01/30/01

3DSP DEMONSTRATES AN ADVANCED, EASY-TO-USE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR ITS HiFI DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT, ENABLING POINT-AND-CLICK AND FILL-IN-THE-BLANKS DESIGN OF SOCs BASED ON CONFIGURABLE DSPs

Santa Clara, CA, January 30, 2001 - 3DSP Corporation, the leader in configurable digital signal processor (DSP) architecture and associated system-on-a-chip (SOC) design and verification development tools, demonstrated an advanced graphical user interface (GUI) for its HiFIÔ SOC assisted design environment at DesignCon here. Using this capability, SOC designers can implement advanced DSP-based applications using simple point-and-click and fill-in-the-blanks techniques.

"Our HiFI SOC design environment now provides the object-oriented ease-of-use that will allow designers to leverage all the power and flexibility of our configurable SP-X DSP cores to create advanced silicon solutions for tomorrow's wireless, broadband, multimedia and networking applications," said HD Boesch, vice president of marketing at 3DSP. "Chip designers can use the advanced HiFI GUI to configure 3DSP's SP-X DSP core using simple point-and-click commands, thereby optimizing their DSP solution to a target application environment. They can then manage the tradeoffs between clock speed, area and power consumption, simulate and debug their solution, generate required test patterns and produce a complete HDL description of their device for a foundry -- all within the HiFI GUI. These capabilities ensure rapid time-to-market and a works-first-time end product for even the most complex DSP-based SOC designs," he noted.

Boesch explained that a configuration screen within the HiFI GUI allowed designers to select the number and type of execution units for their DSP solution. For example, engineers can add or subtract multipliers or accumulators, arithmetic units, logic units, and shifters then specify the maximum multiplier size that match the DSP calculating requirements within an application, all pointing and clicking on the HiFI GUI. The peripherals connected to 3DSP's ShuttleÔ intelligent system backbone can also be defined through the GUI with mouse clicks. Designers can then specify the required number and type of registers and buffers and set immediate constants that are useful for their application using a prompted fill-in-the-blanks facility. All of these operations generate a block diagram of their target configuration in an adjacent window of the HiFI GUI that changes with each set of specifications, providing a visual check of the system components and overall architecture as the design is being created.

"We believe that the HiFI GUI is the fastest and most reliable way to customize DSP functionality for a specific application environment in the market," Boesch said. "Once the target DSP core is configured, HiFI provides designers with a proprietary tool set to take it to the next level, by helping to achieve the lowest power, least expensive solution with the right, not necessarily highest, performance for their application."

Boesch indicated that this goal was accomplished using a performance analysis screen in the HiFI GUI, which takes the DSP configuration selected and, using a simple slider, shows the impact of changing clock speed and target chip area to tailor both SP-X core and Shuttle bus characteristics. Using this HiFI GUI feature, designers can determine in advance how these tradeoffs impact power consumption, and approximate the final fabrication cost of their target configuration. Several other advanced design features can be managed using the HiFI GUI. One in particular - the ability to add a custom instruction to the assembly language instruction set of the DSP core - can pay high dividends in increasing the performance of the configurable DSP solution. Designers can define a new instruction for a particular firmware operation for the SP-X core in 'C' code by employing templates and timing constraints provided within the HiFI design environment. Customers who use this capability to optimize the instruction set can easily double the system throughput of their DSP solution without impacting power consumption or silicon area - a real plus in ultimately differentiating their final silicon products.

Boesch noted that the HiFI GUI also provides advanced simulation and debugging, test program generation, and VHDL verification capabilities that moved the DSP solution through the design process quickly and accurately. "Using the power and flexibility of the HiFI SOC design environment is the fastest and most reliable way to turn DSP ideas into high performance working silicon that is priced right for the marketplace," he summarized.

About 3DSP

3DSP is a leader in implementing advanced digital signal processing solutions in silicon for embedded systems. The company offers the industry's only configurable DSP architecture, backed by a comprehensive object-oriented design environment to speed complex system-on-a-chip (SOC) implementations to silicon with first time success. Internet, broadband, wireless and multimedia designers are using 3DSP's capabilities to implement their next generation products. For more information on the company, its HiFI design environment and other products, visit www.3dsp.com or contact 3DSP headquarters at 16735 Von Karman, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92614 (phone: (949)260-0156; fax: (949)260-0151).