Alexa SDK incorporating on imx8mm using 8MIC-RPI-MX8 Board

[Vulikic]

Hello,

We are working on a project with i.MX8MM EVK + i.MX 8MIC-RPI-MX8 Board ( https://www.nxp.com/design/development-boards/i-mx-evaluation-and-development-boards/i-mx-8-series-a... ).
The exact SOM that is used is Azurewave's: AW-PU530 on imx8mm-evk carrier board.
Yocto verison is honister, kernel version: 5.15

We are trying to implement Alexa SDK support and run it's SampleApp that should use capture stream from  8MIC board's soundcard (imxaudiomicfil) as an input stream and wm8524audio as an playback stream.

The  sound capturing using 8mic is working according to board docs provided.

The dtb file that is used is imx8mm-evk-8mic-revE.dtb

Alexa sdk is built according to the recipes provided from this link: https://community.nxp.com/t5/i-MX-Processors-Knowledge-Base/Build-Alexa-SDK-AVS-image-for-i-MX8M-EVK...

However, the SampleApp failed to run reporting this issues:

Expression 'ret' failed in '/sources/portaudio-v19/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 1742
Expression 'AlsaOpen( &alsaApi->baseHostApiRep, params, streamDir, &self->pcm )' failed in '/sources/portaudio-v19/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_a
lsa.c', line: 1909
Expression 'PaAlsaStreamComponent_Initialize( &self->capture, alsaApi, inParams, StreamDirection_In, NULL != callback )' failed in '/sources/p
ortaudio-v19/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 2173
Expression 'PaAlsaStream_Initialize( stream, alsaHostApi, inputParameters, outputParameters, sampleRate, framesPerBuffer, callback, streamFlags, userData )' failed in '/sources/portaudio-v19/src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 2842

I have several questions regarding this:

1) Since we are using 8MIC-RPI-MX8 board, is there a need for some custom configuration in asound.conf so the microphone board can be seen properly by alsa and portaudio? If so, are there some additional docs for 8mic board on how to configure asound.conf, how to set it's sound card (imxaudiomicfil) as a default one etc. It seems that I'm missing some important step, but i didn't find much in documentation.

2) Regarding alexa sdk implementation on imx8mm with mic array, is there some additional documentation on this?

3) Regarding ixp-afe: https://github.com/nxp-imx/nxp-afe/tree/MM_04.07.02_2210_L5.15.y
Here is explained that audio front end is needed for incorporating alexa. In my case, is this nxp-afe necessary support for incorporating alexa with mic8 board on imx8mm?

Thanks in advance and best regards,

Rade.

[JorgeCas]

Hello,

I hope you are doing well.

Your DFAE have been put in contact with us, we will share any update on that side.

Best regards.

Jorge.