Introduction
The Digital Voice Systems, Inc. (DVSI) USB-3000™ is the perfect combination of DVSI's AMBE™ Vocoder Technology with a USB interface. Connect the USB-3000™ to a Windows-based PC's USB port, and users can encode and decode files, or develop a customized system to process real-time speech.
The USB-3000™ contains Digital Voice Systems' proprietary and patented Advanced Multi-Band Excitation AMBE® voice compression algorithm. The standard version USB-3000™ includes the same vocoder as found in DVSI's AMBE-3000™ vocoder chip. The USB-3000™ is also available equipped with DVSI's Enhanced Dual-Rate vocoder that is inter-operable with the APCO International Project 25 (APCO P25) standard (TIA-102BABA). The USB-3000™ enables users to explore the capabilities and benefits of both of these vocoder technologies in real-time, without investing in large amounts of engineering time in hardware prototypes.
Proven Technology
The AMBE® vocoder technology has been implemented by a variety of manufacturers around the world. The AMBE® vocoder technology has been proven in critical applications such as digital mobile radio, satellite communication systems and in other wireless communication devices. The success of this vocoder technology has resulted in it being chosen by many mobile radio manufacturers including APCO Project 25 in North America and DMR and dPMR in Europe.
The USB-3000™ provides a low cost alternative to a fully customized software implementation because it is available off the shelf and requires no up-front licensing fees or royalties. Now product designers, communication engineers and original equipment manufacturers can implement DVSI's AMBE-3000™ vocoder or the APCO Project 25 Enhanced Dual-Rate Vocoder into customized high performance, low-bitrate communication systems, without risks and high development costs associated with DSP implementations.

The simplistic design of the USB-3000™ along with its USB interface makes it an ideal component in the production of low-volume military and commercial communication equipment that is cost effective to manufacture, affordable and inexpensive to operate. In addition, the USB-3000™ can be used to create multi-channel systems by connecting more than one USB-3000™ to a single PC.
The value of DVSI's USB-3000™ goes beyond its simplistic design. The USB-3000™ can also prove itself as a comprehensive, evaluation, test and development platform. Once a new product design is complete and manufacturing begins, the USB-3000™ can simulate actual system conditions of DVSI's AMBE-3000™ vocoder or the APCO Project 25 Enhanced Dual-Rate Vocoder and act as a calibrated quality control reference standard.
USB-3000™ Standard
The standard version USB-3000™ contains Digital Voice Systems' proprietary and patented Advanced Multi-Band Excitation AMBE® voice compression technology. The standard USB-3000™ provides the flexibility to operate at virtually any data rate from 2000 bps to 9600 bps.
USB-3000-P25™
The USB-3000™ P25 includes DVSI's patented Enhanced Dual-Rate Vocoder technology that is fully inter-operable with APCO Project 25 standard (TIA-102BABA). The USB-3000™ P25 provides the enhanced AMBE+2™ "full-rate" vocoder (7200 bps) plus the AMBE+2™ enhanced "half-rate" (3600 bps) vocoder that are used in APCO Project 25 Phase 2. The enhanced full-rate AMBE+2™ vocoder is fully compatible with the older IMBE™ vocoder that was used in the APCO Project 25 Phase 1. Both vocoder rates can be set to run with or without Forward Error Correction. In addition to the APCO Project 25 rates, the USB-3000™ P25 also supports all of the 61 built in rates that are available on the standard version USB-3000™. Refer to the USB-3000™ Users Manual for more details.
USB-3000-SAT™
The USB-3000™ SAT is identical to DVSI's standard USB-3000™ except that it supports additional rates. These rates allow it to be fully inter-operable with major satellite communication systems including TerreStar, MexSat and GlobalStar.
USB-3003™ and USB-3003-P25™
The USB-3003™ and USB-3003™ P25 are identical to DVSI's standard USB-3000™ and USB-3000™ P25 except that they support three simultaneous channels.
There are four versions of the USB-3000™ available, giving designers the ability to select the model that best meets their application requirements.
USB-3000™ Models |
USB-3000™ Standard |
USB-3000™ P25 |
USB-3000™ SAT |
USB-3003™ |
USB-3003™ P25 |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
NO |
YES |
NO |
NO |
YES |
NO |
NO |
YES |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
YES |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
YES |
NO |
NO |