ClearOne announced its new BMA 360, claiming it to be the world’s most technologically advanced Beamforming Microphone Array Ceiling Tile.

The ClearOne BMA 360 is a wideband, frequency invariant beamforming mic array with uniform gain response across all frequency bands. With FiBeam technology, conference participants will experience full fidelity audio across all beams and within a single beam.

Deep sidelobe beamforming, DsBeam, provides maximum sidelobe depth, below -40 decibels, resulting in rejection of reverberation and noise in difficult spaces for superb clarity and intelligibility. The BMA 360 is based on a new approach to beamforming that, according to ClearOne, provides a new beam topology to easily achieve distortion-free, full 360-degree coverage of any room shape and any seating arrangement using ClearOne Audio Intelligence.

Further advancements in adaptive steering (think of it as smart switching) provide coverage of each conference participant as well as support for camera tracking.

In addition to the advancements in beamforming technology, the 6G Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) delivers per-beam full-duplex audio performance. Onboard audio algorithms, like noise reduction, filtering, and Automatic Level Control, eliminate the need for per-beam processing in a DSP mixer — requiring fewer DSP mixer resources. Finally, built-in amplifiers, configurable as 4 x 15 watt or 2 x 30 watt, provide flexibility for driving loudspeakers.

The integrated features in the BMA 360 reduce system design complexity, simplify installation, consume less rack space and lower system cost. The BMA 360 also supports daisy-chaining of up to three ceiling tiles via P-Link for divisible rooms, or larger conference setups — for simpler wiring, longer distances and lower-cost deployments compared to networked “home-run” connections via Ethernet.

Single-workflow configuration is provided by a new release of ClearOne’s CONSOLE AI software. Competing products require practitioners to program multiple system components with different toolsets: Ethernet switches, ceiling tiles, DSP mixers and the Dante controller.

The BMA 360 supports three different ceiling grid sizes: 24 inches, 600 millimeters and 625 mm. It incorporates a VESA-standard hole pattern that supports pole mounting. Hard-ceiling mount accessory kits are also available. The BMA 360 is now shipping worldwide.