InsideDSP — In-depth analysis and opinion

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Practical Portable Parallel Programming?

By now, most people who work with processors—whether in data centers, PCs, mobile devices, or embedded systems—understand that parallel processing is the way to get both high compute performance and good energy efficiency for most applications. And most of these people also realize that programming parallel processors is challenging. There are many different types of parallel processors, including CPUs with single-instruction/multiple data capabilities, multi-core CPUs, DSPs, GPUs and FPGAs, Read more...

Case Study: Squeeze Code and Make Space for New Features

Semiconductor memory is increasing in capacity and becoming more cost-effective all the time. Yet, plenty of deeply embedded applications still exist for which every spare byte of RAM or flash memory is a precious commodity, especially those leveraging on-SoC storage versus discrete components. Tack on a performance-constrained DSP, intentionally speed-hampered to minimize power consumption, and a limited-capacity battery coupled with a multi-day or -week operating life expectation, and you've Read more...

SigmaDSP: Analog Devices Upgrades the Product Line Significantly

Those of you familiar with Analog Devices' longstanding presence in the DSP market, via the company's Blackfin, SHARC and TigerSHARC product lines, can be forgiven for assuming that SigmaDSP is yet another family of general-purpose DSPs (Figure 1). Figure 1. SigmaDSP is an audio-focused entry-level family offering in Analog Devices' digital signal processing product portfolio. SigmaDSP does implement audio-centric digital signal processing functions, which explains the "DSP" in the name. Read more...

Imagination Technologies and Embedded Vision: The Processing Core Candidate List Gains a Notable Addition

Investment in a particular technology segment, not only by small startups but also by established suppliers, tends to be a dependable indication that the application has large business potential and lengthy staying power. Consider embedded vision, the use of computer vision techniques to extract meaning from visual inputs in embedded systems, mobile devices, PCs and the cloud. BDTI, accurately predicting that embedded vision would rapidly become an important market, founded the Embedded Vision Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Reshuffling the Deck in Embedded Processors

It's a very interesting time in embedded processors. For decades, embedded processors have continued to deliver more performance and more features, at ever-lower prices and power consumption levels. Today, embedded systems designers are leveraging these processors to create an incredibly diverse range of innovative products. Some of these products, like the Nest thermostat and the G-Box MX2 set-top box, target high-volume markets. Given all the new embedded systems being designed (and the large Read more...

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

As applications become more complex, and processors become more powerful, system developers increasingly rely on off-the-shelf software components to enable rapid and efficient application development. This is particularly true in digital signal processing, where application developers expect to have access to libraries of optimized building-block functions to speed their work. A leading SoC developer recently contracted BDTI to assist it in developing a comprehensive library of software Read more...

Tensilica's (Now Cadence's) Xtensa 10: Process Capabilities, Application Needs Drive Core Evolution Trends

Instruction set flexibility can go a long way toward extending the usable life of a processor architecture. Sooner or later, however, instruction set enhancements to an existing architecture foundation run out of steam, and a more fundamental evolution is necessary. This explains why Cadence Fellow (and former Tensilica co-founder and CTO...Cadence announced in March that it was acquiring Tensilica) Chris Rowen took to the stage in mid-October to unveil the company's latest tenth-generation Read more...

CEVA's XC-4500 DSP: Symmetric Multi-Processing Capabilities Are Now Key

The title of the press release for CEVA's latest XC-4500 communications DSP core, introduced in mid-October, claims that it's the "World's First Vector Floating-Point DSP for Wireless Infrastructure Solutions." Those of you with good memories might be confused at this point, in thinking back to InsideDSP's February 2012 coverage of CEVA's prior-generation XC-4000 family. To clarify, although the earlier XC-4400 and XC-4410 also offered IEEE 754-compliant floating-point support, it was not Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—The Rise of "Always Aware" Devices

Smartphone application processor chips incorporate numerous processor cores, typically including multiple CPU cores, GPUs, DSPs, video processors, and image signal processors. Considering all the processing power available in these chips, why does Motorola's recently introduced Moto X smartphone use a stand-alone DSP processor chip? And why would Motorola use a DSP based on a 10-year-old architecture? The answer is that the Moto X uses this low-power DSP chip to provide "always-on" voice 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...