WiSA Rolls Out Licensing Program for Low-Cost Smart TV, Speaker Offering

WiSA Technologies announced Tuesday a licensing program for its multichannel wireless WiSA E software, designed as a low-cost multichannel wireless audio offering for smart TVs and speakers. “Today’s multichannel audio components are expensive ASICs that are relegated to the higher end of the market,” said Eric Almgren, WiSA chief strategy officer. WiSA has taken its multichannel tech, currently used by speaker companies including Klipsch and Bang & Olufsen, and created an “embeddable software product designed to run on HDTV SoC platforms and low-cost IoT/Wi-Fi chips,” Almgren said. WiSA E is currently being ported to Amlogic’s low-cost HDTV platform, WiSA said, and the company is also working with several IoT chipmakers, including Realtek and Espressif, to run WiSA’s audio software on low-cost Wi-Fi chips, it said. WiSA E allows consumers to add wireless speakers to create a “full [Dolby] Atmos-capable immersive sound system without the need for any extra cables or wires,” said WiSA CEO Brett Moyer. The company has begun sampling WiSA E with beta customers; full production is slated for next year.