[Asterisk-Users] Hardware based DSP

[Jim Van Meggelen]

asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Is it correct to say that by design,  asterisk wont make use
> of any cards hardware dsp capabilities ?

I think it would be more accurate to say that Asterisk will be able to
connect to ANY type of media device, as long as an Asterisk-compatible
channel has been written for it.

> I don't think that any of the hardware cards currently
> supported have any dsp capabilities, but I wanted to know if
> for example, in the future a driver was written for a card that did
> have dsp capabilities,
> would asterisk be able to make any use of it ?

Cards like that already exist. Audiotronix cards have on board DSPs, and
they work with Asterisk (I am not endorsing those cards -- I've never
used one -- just using them as an example of existing,
hardware-based-DSP cards that work with Asterisk).

> I am only just starting out with asterisk, and have not fully
> understood the architecture yet, but it seems that in order
> to handle VoIP and PSTN seamlessly, all dsp related
> functionality has to be handled by software ????

A lot of DSP work happens in software, but it is not a requirement or
design limitation.