Benchmarks

How Video Compression Works

Digital video compression/decompression algorithms (codecs) are at the heart of many modern video products, from DVD players to multimedia jukeboxes to video-capable cell phones. Understanding the operation of video compression algorithms is essential for developers of the systems, processors, and tools that target video applications. In this article, we explain the operation and characteristics of video codecs and the demands codecs make on processors. We also explain how codecs differ from Read more...

Case Study: Custom Benchmark Analysis—Making the Numbers Work For You

Processor designers, marketers, and users with a sophisticated understanding of benchmarks know that raw benchmark results rarely give the most accurate picture of processor performance for a specific application scenario.  While useful for providing a general impression of processor capabilities, raw benchmark results must be adapted to give a clear sense of how processors will perform in a particular application. For example, one large manufacturer of wireless equipment relies on BDTI Read more...

MIPS Announces High-Performance Superscalar Core

MIPS has introduced the MIPS 74K, a new, high-performance synthesizable general-purpose microprocessor core. The 74K targets demanding multimedia and networking applications, such as H.264 and WiMaX, and according to MIPS, the core has already been shipped to initial licensees. The 74K is a 32-bit, dual-issue, asymmetric superscalar architecture that supports out-of-order instruction execution and uses a 17-stage pipeline. According to MIPS, the 74K can achieve speeds of up to 1 GHz when Read more...

Case Study: Early Benchmarking Yields Better Products

Chip and IP vendors typically utilize benchmarks for marketing purposes—specifically, to demonstrate the capabilities of their products to prospective customers.  But processor vendors that use benchmarks for marketing purposes alone are missing half the picture:  during the design of a processor, subsystem, or chip, good benchmarks are invaluable for ensuring that the design is as good as it can be. Just as a carpenter needs accurate measurement tools to build a quality piece of furniture Read more...

Case Study: Custom Benchmarks for Emerging Applications

Looking beyond today’s established high-volume applications, processor and SoC vendors often seek growth in promising emerging applications.  In entering any new market, vendors face two key challenges. First, they must ensure that their product is competitive;  and second, they must convince prospective customers of their product’s advantages. In emerging markets these challenges are more severe due to a lack of well understood application requirements and established benchmarks.  In Read more...

BDTI Certifies ARC Video Subsystem H.264 Decode Performance

This month BDTI and silicon intellectual property licensor ARC International announced completion of BDTI Solution Certification™ of the H.264 video decode performance of the ARC Video Subsystem.  The ARC Video Subsystem, the first product to be certified under BDTI’s Solution Certification Service, is a programmable subsystem capable of supporting multiple video standards.  In certifying the solution, BDTI has independently verified its performance using proprietary BDTI bitstreams and Read more...

Altera Hones DSP Capabilities with Stratix III FPGAs

In November Altera announced the Stratix III family, its next generation of field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The new devices will be fabricated in a 65 nm process and feature a number of significant architectural changes.  To reduce power consumption, Altera has introduced “Programmable Power Technology,” which allows blocks of logic that don’t need to run at maximum speed to run in a slower, low-power mode.  The sizes of hard-wired memory blocks have been changed relative to the Read more...

Case Study: Getting Good Feedback to Improve Products

To improve their products, technology providers need detailed, thoughtful feedback from users of their technology. Unfortunately, this feedback is often difficult to obtain. Typical users aren’t very motivated to provide detailed feedback; they’re interested in getting their product finished. When they run into a problem, they find the most expedient work-around and move on. They don’t have time to fully explore, document, and report on the problems that hinder their productivity, or to share Read more...

BDTI Releases ARM1176 Benchmark Scores

BDTI has released independent benchmark results for the ARM1176 licensable processor core on the BDTI DSP Kernel Benchmarks™, which measure overall signal-processing performance, and the BDTI Video Decoder Benchmark™, which measures performance on video decoding and similar workloads. Based on its results on the BDTI DSP Kernel Benchmarks™, the ARM1176 achieves a BDTImark2000™ score of 1200 at a clock rate of 335 MHz (All processor core performance data in this article assumes use of the Read more...

What to Look for in DSP Benchmarks

Nearly everyone who works with embedded processors relies on benchmark results in one way or another. Executives use them to help make critical business and technical decisions. Engineers and managers use them to evaluate in-house processors or to help choose a processor for a new product. Marketers use them for competitive analysis and to add credibility to their marketing programs. Good benchmarks, used properly, are an invaluable tool for all of these purposes. Unfortunately, there are Read more...