Cell Phone Chip Transforms Daily Lives Around Globe
By: Hiawatha Bray
9/29/00 9:45:38 AM
Source: The Boston Globe
Ask the average person to name a computer chip, and he would probably choose Intel Corp.'s Pentium III or the Athlon from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. He probably wouldn't single out the processor chip inside the typical cell phone.
But that cell phone chip, and millions like it, are transforming the daily lives of people throughout the world in ways no Pentium or Athlon can match.
The chip technology that drives a cellphone also drives the newest digital cameras. Similar chips power the MP3 music players that are rewriting the recording industry's business models. You'll find them managing billions of bits of data flowing over the nation's phone lines every second. They're even used to sort chocolates in candy factories. Indeed, these remarkable chips are starting to appear in almost every device that links human beings to the digital universe.
The chips are called digital signal processors, or DSPs, and they may be the most important pieces of silicon in the world right now. DSPs are specialized computers that can digitally reshape the events of the real world, such as sounds and images. And since nearly everybody in the real world uses electronic gadgets, it's no surprise that engineers are cramming them full of these superchips.
Chipmakers sold $4.4 billion worth of DSPs last year, according to Tempe, Ariz.-based Forward Concepts, a semiconductor research consulting firm based in Tempe, Ariz. Sales are expected to top $6 billion this year and grow to $19 billion in 2004. ``It is the technology driver of the semiconductor industry,'' said Forward Concepts analyst Will Strauss.
The DSP boom has echoed through the corridors of Analog Devices Inc. in Norwood. Already the fourth largest maker of DSP chips, the company saw its DSP sales leap 143 percent for the quarter ended July 29. Analog posted quarterly revenues of $700.7 million, up 85 percent. Profits for the quarter, at $192 million, were more than three times higher than the same period last year.
And Analog is one of the smaller players in the industry. By far, the leading maker of DSP chips is Texas Instruments Inc., with about half the market in 1999. Next comes Lucent Technologies Inc., with about a quarter of the business. Analog is neck and neck with Motorola Inc., at about 10 percent market share each. Analog designs its chips in Massachusetts but farms out manufacturing to chip foundries in Asia.
The familiar Pentium and many other chips are ``general-purpose microprocessors.'' These are the Clydesdales of computing, workhorse chips used for a vast variety of tasks, many of them having little to do with mathematical calculation. For instance, the processor in a desktop PC spends much of its time just moving data between itself, the main memory bank, and the hard drive. A lot of the chip's transistors are devoted to this kind of housekeeping duty.
By comparison, a DSP is like a thoroughbred groomed for the Kentucky Derby. This sliver of silicon is optimized to perform extremely complex math equations. Equally important, it's designed to do this math in real time, engineer-speak for instantly, as events happen. That makes DSPs ideal for manipulating information when processing delays are unacceptable.
Sounds and images start out as analog data. They come in waves, not in digital packets. This data is first converted to digital form by a chip that samples the analog waves millions of times each second. The result is a digital simulation of the wave that can then be processed by a digital computer.
Here's where the speed of a DSP becomes critical. Analog events - for example, somebody talking into a cellphone - happen in real time. Each tiny digital data sample has to be processed in millionths of a second to avoid any gaps or delays in the conversation.
``In the world of signal processing, you have to be able to process real time,'' said Robert Conrad, vice president of Analog Devices' DSP division. ``When you take a sample, you have to process it completely before the next sample comes in.''
Thanks to its speed, the DSP can perform some magical transformations. Say you're using the cell phone in a noisy room. Little of that noise will reach the person on the other end. That's because the DSP uses complex math algorithms that can tell the difference between background noise and the user's voice. The chip instantly deletes most of the noise, so that the voice comes through clearly.
DSPs are so good at cleaning up line noise that callers might hear dead silence at each pause in the conversation. That could make them hang up, thinking the connection has been broken. So some DSP chips used in phones are programmed to insert a little extra background hiss, just in case.
The DSP can do all this while using just a fraction of the electrical power that a Pentium needs. And then there's the price. High-end Pentium IIIs sell for hundreds of dollars apiece. The DSP chip in your phone runs about five bucks.
Chances are that your phone's chip was made by Texas Instruments, which makes 70 percent of all DSPs found in wireless phones. The company is also determined to win in other DSP markets. It spends millions at universities around the world to train future engineers and programmers in the use of DSP chips. And Texas Instruments has assembled teams of engineers, each targeting an up-and-coming DSP market, such as digital music players, digital cameras, and Internet telephone products.
``Each one of those teams are on a mission from God to become the next wireless,'' said Greg Delagi, Texas Instruments' DSP vice president.
Analog Devices isn't sitting still either. The company worked closely with Aware Inc. of Bedford to develop the DSL systems used in thousands of homes to provide high-speed Internet access over standard phone lines. DSP chips are at the heart of DSL systems, and Analog is the market leader in this segment. The company is also a major producer of DSP chips for cable modems, another popular broadband technology.
DSPs are starting to appear in home appliances, to precisely regulate the energy consumption of a refrigerator or washing machine. Analog Devices DSPs are appearing in air conditioners, constantly measuring room temperature and making tiny adjustments in fan and compressor speeds. The result is optimum cooling performance, using a minimum of electricity.
General Motors Inc. uses DSPs in its optional OnStar automobile tracking system; the chips use signals from the global network of GPS navigation satellites to provide a precise location for the car.
Gerald McGuire, product line director for Analog Devices, says DSPs will become even more popular with automakers in the years ahead. He sees them replacing less-advanced microprocessors in controlling automobile fuel systems.
``If the government ever says to the automakers, you've got to get your fuel average up to 40 miles a gallon, they'll be coming to us for DSPs,'' McGuire said.
The technology is even used to make blind machines see. Cognex Corp. of Natick, Mass. puts DSPs in its In-Sight machine vision products, used by manufacturers to automate industrial processes. The DSP uses its processing power to analyze a video input, recognize patterns, and control a robot. One such machine was designed by Cognex for a candy maker, to enable its robotic packaging machine to pick individual chocolates from a production line.
As computing and data networking capacity is blended into more and more of the world's machines, the number of potential uses for DSP just keeps growing, along with the financial prospects of Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, and the other DSP makers. Said Will Strauss of Forward Concepts: ``DSP is everywhere.''
(The Boston Globe web site is at boston.com
c.2000 The Boston Globe |
