webrtc AEC algorithm - webrtc

I have made a software that uses WebRTC DSP libraries (AEC, NS, AGC, VAD). Now I need to know what algorithm uses each one to write my Master´s Thesis, but I don't find any information about that.
Someone knows the algorithms of this libraries, specially the Acoustic Echo Cancellation (like for example NLMS, that I know it's commonly used, but I don't know if WebRTC also uses it).
I've tryed to know the algorithm looking into the source code, but I don't understand enough.
Thanks in advance!

I've just successfully using standalone WebRTC aecm module for android. and there's some tips:
1.the most important is the thing called "delay", you can find the definition of it in dir:
..\src\modules\audio_processing\include\audio_processing.h
quote:
Sets the |delay| in ms between AnalyzeReverseStream() receiving a
far-end frame and ProcessStream() receiving a near-end frame
containing the corresponding echo. On the client-side this can be
expressed as delay = (t_render - t_analyze) + (t_process - t_capture)
where,
t_analyze is the time a frame is passed to AnalyzeReverseStream() and t_render is the time the first sample of the same frame is
rendered by the audio hardware.
t_capture is the time the first sample of a frame is captured by the audio hardware and t_pull is the time the same frame is passed to
ProcessStream().
if you wanna use aecm module in standalone mode, be sure you obey this doc strictly.
2.AudioRecord and AudioTrack sometimes block(due to minimized buffer size), so when you calc the delay, don't forget adding blocking time to it.
3.if you don't know how to compile aecm module, you may learn Android NDK first, and the module src path is
..\src\modules\audio_processing\aecm
BTW, this blog may help a lot in native dev. and debuging.
http://mhandroid.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/using-eclipse-for-android-cc-development/
http://mhandroid.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/using-eclipse-for-android-cc-debugging/
hope this may help you.

From the code inspection of AGC algorithm in WebRtc, it matches closely with the description in http://www.ti.com/lit/wp/spraal1/spraal1.pdf

It's based on NLMS, but has a variable step length (mu).

Related

Synchronizing USRP source blocks - multiple B2xx devices

I am trying to create a synchronized usrp source block in gnu radio consisting of multiple B210 USRP devices. Lang: C++.
From what I have found I need to:
Instantiate multiple multi_usrp_sptr as each B210 requires one and multiple B210 devices cannot be addressed by using single sptr
Use external frequency and PPS sources - an option that can be selected from block or set programmatically
Synchronize re/tuning to achieve repeatable phase offset between nodes - this can be achieved using timed commands API https://kb.ettus.com/Synchronizing_USRP_Events_Using_Timed_Commands_in_UHD
Synchronize sample streams using time_spec property issue_stream cmd
The problem is how should I insert these timed commands and set time_spec of stream in GNU radio block or gr-uhd libs?
I looked into the gr-uhd folder where the sink/source code resided and found functions that could be altered.
Unfortunately I don't know how to copy or export this library to do these modifications and later compile to insert my custom blocks to GNU Radio, because gr-uhd seems to be built in and compiled at GR installation.
I attempted coping and then making the lib but that's not the way - it didn't succeed. Should I add my own source block via gr_modtool and insert only the commands I need?
Compatibility with uhd and its functions apart from just adding a few lines would be advantageous not to write the source from scratch.
Please advise
Edit
Experimental flowchart, based on Marcus Müller suggestion:
Experimental usrp synchronization flow
The problem is how should I insert these timed commands and set time_spec of stream in GNU radio block or gr-uhd libs?
For a USRP sink: add tags containing dictionaries with the correct command times to the streams. The GNU Radio API docs have information on how these dictionaries need to look like. The time field is what you need to set with an appropriate value.
For a USRP source: Use the set_start_time on the uhd_usrp_source block; use the same dictionaries described above to issue commands like tuning, gain setting at a coordinated time.
I was trying to find a proper way of synchronizing the USRPs via tags.
There are a few issues I came across in this approach:
Timed commands require the knowledge of the current moment in time, which is done via usrp.get_time_now(), even though I would request the USRP to give the time through tags I would have to somehow extract it from the output. (make some kind of loop and proper triggering) (source: https://kb.ettus.com/Synchronizing_USRP_Events_Using_Timed_Commands_in_UHD) or maybe plan everything not in a relative way - using absolute values instead of offsets. I have seen an approach to regularly reset the sense of time each PPS (set it to 0.0) and maybe then setting time of commands within range of 0.0-1.0 would be acceptable. Then the loop for reading and inserting time into commands would also be redundant.
I didn't found a way to create dicts in GR via blocks to make the solution scalable (without writing a few lines of code in textbox) or writing OOT block
In the end there is so little information to tell what kind of solution is most appropriate (PDU, events, are tags still relevant in GR
?), and the docs are so very scarce, that after some mailing I decided to add a simple class that inherits from the main top_bock.py and after instantiation of top_block it calls a few functions to synchronize the devices. This kind of solution is not the most flexible one, and the parent class top_block.py has to be called through the inheriting one, but it enables an easy programming interface.
Soon I will add an example of the code used in inheriting class just in case.
If there is any more neat, dynamic or scalable solution please let me know or point me to sources.

Gnuradio software source block

I'm currently trying to do some real-time signal-processing and I would like to use "gnuradio". I will be processing multiple channels of EEG which come in trough a custom interface (namely "Lab Streaming Layer"; LSL) in python.
Now my question is if there is an existing block already where you can kind of "push" samples into the signal-processing-graph during run-time? The only blocks I've found so far offer support for audio hardware, TCP-streams and files.
You will have to write your own block; that can be done in Python or C++, whatever is better for your case.
The GNU Radio Guided Tutorials (you should really read them in order from 1 to 5, at least) do explain how to do that.
Because we all know that people are lazy at reading, here's a rough preview of what you'll learn:
make a new Out-of-tree module: gr_modtool newmod sensorinterface, change into the newly generated directory: cd gr-sensorinterface
add a new source block: gr_modtool add eeg_sensor_source; the block type you'll want is "source"; you will be asked to fill in some block details.
edit the generated source file (in lib/ or python/, depending on which language you chose:
add a proper io signature: your output will probably have the size of float
edit the central work function; add code to get new samples, and copy those to the output_items buffer.
The guided tutorials are really nice!
The most flexible method is to write your own GNU Radio block, but there are several options for getting data into a flow graph without using any custom blocks. (Naming from the Python perspective.)
gnuradio.blocks.message_source, which takes data from a gnuradio.gr.msg_queue.
You can use a gnuradio.blocks.file_descriptor_source where the file descriptor is one end of a pipe.

Difference between uboot-uart.bin and uboot.bin?

I am trying to flash the very first u-boot binary file (uboot.bin) into blank NOR flash of a brand new blank board which has marvel 370 soc(ARM) using Teraterm(xmodem/ymodem/zmodem)
When I compile the uboot, I get two binaries like uboot-uart.bin and uboot.bin.
What is the difference between two binaries?
I have been instructed to make some dip switch changes and then load uboot-uart.bin first into the prototype board.
From manual I understand that the dip switch setting is to set "Boot from Uart" to Boot source list.
I am new to embedded and want to learn more about this from u-boot perspective. Where can I learn about this?
Would also like to know what these xmodem,ymodem,zmodem things are?
And would also like to learn how to customize u-boot for a custom board using marvel 370 soc(ARM)?
I would be happy if someone can point to good resources.
XModem itself is a quite simple protocol which is meant to send files over a serial link it is explained in detail here.
Most Marvell ARM-Chips in the last couple of years have the possibility to upload a binary via UART using the XModem protocol. There are two ways to do that.
By sending a special sequence to the chip during bootup (which can be done without any changes to the bootstrap options).
By setting up the bootstrap options accordingly (via DIP-Switches in your case)
In both cases the chip will then initiate an Xmodem-download. TeraTerm should have an option to upload files via the xmodem protocol. IIRC it is available under File/Transfer/XModem/Send.
If you know just send your "uboot-uart.bin" file to the Armada 370 (which will take some time). The SoC will now boot the file just like if it was loaded from NAND or any other source.
The only difference between your uboot-uart.bin and uboot.bin is most probably the special header which has to be put in front of the actual uboot-binary, it contains the bootdevice type the image was meant for, the address in memory where the image should be loaded to and a lot of board specific settings. The exact structure and content is usually explained in the very excellent datasheets from Marvell.
For customizing uboot I can only suggest to dig into the code provided by Marvell and change it according to your own board. You'll find the board specific files under boards/Marvell.

VGA programming without using interrupt (only registers)

I want to develop a VGA graphics driver (for Linux(Ubuntu)) with support for the basic primitives such as putpixel, drawline, fillrect and bitblt. I want to do it in protected mode.
I´ve been googling for a week and the following four links are the best I have found:
http://www.brackeen....vga/basics.html
http://www.osdever.n...VGA/vga/vga.htm
http://bos.asmhacker...sing%20bios.htm
Unfortunately, the first one uses a BIOS call so I cannot use it. The second link has lots of information on the VGA registers but no examples showing how to make them work together. The third example is a example to switch in 13h mode but i've tried it and nothing happened. Can you guys give me a hint? Thanks in advance!
--Vincenzo
my code at http://bos.asmhackers.net/docs/vga_without_bios/snippet_5/vga.php
works fine if you are in 32bit mode with full hardware access. Unfortunately I doubt that any Linux variant will let you directly access the VGA ports. I'm not sure how you develop this driver, but if you made sure that you have full access to the VGA ports it should work. In my example code I only switch between mode 0x03 and 0x13, but in the folders above you'll be able to find port values for most other common VGA modes, as well as C code to do the switch if you prefer that.
Christoffer code include files are found BOS operating system source code like text.inc and font8x16.inc
http://bos.asmhackers.net/downloads.php
This is coming many many years later but I think it's still very relevant and if somebody is struggling I hope they can find it useful.
First of all, it is completely possible to configure VGA only using registers without interrupts, as hard as it may be. A useful resource about registers and how to configure them can be found here, but unless you have a ton of time to spare to learn how to properly do all of it, move to the following section.
If you wish to really learn how to do it, I suggest going through with the documentation provided earlier. However, some of it is already done!
Chris Giese did a great job demonstrating exactly how to do this for MS-DOS system, and while you may think that doesn't help you, it really does.
Chris's code can be found here. If you want another useful codes check here as well.
Now, while it only works for MS-DOS it's actually easy to convert to other systems. The code already contains all data needed to configure the registers in many different modes. And that's the part that saves you a ton of time going through documentation.
The code uses functions outportb, inportb, which are MS-DOS functions, to write/read single byte to/from a port. Therefore, you have to redefine these functions to read/write for your own system. Redefinition complexity depends on the system you operate on.
In addition, you will also need to provide means to write to physical memory region between 0xA0000-0xBFFFF which corresponds to standard VGA memory area. Once you have that allocated, you need to also redefine the functions pokeb pokew peekb which will help you output things (text or pixel data) on the screen.
One last note: the code is already defined to work with many different modes including both text and display modes.

Using open source SNES emulator code to turn a rom file into a self-contained executable game

Would it be possible to take the source code from a SNES emulator (or any other game system emulator for that matter) and a game ROM for the system, and somehow create a single self-contained executable that lets you play that particular ROM without needing either the individual rom or the emulator itself to play? Would it be difficult, assuming you've already got the rom and the emulator source code to work with?
It shouldn't be too difficult if you have the emulator source code. You can use a method that is often used to store images in c source files.
Basically, what you need to do is create a char * variable in a header file, and store the contents of the rom file in that variable. You may want to write a script to automate this for you.
Then, you will need to alter the source code so that instead of reading the rom in from a file, it uses the in memory version of the rom, stored in your variable and included from your header file.
It may require a little bit of work if you need to emulate file pointers and such, or you may be lucky and find that the rom loading function just loads the whole file in at once. In this case it would probably be as simple as replacing the file load function with a function to return your pointer.
However, be careful for licensing issues. If the emulator is licensed under the GPL, you may not be legally allowed to store a proprietary file in the executable, so it would be worth checking that, especially before you release / distribute it (if you plan to do so).
Yes, more than possible, been done many times. Google: static binary translation. Graham Toal has a good howto paper on the subject, should show up early in the hits. There may be some code out there I may have left some code out there.
Completely removing the rom may be a bit more work than you think, but not using an emulator, definitely possible. Actually, both requirements are possible and you may be surprised how many of the handheld console games or set top box games are translated and not emulated. Esp platforms like those from Nintendo where there isnt enough processing power to emulate in real time.
You need a good emulator as a reference and/or write your own emulator as a reference. Then you need to write a disassembler, then you have that disassembler generate C code (please dont try to translate directly to another target, I made that mistake once, C is portable and the compilers will take care of a lot of dead code elimination for you). So an instruction of a make believe instruction set might be:
add r0,r0,#2
And that may translate into:
//add r0,r0,#2
r0=r0+2;
do_zflag(r0);
do_nflag(r0);
It looks like the SNES is related to the 6502 which is what Asteroids used, which is the translation I have been working on off and on for a while now as a hobby. The emulator you are using is probably written and tuned for runtime performance and may be difficult at best to use as a reference and to check in lock step with the translated code. The 6502 is nice because compared to say the z80 there really are not that many instructions. As with any variable word length instruction set the disassembler is your first big hurdle. Do not think linearly, think execution order, think like an emulator, you cannot linearly translate instructions from zero to N or N down to zero. You have to follow all the possible execution paths, marking bytes in the rom as being the first byte of an instruction, and not the first byte of an instruction. Some bytes you can decode as data and if you choose mark those, otherwise assume all other bytes are data or fill. Figuring out what to do with this data to get rid of the rom is the problem with getting rid of the rom. Some code addresses data directly others use register indirect meaning at translation time you have no idea where that data is or how much of it there is. Once you have marked all the starting bytes for instructions then it is a trivial task to walk the rom from zero to N disassembling and or translating.
Good luck, enjoy, it is well worth the experience.