Mistral launches hands-free car kit

The increased penetration of Bluetooth on mobile phones and stringent laws banning talking over cell-phone while driving have spurred vehicle manufacturers to provide hands-free mobile usage features.

Mistral Software, a product-realisation company that provides end-to-end services for product design and development in the embedded space, has announced the availability of a Bluetooth-based hands-free car kit (HFCK).

HFCK is designed for usage in the automotive environment, by providing wireless telephony service, the company said in a release.

The HFCK development platform is built on Analog Devices' blackfin processor which offers a combination of digital signal processing (DSP) and microprocessor functionality, suitable for the embedded audio, video and communications requirements found in automotive applications.

HFCK provides complete hands-free operation to the user to make/receive calls on GSM mobile phone, either through wired GSM handset, embedded GSM or Bluetooth interface.

It also provides audio streaming over Bluetooth to play encoded audio data (MP3, AAC, WMA) coming from source device like hand-held jukebox.

The HFCK integrates the latest voice processing algorithms AEC/NR, delivering the highest quality speech in noisy automotive environments.