The MathWorks Delivers Next Generation Simulation Architecture for Advanced DSP Design.

NATICK, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1998--

DSP Engineers Gain Accelerated Development Cycles Through

Improvements in Design Efficiency, Simulation Speed

and Tighter Tool Integration

Delivering the next generation of its DSP design solution, The MathWorks, Inc. announced today the newest version of The MathWorks DSP Workshop product suite. The DSP Workshop, a single integrated software environment comprised of MATLAB, Simulink, DSP Blockset, and Signal Processing Toolbox, offers DSP engineers significantly faster simulations, a tighter migration path between tools, improvements in design efficiency and the ability to simulate an entire system-level design. With new functionality and fundamental architectural improvements to Simulink and the DSP Blockset, The MathWorks new DSP Workshop suite provides a strong foundation on which the Company will build future DSP solutions.

At the core of the improved DSP Workshop suite are fundamental architectural improvements in the DSP Blockset that provide streamlined design cycles and faster simulations. New support for frame-based processing in the DSP Blockset allows users to process blocks of data, as well as individual data samples within a time-driven simulation. As a result, Simulink users can now simulate DSP designs at speeds previously available only in dataflow simulators, while enabling a more natural mapping to real-time implementation. Engineers who use frame-based algorithms, particularly in speech and audio applications, will typically see an increase in simulation speed of 10 times or greater over the previous version of Simulink.

"The results from our latest annual survey of DSP professionals indicate that there is a continuing need for better software tools for systems design," commented Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, a Tempe, Ariz., market research firm that specializes in DSP. "We know that MATLAB is the industry-leading DSP algorithm development tool, owning half of the $20 million market for DSP algorithm development tools. By building a substantial simulation and design environment onto MATLAB, The MathWorks has demonstrated its ability to deliver leading design solutions with this release of the DSP Workshop."

The rearchitected DSP Blockset leverages the new infrastructure in Simulink 3 for use in real-time speech, audio, and communications applications. Each block now automatically adapts to the incoming signal's data type, sampling rate, and frame size. These enhancements reduce the size of simulation models and generated real-time code, and they eliminate the time-consuming and error-prone task of manually verifying the properties of each individual block.

"MathWorks DSP Workshop will provide one of the most powerful DSP simulation tools in the market today," said Charlie Ashton, manager, DSP Hardware and Software Tools, Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector. "The MathWorks success in providing this advanced technology to a broader range of design engineers will effectively streamline the process of simulation and implementation of DSP algorithms, which in turn brings their products to market faster."

"Using MATLAB, Simulink, and Real Time Workshop will help tie the algorithm development and product implementation phases of the process together in a way that lets every engineer see the whole project from concept to testing to coding," said Dr. Randy Cole, branch manager at Texas Instruments DSP Solutions Research and Development Center. "We see the future of advanced DSP design in development tools like those from The MathWorks."

Further improvements to the DSP Workshop include new usability and scalability features in Simulink. Simulink 3 contains complex data types, sample-rate propagation, and efficient support for multi-rate systems that support a clean, natural design of real-time DSP algorithms, as well as efficient simulation of large-scale communication systems. They also provide the foundation for ongoing improvements in the speed and fidelity of simulations.

"The new DSP Workshop makes cutting-edge design and simulation tools more accessible to the growing number of companies who are using DSP technology for next generation applications in communications, consumer electronics, and multimedia computing," said Ken Karnofsky, DSP marketing manager at The MathWorks. "The DSP market focus is expanding from chip design to embedded systems and software applications. As the user base broadens, we see a corresponding shift in user requirements toward affordable, easy-to-use, integrated simulation and development tools. The new DSP Workshop architecture provides engineers who have all levels of DSP experience and budgets with a world-class simulation tool that offers access to faster, more efficient simulations and accelerated design flow."

"For the first time," continued Karnofsky, "DSP and communications engineers have a single, integrated programming and visual environment that moves designs rapidly from the conceptual algorithm stage, into system simulation, and into prototyping and implementation of real-time DSP software applications."

In support of this goal, the DSP Blockset now contains all of the essential matrix math and signal processing functionality that have made MATLAB and the Signal Processing Toolbox indispensable tools for algorithm development. With the inclusion of over 50 new blocks to DSP Blockset 3 that support linear algebra, spectral estimation, multi-rate filters and filter banks, and an expanded set of fundamental computational and control operations, users can now move MATLAB-based algorithms directly into efficient simulations that mirror the operation of the DSP processor and map naturally to the real-time implementation. This seamless migration between initial concept design and detailed simulation is unique in the industry, and dramatically shortens design cycles.

Enhancements to the filter design tools within the DSP Workshop suite further support an integrated design flow. In the Signal Processing Toolbox 4.3, the graphical user interface now supports improved visualization of filter designs, including an interactive pole-zero editor. In addition, the DSP Blockset's filter realization wizard, which automatically generates efficient block diagram filter structures from the user's specification, now supports fixed-point FIR filters of any word length up to 128 bits when the optional Fixed Point Blockset 2 is installed. Together, these tools remove much of the guesswork in the design and implementation of digital filters.

Since its introduction last September, The MathWorks DSP Workshop suite has been adopted by one-third of Fortune 500's telecommunications, network equipment, computer, and semiconductor companies. Available on both the PC and UNIX platforms, the DSP Workshop is used by DSP and communications engineers designing products in the wireless and broadband communications, speech processing, semiconductor, and consumer electronics markets.

Pricing and Availability

The new DSP Workshop supports Microsoft Windows 95 and NT, Sun, HP, IBM, Silicon Graphics, and DEC Alpha workstations. Pricing starts at $5,900 and varies depending on location, platform, and configuration.

About The MathWorks

Established in 1984, The MathWorks, Inc., based in Natick, Mass., develops, markets, and supports MATLAB, Simulink and a family of data analysis toolboxes for scientists, engineers, and technical professionals. MATLAB provides the foundation and computational engine for all of The MathWorks products. Widely recognized as the industry's premier language for technical computing, MATLAB provides comprehensive math and visualization functionality, specialized application toolboxes and a powerful high-level language for users to interactively explore, analyze, design, and prototype solutions to their problems. Simulink is a graphical, block-diagram environment for modeling, analyzing, and simulating a broad range of dynamic nonlinear systems. The MathWorks products are used throughout the world in industries such as automotive, aerospace, environmental, telecommunications, computer peripherals, finance, and medical. More than 400,000 users at the world's leading industrial, government and educational organizations rely on The MathWorks products for tremendous gains in productivity and flexibility.

CONTACT: The MathWorks, Inc. Sterling Hager, Inc.

Karen Tuttle  Jeanne MacMillan

508-647-7437 617-926-6665

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