Lucent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc., through their StarCore Joint Design Center, announced the availability of a digital signal processor core optimized for next-generation wireless systems.
Founded in 1998, the StarCore Joint Design Center is a cooperative research and development initiative created to define next-generation DSP cores and development tools. Although Lucent and Motorola are collaborating on the DSP technology core, the companies will develop their own system-on-a-chip products, including individual on-chip peripherals.
The StarCore SC140 DSP is the first implementation of the StarCore SC100 architecture. The DSP is unique because in a single architecture it has the power to support multichannel communication applications such as infrastructure equipment, while meeting the size and power consumption requirements of subscriber devices like wireless handsets, said the company.
StarCore said the DSP addresses four critical market needs for next-generation DSP applications.
First, the DSP provides efficient compilability. Thomas Brooks, director of marketing and business development at StarCore, said the DSP’s compiler allows engineers to write applications in C and then translate the code into assembly language essentially with the touch of a button, which can help speed time to market. The company said the compiler enables 90 percent or more of the software code development to be done in C/C++.
“The race in the DSP arena has traditionally centered on processing speeds, power consumption and code sizes,” said Jim Boddie, executive director of the StarCore Joint Design Center. “Now the technology battleground is expanding to encompass DSP compiler technology because of its direct link to product delivery schedules.”
Second, the SC140 boasts high performance, executing up to 1.2 billion multiply-accumulate operations (MACs) per second at its initial clock speed of 300 megahertz. StarCore said the SC140 also can sustain its high performance over time because of the flexibility of its data execution units.
Third, the SC140 is power-efficient, making it suitable for portable devices and allowing greater on-chip integration. Power efficiency is achieved through low-power circuit design, power-conserving standby modes and the ability to power up or power down each of the core’s function units individually on a clock-by-clock basis.
Finally, the SC140 is cost-efficient because it uses less die area than typical DSP cores in its performance class and has a high code density, said StarCore.
The DSP core is available in initial silicon.
The architecture and related software development platform are expected to be made available by Lucent and Motorola to their customers this month. The companies plan to release the products in high volumes based on the StarCore SC140 DSP early next year.
