InsideDSP — In-depth analysis and opinion

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response— Distributors: Adding Value?

A couple of months ago I wrote a column about the frequently unpleasant “getting-the-box” experience.  This month I’d like to rant about a separate but related topic: the frustration of dealing with distributors.  I’ve always thought that the point of a distributor was to get products into the hands of customers.  But in my experience, distributors are often more of an impediment than an enabler.  For example: A few weeks ago BDTI needed to buy the software development tools for a well-known Read more...

Tensilica Fills Out Portfolio with Dual-MAC DSP Core

This article has been modified from its original content.  The original article contained a reference to the performance of the CEVA X-1620 core on a compiled C language implementation of the AMR-NB vocoder; this reference has been removed.  These results were taken from a 2007 CEVA white paper.  CEVA states that the X-1620 core is no longer offered for license and has been superseded by the CEVA X-1622.  CEVA also states that the compiled-code performance results for the CEVA X-1622 on the AMR Read more...

MIPS Positioning to Catch Android Wave

MIPS recently announced that Android has been ported to the MIPS architecture, with the goal of enabling its use in a variety of consumer-oriented applications. Android is an open-source operating system plus middle-ware and applications, and is backed by Google. (Google acquired a small start-up called “Android” in 2005, and continued development of Android software.)  Android was originally developed for use in handsets and was released in open-source form in 2007 by the Open Handset Read more...

Tensilica ConnX BBE Combines SIMD, VLIW for Baseband Performance

Last month Tensilica unveiled the first member of its new “ConnX” family of licensable DSP cores, the ConnX Baseband Engine (BBE), which combines VLIW with SIMD to support a wide range of parallel operations. As part of the announcement, Tensilica has also rebranded two of its existing products: the Diamond 545CK core and Vectra DSP engine are now known as the ConnX 545CK and ConnX Vectra, respectively. Tensilica says it has a lead ConnX BBE customer that taped out a chip in June; the core Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—A Different Kind of Verification Crisis

It often surprises me how chip vendors will spend a huge amount of money (like, say, 50 million dollars) developing a chip without rigorously verifying that the chip includes all the necessary features for the target applications. For example, awhile back we had a processor vendor ask us to benchmark their new core. As is often the case, the vendor had already done their own evaluation of the chip’s performance, but wanted independent benchmark results to use in their marketing materials.   Read more...

Case Study: Patent Litigation Support

These days it’s not uncommon to see patent infringement claims settled for hundreds of millions of dollars. There was RIM’s settlement with NTP for $612 million, Intel’s with Intergraph for $600 million and with MicroUnity for $300 million, and the blockbuster, Qualcomm’s settlement with Broadcomm for $891 million. These huge sums stimulate the equivalent of high-tech ambulance-chasing: individuals and companies pursuing patent infringement claims against companies with deep pockets, seeking Read more...

New Details Emerge on NXP’s CoolFlux BSP Core

This month NXP has unveiled more details on its new licensable core, the CoolFlux BSP, which targets low-power communications baseband processing. The core is based on the similarly named CoolFlux DSP, which was designed for use in low-power audio applications and introduced in 2004. Relative to the older core, NXP says that the CoolFlux BSP has been enhanced to increase its performance in baseband processing while retaining a small footprint and low power. According to NXP, the CoolFlux Read more...

Case Study: Perfecting Presentations for Greater Impact

The best way to ensure that a presentation is effective is to test it with a knowledgeable, critical, and responsive audience. A test audience can also help ensure that the content is correct, relevant, and appropriate for the intended audience. Just as important, a test audience can help presenters gauge the clarity, appeal, and impact of their pitch. After all, superb technical content serves no purpose if the audience loses interest a few minutes into the presentation. BDTI analysts can Read more...

APTX Expands Apt-X Audio Codec Lineup, Sells Hardware Division

At the recent AES convention in Munich, audio technology house APTX (formerly APT, Audio Processing Technology) announced that it is developing a new, scalable variant of its “apt-X” audio compression algorithm. The new codec is called “apt-X Scalable,” and is intended to be used as a single-codec solution in products that process a range of audio inputs, such as mobile devices that include voice, music, ringtones, and other forms of audio. According to APTX, apt-X Scalable will dynamically Read more...

Xilinx Offers App-Specific Tool Bundles in ISE Design Suite Rev 11.1

In February when Xilinx announced its new Virtex-6 and Spartan-6 families, the company also discussed its intention to provide more domain-oriented development tools and development paradigms. In April the company began to make good on its promise by announcing domain-specific tool bundles as part of its new release of the ISE Design Suite, Rev 11.1. The new suite comprises four “editions” of the tools: logic, digital signal processing, embedded processing, and system-level design. Each Read more...