Processors

Freescale Introduces Impressive Application Processors

Last month Freescale introduced its latest application processors, the i.MX31 and the i.MX31L. The chips primarily target portable consumer electronics products such as cell phones, portable media players, and portable gaming devices. The chips also target portable medical applications and automotive entertainment. The two chips are nearly identical. Both are based on an ARM1136JF-S core running at up to 665 MHz. This core includes ARM’s “Vector Floating Point” coprocessor. Both chips Read more...

New Licensable Cores Target Audio

Last week three vendors introduced licensable cores targeting consumer audio applications. In the first of these announcements, MIPS announced the MIPS24KEc, the first core to implement the "DSP ASE" signal-processing instruction-set extensions. (For a discussion of these extensions, see the October 2004 edition of Inside DSP.) Although the MIPS24KEc is not specifically tuned for audio applications, MIPS claims that the addition of the DSP ASE provides a 15%-40% boost in performance across a Read more...

Case Study—Benchmarks for Tools, Software Libraries, and More

System developers often rely on processor benchmarks to gauge system performance. However, the processor is just one of many components that determines overall performance. Fully understanding system performance requires careful analysis of many other elements, such as code-generation tools and third-party software libraries. Unfortunately, a host of factors can confound attempts to analyze these components. For example, it is difficult to prevent variations in programmer skill and style Read more...

Cradle’s Lineup Gets Major Upgrade

Last month Cradle introduced the CT3600 family, the successor to its original CT3400 chip. The CT3600 family—which includes the CT3608, CT3612, and CT3616—will offer major improvements over the CT3400 in the areas of parallelism, clock rates, and on-chip integration. Like the CT3400, the CT3600 family will primarily target digital video applications, particularly multi-channel surveillance applications. The CT3600 will use essentially the same architecture as the CT3400. This heterogeneous Read more...

Freescale Fills its DSP Ranks

Last month Freescale added two new parts to its MSC711x family of StarCore SC1400-based DSPs. The two new family members, the MSC7118 and MSC7119, resemble existing family members in most respects. The main difference is that the new parts will operate at 300 MHz—50% faster than the existing 200 MHz parts. Both new chips will also feature 472 Kbytes of on-chip memory, up from a maximum of 408 Kbytes on existing chips. Not surprisingly, the new chips are also more expensive: the MSC7118 and Read more...

Case Study: Measuring Multimedia Performance

At first glance, measuring processor performance on multimedia applications can seem straightforward. Many multimedia applications are based on published standards and widely available software. For example, MPEG-4 video decompression software is available for most popular processors. Because such software is often readily available, measuring multimedia performance may seem to be a simple matter of checking the processor vendor's published performance data for the relevant software modules Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—The Alchemist’s Dream

Over the last few months I’ve noticed an increase in the number of tools that transform high-level signal-processing application descriptions into real-time implementations. The appeal of this idea is obvious. Many signal processing applications are initially designed using high-level tools and then migrated into low-level descriptions. Often this migration process involves multiple labor-intensive, error-prone steps. For example, an application might be developed using MATLAB, then re-built Read more...

Inside DSP on Digital Video: Processors for video—Know your options

To create a successful digital video product, you need to choose the right processor. Sounds simple—but of course, it isn’t. A big part of the challenge is that there are so many types of processors from which to choose: general-purpose CPUs, FPGAs, DSPs, configurable processors, and fixed-function chips, among others. A further complication is that digital video is a fast-moving field, with standards that are shifting and evolving. As a result, a processor’s ability to adapt to changes Read more...

Inside DSP on Digital Video: Growing a digital video ecosystem

A few years ago, it seemed obvious that we were on the verge of a major change in how consumers obtain and view movies at home. There would be no more schlepping out to the video store to rent a DVD; with the increasing availability of digital video content on the Internet, it seemed clear that everyone would shift to streaming video, to video-on-demand, to any-movie-anytime-with-no-late-fees. The video stores all would close down and become Starbucks cafes or yoga studios. This hasn’t Read more...

New TI Architectures for Cellular Handsets and Base Stations

Last month Texas Instruments went on an announcement blitz, introducing new products for a variety of applications. In two of its most important announcements, TI revealed new processors for cellular applications. The first of these processors, the TCI6482, will target 3G cellular base stations. The TCI6482 will include a number of advancements over its predecessors. Most notably, the TCI6482 will include 28 new instructions, including instructions to accelerate the rake, RACH, search, and Read more...