Next Generation Audio System for Chrome OS using Sound Open Firmware

Abstract

Chrome OS is an open-source project that aims to build an operating system that provides a fast, simple and more secure computing experience for people who spend most of their time on the web. Chrome OS uses the Linux kernel, it has a large pool of con- tributors. Audio drivers shipped in an open-source manner, proprietary DSP firmware will remain closed and shipped in binary. As a result, firmware issues become very dif- ficult to address. Intel is partnering up with Linux Foundation and Google to come up with Sound Open Firmware project. By using SOF, developers may be able to debug the firmware issue more quickly. SOF will allow the developers to optimize footprint and performance by adding only functionality part in their DSP. SOF SDK has total five component, the firmware source code, firmware tools to convert firmware into ap- propriate formats and to debug, a toolchain for firmware image creation, an emulator to trace and debug drivers & firmware, and ASoC Linux kernel drivers. The SOF project provides capabilities for developers to innovate and enhance DSP functionality. As of now, SOF supports the Cadence Tensilica Xtensa instruction set architecture of DSP hardware and software. SOF project is licensed under BSD. This project contains the work carried out by me while integrating SOF driver to Intel platform based Chromebook.