EtherWaves e Tensilica: il processore per la radio digitale è riconfigurabile

Dopo oltre due anni dal mio ultimo post sull'argomento torna a farsi viva con un comunicato stampa della israeliana EtherWaves, una azienda che ha sviluppato una interessante (almeno sulla carta) architettura per le demodulazione software defined di tutti gli standard de facto per la radio digitale: DAB, DAB+, DMB, DMB SLS, DAB Data, DRM, MP4. Con il suo ClearSignal, EtherWaves si rivolge all'industria dell'automotive e dei System on Chip (SoC) con un ambiente che è stato adattato alla architettura per processori riconfigurabili - Dataplane Processing Unit - Xtensa, a sua volta realizzata da Tensilica. L'argomento è quanto mai complesso ma affascinante. Una introduzione non certo divulgativa ma relativamente semplice è in questo articolo sui microprocessori configurabili che ho trovato su uno dei siti Tensilica. A grandi linee l'approccio consiste nel superare le tradizionali architetture di calcolo DSP con set di istruzioni fisso, ma anche il processing effettuato a livello RTL (register transfer level), per esempio nelle FPGA codificate manualmente per applicazioni ad hoc. Xtensa in pratica mette a disposizione dei blocchi pre-configurati che il programmatore RTL assembla per ottenere qualcosa di funzionalmente molto simile a un processore DSP general purpose, mantenendo però le performance della logica cablata.

Un ambiente di sviluppo come ClearSignal chiude il cerchio fornendo un linguaggio che consente di adattare quei blocchi a diverse applicazioni in ambito DSP. Secondo il recente comunicato stampa EtherWaves numerosi clienti dell'automotive e sviluppatori di SoC hanno utilizzato ClearSignal e i prodotti Tensilica per le loro soluzioni di car entertainment, radio digitale e lettori multimediali. Uno dei vantaggi dei livelli di ottimizzazione raggiunti è che i componenti realizzati sono estremamente efficienti rispetto ai processori specializzati tradizionali e assorbono meno corrente, adattandosi così alle necessità di una industria di terminali sempre più leggeri e portatili. Bisognerà vedere quanto tutto questo riesca ad accelerare la capacità di produrre ingenti volumi di ricevitori per la radio digitale, a bordo dell'auto e tutti gli altri scenari d'uso. Vorrei soffermarmi sulle possibilità descritte nel comunicato EtherWaves, per esempio quella di demodulare l'audio di un canale DAB e contemporaneamente decodificare le informazioni T-PEG trasmesse da un secondo canale.

EtherWaves Expands Digital Radio Choice – Adds Support for Tensilica Dataplane Processor Cores

Mobile device designers now have additional choices for adding ClearSignal advanced Software Defined Radio (SDR) capability

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL and SANTA CLARA, CALIF. USA -- September 12, 2011-- EtherWaves, an acknowledged industry leader for Digital Radio Intellectual Property (IP) for cars and SoC (system-on-chip), and Tensilica, the leader in customizable dataplane processor IP cores, today announced the further expansion of the ClearSignal software-based DAB/DMB solution, by porting to Tensilica's Xtensa dataplane processor architecture. This addition meets EtherWaves' strategy of supporting leading chip architectures and continuously expanding the ClearSignal availability.

The new ClearSignal RF agnostic design broadens SoC designers' choice to immediately add Digital Radio capability to mobile devices, while keeping the required low power consumption. This ClearSignal implementation takes advantage of Tensilica's ConnX Vectra LX DSP Engine and other architecture optimizations for achieving a typical DAB channel reception at clock rates as low as 50 MIPS.

The new version implements all the broadcasting standards supported by ClearSignal: DAB, DAB+, T-DMB, DRM and in future DRM+, while exhibiting its renowned high performance.

"Tensilica cores and ClearSignal SDR-based Digital Radio match well in their quest and achievement of high performance radio reception," said Ben Gagin, EtherWaves CEO. "The successful porting to Tensilica's core follows our winning strategy to support the leading chip architectures, thereby offering additional flexibility to our customers," he added.

"Digital Radio is clearly the future of the radio market and we are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute with the rapid development of this new EtherWaves multi-standard solution," stated Larry Przywara, Tensilica's senior director of multimedia marketing. "This successful achievement proves that our architecture has the programmability and speed/power/efficiency necessary to help designers meet the high performance and cost-effectiveness requirements of modern Digital Radio receivers."

Tensilica's Xtensa dataplane processors can be customized for applications such as digital audio, baseband DSP, and many other functions that most general-purpose processor cores can't efficiently perform. By customizing the processor using Tensilica's automated process, designers can get the best combination of low power, high performance and efficiency for their designs.

The new ClearSignal version is available for licensing from EtherWaves, who also provides Digital Radio integration services for fast and cost effective implementation.

About ClearSignal

ClearSignal is a comprehensive software implementation for receiving and decoding Dual DAB / DAB+ / DMB / DMB SLS / DAB DATA / DRM / MP4 broadcasting, offering:

High scalability, such as:

simultaneous decoding of audio and data services

dual-tuner, capable of decoding simultaneously two similar or different systems, for example DAB+ and DRM (or DMB), or decoding audio from one DAB audio service while decoding TPEG(2) on a DAB data service

decoding DRM with background DAB

Seamless audio switch-over

when travelling between regions with different Digital Radio standards

when switching between different standards - FM Synchronization

Complete package, fully documented and accompanied by training, support, ATP and test materials.

Previous versions of ClearSignal have been used by Tier 1 automotive infotainment makers, deployed in high-end German and Italian automotive cars and used by innovative SoC manufacturers.

With the rapid introduction of powerful DSP in smartphones and automotive head-units, ClearSignal is committed to move forward on the roadmap for reducing customers' system costs and financial risks involved in maintaining stocks of dedicated ASICs.

About EtherWaves

EtherWaves develops and licenses Intellectual Property (IP) for Digital Radio receivers, focusing on the Automotive OEM and SoC market. Designed as pure software, EtherWaves IP enables the use of the powerful Software Defined Radio approach in the automotive and SOC markets for long term availability. In SOC designs, it enables a flexible mix of cores and silicon blocks, for fast development cycle, as well as low power consumption and cost-effective for the end-product. The company's ClearSignal technology enables high-quality, multi-standard Digital Broadcast reception. EtherWaves is a privately held company with headquarters in Israel. For more information, please visit us at http://www.etherwaves.com

About Tensilica

Tensilica, Inc. is the leader in customizable dataplane processor IP cores. Dataplane Processor Units (DPUs) combine the best capabilities of CPUs and DSPs while delivering 10 to100x the performance and can be customized using Tensilica's automated design tools to meet specific signal processing performance targets. Tensilica's DPUs power SOC designs at system OEMs and six out of the top 10 semiconductor companies for products including mobile phones, consumer electronics devices (including digital TV, Blu-ray Disc players, broadband set top boxes, digital still cameras and portable media players), computers, and storage, networking and communications equipment. For more information on Tensilica's patented, benchmark-proven DPUs visit www.tensilica.com.