Case Studies

Case Study: Squeeze Code to Create Space for New Features

Semiconductor memory is increasing in capacity and cost-effectiveness all the time. Yet, there are plenty of deeply embedded applications for which every spare byte of RAM or flash memory is a precious commodity, especially those leveraging memory integrated onto an SOC of processor, rather than external discrete memory. Throw in a performance-constrained processor (intentionally speed-limited to minimize power consumption), a small battery, and a multi-day battery life requirement, and you've Read more...

Case Study: Digital Signal Processing Library Development Enables Effective Customer Deployments

The prodigious transistor budgets delivered by modern semiconductor processes enable designers to create powerful processor cores and chips. However, this silicon potential will be for naught if it can't easily be harnessed by algorithm developers. Consider the non-trivial die area and development time consumed by a processor core, along with the notable competitive differentiation that can be accrued by its effective utilization. Clearly, the ease by which coders can gain robust access to Read more...

Case Study: Choosing the Right Benchmarks for the Job

As embedded processors and applications become increasingly complex, good benchmarks are more important than ever. System designers need good benchmarks to judge whether a processor will meet the needs of their applications, and to make accurate comparisons among processors. Processor developers need good benchmarks to assess how their processors stack up against the competition, and to prove their processors' capabilities to customers. But what exactly comprises a good benchmark? One obvious Read more...

Case Study: BDTI Delivers Bit-Exact, On-Time Audio Benefits

Qualcomm recently opened up the QDSP6 (aka "Hexagon") DSP core in its Snapdragon SoCs to programming access by its customers and software developer partners. Multimedia applications, for example, can benefit from leveraging QDSP6 processing resources, boosting overall performance, minimizing overall power consumption, and freeing up the CPU to tackle other tasks. But it can take significant time and effort to get up to speed on a new architecture and make optimum use of its potential, no matter Read more...

Case Study: Choose Your Desert Island Companion Wisely

Remember that childhood game where you try to decide which famous person—or which book, or whatever—you’d like to have with you, if you were to be stranded on a desert island? Well, choosing a processor is kind of like that.  Except, with a processor, it’s not a game.  Once you’ve chosen a processor, and designed your hardware and software around that processor, it becomes very expensive—and very time-consuming—to switch to another processor.  So, you’re likely to be stuck with whatever choice Read more...

Case Study: Maximizing DSP Software Performance on ARM Processors

A decade ago, ARM processors were mainly found in cell phones, disk drives, and few other specialized applications. These days, they seem to be everywhere, from microcontrollers to tablet PCs. During this same time period, digital signal processing (DSP) tasks such as multimedia and communications functions have also become increasingly common in a wide range of systems. Given these two trends, it's no surprise that there's been a big uptick in products using ARM processors to implement digital Read more...

Case Study: BDTI Breakthrough Delivers Sound Savings

Lossy audio compression first came to the forefront with the release of the MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer III) format in 1993, followed shortly by MP3 support in PC-based software such as Winamp and in portable audio players. (The emergence of various file-swapping sites and services didn't hurt matters, either). MP3's ascendance was preceded by many years of academic and industry R&D, and the pace of audio compression technology development has greatly accelerated since then. Nowadays, dozens if Read more...

Case Study: How to Make a Really Attention-Getting Demo

Back in August 2011, Jeff Bier's editorial "How to Make a Really Annoying Demo" neatly summarized the common attributes of poorly developed and executed product demonstrations that he'd auditioned over the years. Recently, Bier (and company) had the opportunity to show the ability to "practice what is preached," in the context of a demo developed in partnership with Analog Devices for that company's newly introduced BF60x Blackfin SoCs (see "Analog Devices' Latest Blackfin Proliferations Get Read more...

Case Study: Chip Design Costs Make Processor Core Choice Paramount

As we’ve all heard, the cost of creating a custom chip has skyrocketed. Still, there are applications where a custom chip is justified—usually by specialized, demanding technical requirements. Today, custom chips often incorporate multiple processor cores.  The choice of a licensable processor core is among the first decisions that a design team makes, and may be the decision that they live with the longest: the hassles of porting software from one processor architecture to another mean that Read more...

Case Study: Developing Attention-Getting Demos

Your company just developed the most powerful chip ever.  Your job: to get customers interested in using it in their system designs.  Challenging?  You bet.  As fantastic as its capabilities may be, your little slab of black plastic looks pretty much just like those of your competitors.  Yes, the numbers on your brochure look great.  But, let’s face it, they’re just numbers on paper.  How exciting can they be? To capture customers’ attention and engage their imaginations, what you really need Read more...