InsideDSP — In-depth analysis and opinion

Now for Something Completely Different

At the Communication Design Conference in October Lenslet unveiled its novel optical digital signal processing engine (ODSPE), which, it hopes, will boost DSP performance to the level of tera operations per second—far above the current level of giga operations per second found in today's electron-based processors. This technology targets a wide range of applications that include both wireless and wireline communication systems. The heart of digital signal processing is the manipulation of Read more...

Siroyan Attacks Scalability

At the Microprocessor Forum in October, five companies unveiled new DSP architectures. This was also the debut for one of these companies, Siroyan, a UK startup backed by venture capital. Siroyan had previously been a quiet presence in the DSP world, but now it has taken a very aggressive stance on scalability—its new architecture targets applications that range from ultra cost-sensitive disk drives to high performance wireless communications infrastructure. The Siroyan OneDSP architecture Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Better Late than Never?

After Odysseus left to fight in the Trojan War, the ever-patient Penelope waited nineteen years for his return. Delayed by a few snags on the way back, he did eventually make it home, albeit much later than expected. This phenomenon is not unknown in world of microprocessors, in which new processors are often late—sometimes very late. This is a serious problem, particularly among high performance chips. Moreover, in addition to being late, these chips are often not up to spec when they Read more...

New DSP Architectures to Debut at MPF

Despite the current industry slowdown, many companies are continuing to produce new architectures for DSP applications. At the upcoming Microprocessor Forum, two startups and one established player— Siroyan, 3DSP, and LSI Logic, respectively—will disclose next generation high performance licensable DSP core architectures. Siroyan will unveil the SRA328—an architecture that uses VLIW techniques and integrates DSP, RISC, and MMU technology. The SRA328 can have up to 32 separate execution Read more...

Intrinsity Aims for Super-fast Embedded Processors

Intrinsity, a startup in Austin, Texas, recently disclosed its new Fast14 technology—a collection of design techniques that enable high-speed dynamic logic to be implemented on standard CMOS processes. This technology will facilitate clock speeds of up to 2.2 GHz. Intrinsity plans to apply this new technology to developing its own high-end embedded processors, which most likely will target the wired and wireless communications infrastructure markets. Fast14 Technology achieves its speed Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Talkin' Trash

It used to be that DSP was a niche technology because only cost-insensitive applications could afford the hardware required for serious real-time signal processing. Over time, however, the prices of DSP-capable processors and ASICs have dropped to the point that DSP is now used in many consumer products, cell phones most prominent among these. But have we begun to get carried away? Two companies, Hop-On Wireless and Dieceland Technologies, plan to release disposable cell phones next month. Read more...

Observations from Hot Chips

At the thirteenth annual Hot Chips Conference held at Stanford University, Professor Jan Rabaey of UC Berkeley's Wireless Research Center presented an engaging tutorial on silicon platforms for next-generation wireless systems.  Professor Rabaey emphasized several interesting themes in the course of his talk. Foremost among these is the fact that modern wireless applications are becoming increasingly demanding of processors.  Perhaps this is best exemplified by the increased channel coding Read more...

Do Mega-MACS Matter?

Because DSPs are typically assigned MAC-intensive tasks, one might assume that DSP performance is directly related to MAC throughput. In fact, vendors often advertise the speed of their DSPs in terms of MMACS (millions of multiply-accumulates per second). However, BDTI benchmark studies reveal that MAC throughput is not a reliable indicator of real-world DSP performance. One reason for this is that digital signal processing involves more than just MACs; e.g., Viterbi decoding—an Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Broadband: Getting Nowhere Fast

In an obscure corner of 3COM's Web site is an epitaph; a barren savannah landscape with a lone tree in the background frames the phrase "End of Life." The death in question was not that of a zebra or wildebeest—in these modern technological proving grounds it was the innovative Kerbango Internet Radio that was recently deemed unfit. Kerbango is not alone. While streaming media technology has been refined to the point that dozens of great consumer applications are now possible, these Read more...

Philips and Frontier Design form Adelante Technologies

The embedded DSP group of Philips Semiconductors and design house Frontier Design merged last month to form a new company, Adelante Technologies. Philips will initially be the majority owner of Adelante, but Philips plans to reduce its ownership below 50% as other companies join the partnership. Adelante will integrate Philips' 32-bit REAL (Reconfigurable Embedded DSP Architecture Low cost/Low power) DSP core with Frontier's tools and applications knowledge; the result will be a licensable Read more...