[TI's C6X]
ti.com
Looking for something else, I came across this article on the C6X. When I read it earlier I was looking for the Amati connections. This time, I see where Spectrum fits in. Incidentally, when the first press release came out on the C6X, Amati's part of the equation wasn't mentioned. In a later version, they were given the credit they deserve. Is it possible Spectrum's not been given their due? Just a thought.
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Heavy-duty MIPS Solve On-line Access Congestion
TI's 'C6x generation of DSPs are microprocessors specifically designed to be extremely efficient at moving data the primary requirement for addressing the Internet's data glut. 'C6x DSPs have ten times more MIPS performance, more than any other DSP in history. MIPS are the key measure of a chip's capacity for executing signal processing tasks. Furthermore, because DSPs are highly optimized for data communications, it typically takes four to six MIPS from general purpose processors such as Intel's Pentium to equal only one DSP MIPS.
The huge number of MIPS in the 'C6x generation DSPs give system designers the raw horsepower they need to develop more modems in less space with faster on-line connectivity, all at lower cost-per-modem than older systems. For example, the power of a single 'C6x generation DSP can implement 10-15 V.34 modems per DSP at a cost of approximately $6-9 per channel. Previous generation DSPs offered $18 per channel. This translates to ten times the performance at 50 percent lower cost-per-channel.
For on-line services, the new systems enabled by the 'C6x feature more modem channels per device in less space than ever before. This translates into lower system cost, smaller system size, reduced power consumption, plus higher quality modems with lower bit-error rates. >>>>
And yet another:
ti.com
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The Shrinking Wireless Telephone Base Station:
TI's TMS320C6x DSP Family Enables Wireless Pico-Stations
To most people, wireless telephones are the cellular or Personal Communications System (PCS) instruments that they carry with them in the car, on the golf course, in the shopping mall, or wherever they go. But the phone handsets, though highly visible, are only half the story. The hidden half of the telephone is the base station, the system that relays calls from the handset to the telephone network and back. The phenomenal success of the wireless telephone industry continues to depend as much on effective base station design as it does on design of the handsets themselves.
Recognizing the importance of base stations, as well as other demanding wireless applications, Texas Instruments considered this piece of the wireless infrastructure in the development of its new TMS320C6x Digital Signal Processor (DSP) family to address this important piece of the wireless infrastructure. This new family of DSP products is designed to bring the high performance, low cost per channel, and power efficiency required by emerging wireless base stations and other multichannel telecommunications applications.
The Evolution of Wireless Pico-Stations
Just as wireless handsets are continually shrinking, so are base stations. In the past, base stations required a shed-sized building for a system that could transmit to and receive from handsets in an area -- a cell -- several kilometers in diameter. Today, crate-sized base stations are appearing that can augment the existing wireless network with smaller cells. Both the original "macro" stations and the new "micro" stations offer wide-area coverage; but the micro stations add the possibility of local-area coverage for PCS and cordless instruments in large plants, corporate offices and pedestrian malls, as well as support for local-area instruments that can transfer or hand off calls to wide-area PCS/cellular networks. Another issue is the real estate required for base station placement. It is much easier to find locations for micro-sized base stations.
The end of the decade will see the introduction of even smaller base stations that support cells only a few hundred meters in diameter. These "pico" stations will continue the trend of bringing to office complexes and residential areas local-area wireless services that can be handed off to wide-area networks. An important technical advantage that small cells bring is a requirement for much lower transmission power in both base stations and handsets. At the same time, pico stations will have to hand off calls from station to station very quickly, especially calls from users in vehicles. These handoffs will demand much greater processing speed within the base station systems.
Pico-Station Requirements
In order to reduce the size of base stations while increasing the number of channels handled and services offered, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) face exacting design requirements. As the world's leading supplier of DSPs and DSP Solutions, TI a key provider of the technology that helps OEMs meet these requirements. An overriding OEM concern, of course, is keeping system costs low, since the highly competitive wireless market requires continual reduction in per-channel costs. TI's IC design and manufacturing is the key to rapid cost reduction, along with high performance, low power consumption, and the integration of key functions that simplify system design and help OEMs get their products to market faster.
Equivalent in importance to cost is high system performance, which helps OEMs add more channels to their systems with fewer chips. Higher performance also helps OEMs comply with digital standards, opening bandwidth for more voice channels; or it may be used to increase voice quality through improved voice coding schemes, echo cancellation and other advanced functions. Signal encryption, which ensures greater privacy for users and greater billing security for service providers, also demands high system performance. TI DSPs are optimized to provide the performance required for specific applications such as base stations. In addition, TI product roadmaps assure OEMs that the IC products they are using will continue to increase in performance, so that future system generations can continue to evolve.
Another base station OEM requirement that TI must meet is the on-chip integration of large amounts of memory. Base stations require substantial blocks of RAM for handling rapid changes of data as callers enter and depart cell areas. Other requirements include low IC power consumption to reduce the need for space and fans for cooling the system and to minimize the need for backup power. OEMs also need ICs with the right set of peripherals, such as multiple serial ports, to help designers implement multiple receive channels per DSP. Support for multiple DSPs in the same system allows the processors to share memory, buses and peripherals, minimizing board space and cost. On-chip multiprocessing support appears in the form of host port interfaces that allow the DSPs to communicate with each other.
TI has directed its hardware development efforts at providing solutions that address these and similar requirements. In addition, TI's strong software support helps an OEM achieve fast time to market with a new product, as well as ease of update for existing products in order to change or add standards. With good software support, OEMs find it easier to modify existing designs in order to enter new markets.
TMS320C6x DSPs Meet Multichannel Application Needs
TI's highly successful TMS320C54x DSPs and DSP cores have been designed into handsets by a number of digital wireless OEMs. Now TI has launched its new TMS320C6x DSP family, which is designed to satisfy the needs of multichannel communication applications such as wireless base stations, multichannel modems, telephone switches and remote access servers. The new 'C6x DSPs are optimized for outstanding performance at a low cost per channel to enable pico stations and other innovative communication products of the future.
At the heart of the 'C6x design is an advanced Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture, which increases the parallel execution of instructions by packing up to eight 32-bit instructions into a single cycle. An advanced C compiler generates code that operates at 3x improvement in compiler efficiency over existing compilers. In addition to dramatically improving performance, the advanced VLIW architecture and compiler help reduce code development time for OEMs.
The first 'C6x products appearing are designed using 0.25-um CMOS technology, with a roadmap to 0.18-um CMOS based on TI's 125-million-transistor TImeline technology. Because these processes are very thrifty in power consumption, 'C6x-based systems will run cool and be less expensive to operate.
TI's initial offering in the 'C6x family is its TMS320C6201, a fixed-point device operating at 200 MHz. With its 5 nanosecond cycle time and eight parallel execution units, the 'C6201 can process up to 1600 MIPS -- more than ten times the performance of previous DSPs. Among the operations used heavily in communications, multiply-accumulate operations (MACs) can be accomplished 400 million times per second, and a 1024-point complex Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) requires only 70 microseconds. On-chip peripherals such as 1Mbit RAM, two timers and dual enhanced buffered serial ports further tailor the 'C6201 for base station systems. The dual enhanced buffered serial ports on the 'C6201 offer a glueless interface to T1/E1 telecommunications trunks. The 'C601 is the first DSP to offer enhanced buffered serial ports.
Using a 'C6201, an OEM can implement a base station with 30 enhanced full-rate (EFR) GSM channels at a mere $3 per channel, compared with five channels at $7 per channel with competing solutions. The 'C6201 solution not only offers a 50 percent cost savings, it also lowers the chip count and dramatically reduces system space. Now a 128-channel base station can be built using four 'C6201 DSPs, as opposed to 24 DSPs previously.
TI created the 'C6x DSP core to be used with its customizable DSP (cDSPT) design methodology, allowing the company to introduce new products quickly in order to meet specific market demands. The cDSP approach allows the company to tailor on-chip RAM, ROM and flash memories to meet the requirements of individual applications, and also to introduce important functions such as host bus interfaces and additional serial ports. TI has the logic and mixed-signal functions required to support a wide variety of high-performance DSP applications, as well as the ASIC design and process technologies needed to integrate these functions successfully. In addition, TI offers software modules supporting the major international wireless standards to help its customers simplify their development and speed time to market.
Wireless OEM customers also benefit from the vast system-level expertise TI has gained from base station and hand-held instrument designs worldwide. With an international design, support and manufacturing infrastructure, TI offers its customers the support they need in their own global businesses. TI's manufacturing strength assures its customers of secure supplies and fast volume ramp-up. Finally, the company's Wireless Communications Business Unit leverages all of TI's many technological strengths for the benefit of its wireless customers.
The Key to a Wireless Future
Consumers are demanding more capacity, better voice quality, and more advanced features such as better data communications at lower cost. TI's new 'C6x DSP family is designed to meet these needs in multichannel applications such as wireless base stations. Just as earlier generations of TI DSPs have served to increase the performance and decrease the cost of wireless telephones, 'C6x DSPs will be a key enabler of wireless base stations into the next century.>>> |
