VELOCe

Robust communication in shared mobile spaces

Newer wireless technologies such as WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 promise not only a higher throughput, but also a lower latency. However, there are no mechanisms to guarantee a robust and low-latency audio quality in wireless environments that are shared with other (interfering) devices and technologies. The current solutions try to optimize their own operation, largely disregarding the activity and performance of other technologies that operate in the same space.

Exploring technology to establish co-operative mechanisms

VELOCe aims to study and develop co-operative mechanisms for all devices that share a location. The three Flemish industrial partners have identified the requirements for different audio applications. Together with the research partners, they will explore the newest wireless and wired technology evolutions: WiFi 6, Bluetooth Low Energy (LE), and Time-Sensitive Ethernet.

The goal is to achieve a higher-quality and a more reliable audio, voice, and video communication for wireless conferencing (Televic), hearables and voice-enabled devices (Qorvo), and mission-critical communication (e-BO).

Innovation for true end-to-end quality guarantees

VELOCe will explore the design of multi-standard chipsets that can be jointly optimized. That will allow a better coexistence between diverse wireless technologies and audio and non-audio traffic that share the same spectrum in the same wireless environment.

VELOCe will be the first to enable time-sensitive networking (TSN) capabilities in WiFi 6 networks and demonstrate reliable end-to-end latency below 16 ms (single Access Point)

VELOCe will work towards true end-to-end verifiable latency and reliability guarantees for wireless end-to-end audio applications. This includes both audio processing latency and communication latency across mixed network connections (Ethernet, WiFi 6, and last hop LE Audio). Latencies below 20 ms are targeted in mixed Ethernet/WiFi environment with multiple access points.

“VELOCe’s ambition is to design and validate end-to-end, interoperable mechanisms capable of tightly controlling and verifying audio latency. This includes making proactive adjustments of network and device settings based on real-time end-to-end measurements to maintain the targeted A/V quality.”