Synopsys Accelerates System-Level C-Based DSP Design With CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer Tool.Business Editors MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2000 New CoCentric(TM) Family Product Automates Conversion of Floating-Point to Fixed-Point C Code using SystemC Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS SNPS Space Nuclear Power System ) the technology leader for complex integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for (IC) design, today announced the upcoming release of CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer at 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 World in San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , CA. Fixed-Point Designer is the latest tool in Synopsys' new CoCentric product family -- a set of C-based system-level design tools and methodologies centered around concurrent development of complex hardware and software systems. Fixed-Point Designer enables hardware and software engineers who develop signal processing See DSP. algorithms in ANSI-C using floating-point data types to quickly and reliably convert their code into executable fixed-point C code. Market Demands Floating-Point to Fixed-Point Conversion Tool Engineers typically develop signal-processing algorithms for telecommunications, multimedia and voice applications using ANSI-C and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. floating-point data types. ANSI-C is widely used to describe these functions, yet while floating-point descriptions are fast and easy to create, they do not accurately reflect the typically fixed-point implementation. These floating-point algorithms then require conversion to fixed-point in order to meet the power, cost and portability demands of end products such as handheld, battery-powered consumer electronic devices. Converting the floating-point algorithm into fixed-point has traditionally been a time-consuming and often error-prone task, introducing an undesired delay in the overall development process. Furthermore, since ANSI-C has no fixed-point native data types, engineers are forced to create their own solutions which limits the portability and reusability of the resulting code. With the introduction of CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer, Synopsys further extends its system-level design solutions with a tool that takes advantage of the recently introduced public fixed-point data types of SystemC. The tool automates the conversion process using a unique C-based interpolative analysis technology that works directly on the source code. Synopsys CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer is unique in that it automatically converts floating-point data types to fully executable SystemC fixed-point data types, however the automation does allow the engineer an interactive capability to tailor the outcome for best results. The converted code has no surprises--it consists purely of ANSI-C code and the additional SystemC fixed-point data types. "Everybody wants this!" says Will Strauss, president, Forward Concepts, upon first hearing about CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer. "Assembly language is what everyone ultimately needs, but it's always easier to work in a high-level language A machine-independent programming language, such as FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, Pascal and C/C++. It lets the programmer concentrate on the logic of the problem to be solved rather than the intricacies of the machine architecture such as is required with low-level assembly languages. ," he added. "This tool confirms a vision of increasing automation in the DSP software design flow." "We completed the analysis of CoCentric Fixed Point Designer on Voyan DSP algorithms and a high order closed loop controller of our own design. Scaling propagation via the interpolation interpolation In mathematics, estimation of a value between two known data points. A simple example is calculating the mean (see mean, median, and mode) of two population counts made 10 years apart to estimate the population in the fifth year. step is representative of what we had to do either manually or by 'home-grown' automatic methods that take advantage of certain DSP structures," states Jim Waite, real-time engineering manager, Voyan Technology, Santa Clara Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. , CA. "Given that Fixed-Point Designer presumes no structure to the algorithm, it represents a valuable contribution - especially because of the interpolation step. In summary, we generally consider the tool to be useful and time saving and it fits well into our Matlab-oriented flow." "DSP design teams have long sought to automate this painful design task in the design flow," said Joachim Kunkel, vice president and general manager, System-Level Design business unit at Synopsys. "CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer gives engineers an accurate and repeatable process for converting ANSI-C floating-point software into SystemC-compatible, bit-exact, executable C code. The result is an algorithmic description of a fixed-point design that gives a clear insight into the algorithm's numerical behavior and serves as a solid jumping-off point Noun 1. jumping-off point - a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; "he uses other people's ideas as a springboard for his own"; "reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions"; "the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an for the actual implementation in hardware or software." Pricing and Availability CoCentric Fixed-Point Designer will be available in June. Pricing is $6,600 US for a one-year term license, or $20,000 US for a perpetual license. About The Synopsys CoCentric Family On March 27th, 2000, Synopsys introduced CoCentric System Studio, the first product in the CoCentric family, which extends current system-level design and verification solutions. New methodologies and tools are required to tackle the design problems of the future that mix hardware with software targeted to customized silicon containing embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. DSP and controller cores. This new generation of products focuses on the "Co-design, Co-simulation, Co-development, and Co-verification" aspects of system-level design. About SystemC The Open SystemC Initiative establishes an interoperable, open modeling platform to promote the growth of C-based design and enable exchange of system-level C++ models and executable specifications. The collaboration promises to establish a de-facto modeling standard for the benefit of the entire electronics industry. There is broad and growing support for SystemC from leading companies in the semiconductor, electronic systems, IP, EDA (1) (Electronic Design Automation) Using the computer to design, lay out, verify and simulate the performance of electronic circuits on a chip or printed circuit board. and embedded software Instructions that permanently reside in a ROM or flash memory chip. Embedded software may be immediately available to the CPU or, for faster execution, may be transferred to RAM first and then executed. industries. Users can download the SystemC modeling platform, which includes the SystemC specification, source code and reference manual, at http://www.systemc.org/ About Synopsys Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS) is a leading supplier of electronic design automation (EDA) solutions to the global electronics market. The company provides comprehensive design technologies to creators of advanced integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. , electronic systems and systems on a chip. Synopsys also provides consulting services Noun 1. consulting service - service provided by a professional advisor (e.g., a lawyer or doctor or CPA etc.) service - work done by one person or group that benefits another; "budget separately for goods and services" and support to its customers to streamline the overall design process and accelerate time-to-market. Additional information about Synopsys is available at http://www.synopsys.com Synopsys is a registered trademark. CoCentric is a trademark of Synopsys, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners. |
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