverberant environments.

When ADEC goes in delay estimation mode, the AEC gets reconfigured as a 1 mic input channel, 1 reference input channel, 30 main filter phases and no shadow filter, as described in the Automatic Delay Estimation and Correction documentation. In the absence of activity on the reference channels, when the AEC is disabled, the microphone input is copied directly to the output of the AEC.

Alternating architecture is disabled by default (see ALT_ARCH_MODE). To enable it, define ALT_ARCH_MODE to 1 in the application’s CMakeLists.txt.

Usage

Before starting processing, Stage1 must be initialised by calling stage1_init(). This sets up internal state for the provided runtime AEC configurations and ADEC settings.

Once initialised, call stage1_process_frame() for each input frame.

Refer to Pipeline example to see Stage1 integrated into an audio pipeline.

Parameters

The key Stage 1 parameters are highlighted below:

• REF_ACTIVE_THRESHOLD_DB - This macro is used in alt arch mode, and sets the threshold for determining whether the reference signal is active, in decibels relative to full scale. When the maximum value of the reference signal in a frame is below this threshold for HOLD_AEC_LIMIT_SECONDS, the AEC will be bypassed and the IC will be enabled If the reference signal is above this level, the AEC will be enabled and the IC bypassed. Note this parameter is shared with the AEC module.

• HOLD_AEC_LIMIT_SECONDS - This macro is used in alt arch mode, and sets the limit in seconds for which AEC is kept enabled after detecting reference as inactive. This is to avoid toggling of AEC and IC when the reference signal is fluctuating around the reference active threshold.