The VM3000 is the first digital microphone in Vesper's portfolio and greatly expands the number of applications that can be serviced with robust piezoelectric MEMS microphones. This high performance, low power microphone has an ultra-fast startup of less than 200 microseconds. Applications that ae seen as benefiting from this digital interface include: smartphones, automobiles, laptops and smart speakers.
The VM3000 features a Pulse Density Modulation (PDM) output, which enables multiplexing of two microphones on a single data line. It also offers a high immunity to radio-frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic-interference (EMI), providing designers with more flexibility in how the microphones are positioned and the routing in their wire systems.
Because piezoelectric MEMS do not require a bias voltage, they have an ultrafast startup time which allows systems to wake up fast enough to capture entire keywords and has demonstrated up to a 2X improvement in keyword accuracy when used in combination with Vesper's ZeroPower Listening technology. The fast startup also eliminates the need to keep microphones in standby mode, thereby further saving power.
"The VM3000 is our first digital microphone and will allow Vesper's piezoelectric MEMS to be used in a very broad range of applications and be paired with virtually any audio chip. It will be especially useful for large arrays, physically large systems and situations where there is a lot of RF interference," said Matt Crowley, CEO of Vesper. "This proves Vesper can develop complex high performance application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to pair with our disruptive MEMS technology." The VM3000 achieves a typical 63db dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at 1kHz signal and offers an acoustic overload point (AOP) of 122 db sound pressure level (SPL).
The VM3000 is intended to solve the critical need for stable, reliable and long-lasting microphone arrays that operate in environmentally harsh surroundings.
All Vesper microphones are natively immune to environmental contaminants such as dust, water, moisture, oil and particles.