Amphion IP Cores Enable Single-chip ADPCM Solution for Speech Coding in OC-192 Systems.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers BELFAST, N. Ireland & SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2002 Extended range of silicon-proven application-specific cores for ITU (International Telecommunication Union, Geneva, Switzerland, www.itu.ch) A telecommunications standards body that is under the auspices of the United Nations. Comprising more than 185 member countries, the ITU sets standards for global telecom networks. standards-compliant speech coding - G.721, G.723, G.726, G.726a, G.727, G.727a - in SoC/ASIC and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. Amphion Semiconductor Ltd., the leading provider of semiconductor intellectual-property for multimedia, data security, wireless and broadband communications, today announces enhancements to its communications family of plug-and-play IP core solutions for multi-channel ITU-compliant ADPCM (Adaptive Differential PCM) A widely used variation of PCM that codes the difference between sample points like differential PCM (DPCM), but can also dynamically switch the coding scale to compensate for variations in amplitude and frequency. speech coding in 130nm ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. and high-density FPGA integrated circuit designs. The CS4000 family of ADPCM cores delivers up to 3470 simplex, or 1735 duplex, speech channels for cost-effective implementation of high-end telecommunications systems. For example, in metropolitan area networks (MANs) adhering to OC-192 and requiring 129,024 duplex voice channels, Amphion can enable a single ADPCM ASIC that requires only 75 instantiations of the CS4590 (3M logic gates total, less than 35 nanowatts per channel) along with 72MB of system memory. In contrast, a high performance DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive solution would require over 2,000 instantiations at approximately 4 milliwatts per channel plus memory. "Amphion core solutions for ADPCM easily scale to high-end applications and cost just a fraction of a DSP-based solution," observed Stephen Farson, Amphion's VP Engineering. "An OC-192 system would require about 2,000 of the best DSPs available - the rack-level complexity alone makes that approach undesirable even before you consider the higher component costs, higher power consumption, and statistically greater risk of component failure. Core-based system-level integration plays an important role in a market where providers are trying to deliver higher bandwidth within the confines of limited space, power grid capacity, air conditioning and budgets." IP Cores for Telecommunications A single instance of the CS4190 core, with capacity for 1,532 duplex voice channels, can readily be combined with Amphion CS3720/CS3780 5GHz Wireless LAN Baseband cores in the design of a compact wireless DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) A cordless phone standard mostly used in Europe; however, DECT 6.0 is increasingly used worldwide. The first DECT standards were introduced by ETSI in 1992, and DECT phones have been used as cordless home phones as base station with channel count comparable to OC-1. "Amphion ADPCM cores also work well in the latest programmable logic technologies," said Dr. Jean-Paul Heron, Senior FAE, Amphion. "Recently a customer designed a very cost effective OC-3 system around two pairs of CS4180 cores (single-clock cycle architecture) to achieve 2,048 duplex channels on two Xilinx Virtex-II(TM) XC2V1000-4 devices." Amphion cores are developed with `plug-and-play' design in mind. Deliverables include pre-optimized netlists, `C' models, RTL (Register Transfer Level) A high-level hardware description language (HDL) for defining digital circuits. The circuits are described as a collection of registers, Boolean equations, control logic such as "if-then-else" statements as well as complex event sequences; test benches, synthesis scripts, databook and users guide. For convenience, Amphion includes a test bench generator that compliments the `C' model to simplify configuration of complex ITU test data. Amphion provides one full year of free technical support with every core licensed. CS4000 Family: Features and Benefits The Amphion ADPCM CS4000 family cores provide: -- Multi-standard support for ITU standards: G.721, G.723, G.726, G.726a, G.727, G.727a -- Channel counts ranging from 16 to 3470- multiple instantiations support flexible design optimization up through OC-768 -- Typically less than 9 gates per simplex channel - excellent cost and power savings -- Single-Port RAM for ASIC versions - cuts design size in half for high channel counts -- A memory-less architecture (CS4590) - enables further optimization of architecture for very high channel counts -- On-line configurability between G.726a and G.727a - switch between linear and logarithmic compression rates on-the-fly -- Optimized netlists for ASIC and programmable technologies - facilitates prototype and migration roadmaps -- Microprocessor and DSP independence - no software programming means that scarce MIPS can be applied to valued-add system functions ADPCM Applications -- DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (communications, standard) Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications - (DECT, formerly ".. European ..") A standard developed by the European Telecommunication Standard Institute from 1988, governing pan-European digital mobile telephony. ) -- DCME DCME Digital Circuit Multiplication Equipment DCME Drake Continuum Map Editor (for online game Continuum) (Digital Circuit Multiplication Equipment Digital Circuit Multiplication Equipment (DCME) is a type of voice compression equipment that is installed at either end of a long-distance link (typically satellite or submarine). The main characteristics of DCME are defined in ITU-T recommendation G.763. ) -- Voice portals (speech-enabled web access) -- Digital audio storage -- Video-conferencing -- Personal communications service -- Voice-mail systems -- Digital cellular mobile communications -- Digital mobile radio -- Encrypted telephony -- Commercial aircraft telephony -- Internet phone systems - Voice-Over-IP (VoIP, VoN, etc) Product Availability These products are available now. OEMs and systems designers interested in Amphion ADPCM cores for telecommunications ASIC and FPGA projects can contact Amphion directly. About OC-192 SONET defines a technology for carrying many signals of different capacities through a synchronous, flexible, optical hierarchy. The base signal is referred to as synchronous transport signal-level 1 (STS-1) which operates at 51.84 Mbps. Higher-level signals are integer multiples of STS-1 (for instance, STS-3 is 3 times STS-1 = 155 Mbps). A designated optical carrier (OC) corresponds to each STS (Synchronous Transport Signal) The electrical equivalent of the SONET optical signal. In SDH, the European counterpart of SONET, STS is known as STM (Synchronous Transport Module). level (OC-3, OC-48, OC-192, etc). Thus, OC-192 can support 10-GB data loads. ITU provides asynchronous Refers to events that are not synchronized, or coordinated, in time. The following are considered asynchronous operations. The interval between transmitting A and B is not the same as between B and C. The ability to initiate a transmission at either end. standards defining the number of voice channels corresponding to STS/OC carrier capacity. About Amphion Amphion is the leading supplier of application-specific cores for IP-based System-on-a-Chip (SoC) integrated circuit designs for multimedia, data security, wireless and broadband communications. Amphion delivers high-performance solutions for video and image compression, advanced encryption, and speech and channel coding with a comprehensive range of silicon- optimised products. Using proprietary techniques for the direct-mapping of processing functions and algorithms into hardware, Amphion develops and licenses semiconductor intellectual-property (SIP) cores that are close to optimal in terms of power, cycles, and area - typically 1 to 3 orders of magnitude better than competing solutions. Amphion cores operate standalone, or by direct interface to industry-standard RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. and DSP processors, and can be easily migrated through different generations of fabrication technology, thus preserving engineering investments in SoC design. Amphion is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. with corporate headquarters and engineering in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and worldwide sales and marketing headquarters in San Jose, California San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) is the third-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. , USA. Amphion was formerly known as Integrated Silicon Systems Ltd, or ISS ISS See Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). . For more information, visit http://www.amphion.com Notes to Editors: Amphion, The Amphion logo, and "Virtual Components for the Converging World" are trademarks of Amphion Semiconductor Ltd. All other brand names or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. |
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