Low-latency and power-efficient audio applications on Linux

Building Linux-based low-latency audio processing software for nowadays multi-core devices can be cumbersome. I’ll present some of our on-going research on the topic at the Real-Time Systems Lab of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, focusing on sound synthesis on Android where power-efficiency is a must.

The talk will provide basic background information on how the audio sub-system of Linux works, in terms of interactions between the Linux kernel and the ALSA sound architecture, including how user-space applications normally cope with low-latency requirements, touching briefly on design concepts behind the existence of the JACK low-latency framework. Then, a few concepts will be provided on the peculiarities of the Android audio processing pipeline, crossing the concepts with the due complications arising from the world of mobile and power-efficient devices. Throughout the talk, I’ll touch upon concepts behind our research efforts on the topic, describing how properly designed real-time CPU scheduling strategies can make a difference in what is achievable in this area.