Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the industry’s first development kit for mesh Wi-Fi networks, qualified by Amazon, to integrate the Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS). The Qualcomm Mesh Networking Development Kit offers manufacturers the necessary building blocks to quickly and cost-effectively create mesh Wi-Fi systems with Alexa built-in, bringing the convenience of voice control to connected devices throughout the home.

Voice control is becoming a new way for consumers to be able to more easily manage their smart home devices. The addition of Alexa, integrated via the ClearVoice far-field voice enhancement software solution from Meeami Technologies, makes it easy for mesh networking manufacturers to provide leading voice capabilities to their customers layered on the Qualcomm Wi-Fi mesh platforms.

With Alexa built-in, customers can manage, automate and monitor smart home devices, as well as control music, ask questions, access tens of thousands of skills, and more – hands-free. These voice capabilities perfectly complement mesh Wi-Fi networks, which are designed to deliver robust and consistent connectivity to nearly every corner of the home, provide unprecedented simplicity of use, and incorporate powerful security and device-management features.

The Qualcomm Mesh Networking Development Kit for Amazon AVS integrates all previously announced features available in the Qualcomm Mesh Networking Platform reference design, with defining kit elements now including:

–    IPQ4019 integrated network processor

–    Integrated audio decoding and post-processing

–    Multi-microphone FFV (far field voice) and WWD (wake word detection)

–    Support for various I/O technologies

–    Full software stack of the Qualcomm Mesh Networking Platform.