Create and Manage HTTP/2 Requests with AVS

The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) exposes an HTTP/2 endpoint so that a device can send events to AVS and receive directives from AVS. In the following topics, learn more about the concepts and requirements for creating and maintaining an HTTP/2 connection between your device and AVS:

Terminology

The following list shows terms that you need to be familiar with to create and manage HTTP/2 requests:

  • Frame – The basic protocol unit in HTTP/2. Each frame has a different purpose, for example, HEADERS and DATA frames that form the basis of HTTP requests and responses.
  • Stream – An independent, bidirectional sequence of frames exchanged between a device and server within an HTTP/2 connection. For detailed information, see Streams and Multiplexing in RFC 7540.
  • Downchannel – A stream you create in your HTTP/2 connection that delivers directives from AVS to your device. The downchannel remains open in a half-closed state from the device and open from AVS for the life of the connection. You primarily use the to send AVS-initiated directives and audio attachments to your device.

Codec specifications

The following table shows the codec specifications required for your HTTP2 connection. Although increasing the Opus complexity increases processor load, it can also improve performance.

Specification PCM Opus

Number of channels

Single channel (mono)

Single channel (mono)

Sample size

16-bit linear PCM (LPCM)

16 bit

Sample rate

16 kHz

16 kHz

Bitrate

256 Kpbs

32 Kpbs or 64 Kpbs, hard constant bitrate

Byte order

Little endian

Little endian

Frame size

10 ms

20 ms

DATA frame size

320 bytes

80 bytes (32 Kpbs) or 160 bytes (64 Kpbs)

Complexity

N/A

= 4

Base URLs

The following tables show the default base URLs you should use for your AVS HTTP/2 connection.

Base URLs

Region Supported Countries/Regions URL
Asia Australia, Japan, New Zealand, India https://alexa.fe.gateway.devices.a2z.com
Europe Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom https://alexa.eu.gateway.devices.a2z.com
North America Canada, Mexico, United States https://alexa.na.gateway.devices.a2z.com

Legacy Base URLs

Region Supported Countries/Regions URL
Asia Australia, Japan, New Zealand, India https://avs-alexa-fe.amazon.com
Europe Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom https://avs-alexa-eu.amazon.com
North America Canada, Mexico, United States https://avs-alexa-na.amazon.com

Best practices for your HTTP/2 connection

Amazon makes the following recommendations for managing and maintaining the HTTP2 connections for your device:

  • Reduce latency – To reduce latency, chunk all captured audio to stream to AVS. The stream should contain 10 ms of captured audio per chunk for Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) or 20 ms for Opus.

  • Concurrent stream limitations – An HTTP2 connection with AVS supports up to 10 concurrent streams, including event streams, the downchannel, and pings. Make sure to close event streams after receiving responses.

  • Read timeouts – Because AVS requires a downchannel stream to be open between AVS and a device for the life of the connection, set any read timeout for your device to at least 60 min.

  • Connection timeouts – If your HTTP2 device has connection pooling or marks connections as idle, adjust the timeout so the connection isn't disrupted. If the connection closes, make sure to complete the flow described for creating a connection. This flow includes re-establishing the downchannel stream and synchronizing state with AVS. Set the timeout to at least 60 minutes to make sure that your connection doesn't prematurely close.

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Last updated: Nov 27, 2023