Amphion launches low-power turbo code core solutions for 3G wireless and satellite communications

IP 2001, Santa Clara (March 19, 2001) - Amphion Semiconductor, Inc. (formerly known as Integrated Silicon Systems) today announced the introduction of highly integrated virtual component (IP core) Channel Coding solutions for Turbo Code encoding and decoding. The Amphion CS3500 series of Application Specific Virtual Components (ASVC) is intended to deliver the highest forward error correction (FEC) performance in applications such as third generation (3G) wireless handsets and basestation infrastructures, and satellite communications. Standard products in the CS3500 ASVC family are scheduled for ASIC and programmable logic in versions that have been optimized for maximum performance and minimal power consumption. Further economies in power usage have been made possible by incorporating unique signal processing algorithms into Amphion's Turbo Code decoder architectures - especially valuable in 3G terminal/phone designs for mobile cellular communications.

Amphion's CS3510 and CS3610 ASVC offerings support error correction standards as specified by the Third Generation Product Partnership (3GPP) for average data rates of 2.048 Mbps. In burst processing mode, the CS3500 family supports data rates more than one order of magnitude higher than average rates. A standard 16-bit processor interface enables easy user set-up of coding parameters. The sister CS3520 and CS3620 ASVCs support similar CDMA standards (TIA/EIA/IS-2000.2-A), while the CS3530 and CS3630 cover both standards.

"These new products are fully compliant with the next-generation cellular telephone standards mandated by 3GPP and CDMA2000 for incorporation in both basestation and handset design." said Jordan Selburn, Amphion's Director of Product Marketing. "One key feature of Amphion's Turbo Code products is the unique power-saving techniques incorporated here for the first time. Think of the CS3500 ASVCs as low power on-chip ASSPs for Turbo Code."

Amphion (formerly ISS) is a long-time supplier of Forward Error Correction (FEC) solutions, notably Reed Solomon and Viterbi cores, in highly reusable Firm IP (targeted netlist) versions for ASIC and FPGA. CS3000 Channel Coding ASVCs form the heart of IP-based SoC platforms for today's digital communications systems.

Turbo Codes
The use of Turbo Codes enhances the data transmission efficiency in digital communications systems, enabling reliable communications over power-constrained communications channels at close to Shannon's limit. This technique provides a particularly robust error correction solution designed to combat channel fading. "Turbo Codes present a more elegant and silicon-efficient solution than so-called Concatenated FEC solutions, typically assembled from Reed Solomon block coder and Viterbi convolutional coder elements." said Stephen Farson, Amphion's VP Engineering. "Using Amphion's Turbo Code cores, 3G systems designers get an off-the-shelf, standards-compliant solution that has been architected top-down with more aggressive power budgets in mind." In the Amphion Turbo Code decoder, a mechanism for early termination of iterative decoding helps conserve power by intelligent and timely suspension of processing activity. This feature contributes to power consumption savings for System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs destined for use in battery-powered mobile cell phones, for example.

Availability
A selection of Amphion's range of Turbo Code products for ASIC (e.g. TSMC 0.18-micron process), Xilinx Virtex-E FPGA devices, and Altera APEX devices will be available beginning in the second quarter of 2001. Details on pricing and delivery are available on request from Amphion sales offices in the US, Europe and Japan, and via e-mail at info@amphion.com

About Amphion
Amphion is the leading supplier of application-specific virtual components (ASVCs) for multimedia and communications System-on-a-Chip (SoC) integrated circuits. Amphion delivers video/image compression, speech/voice coding, and channel coding solutions for consumer and communications applications. Using proprietary techniques for direct-mapped implementations of digital signal processing functions and algorithms in hardware, Amphion develops and licenses IP cores that realize 10X to 1000X improvements in performance compared to conventional implementations using software-programmable DSP processors. Amphion is a privately-held company with corporate headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and worldwide sales and marketing operations in San Jose, California. For more information, visit the Amphion website at http://www.Amphion.com

ISS becomes Amphion[tm]
Until year-end 2000, Amphion was known as Integrated Silicon Systems Ltd, or ISS. The change of corporate identity represents the company's commitment to providing innovative signal processing solutions aimed at rapidly growing markets such as wireless, broadband and Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP). Over the last 20 months, ISS has rapidly rolled out a broad range of application specific virtual components (ASVCs) designed to be the cornerstones of advanced convergence products. The name Amphion is taken from Greek mythology: Amphion, a son of Zeus, built walls around the city of Thebes using his lyre to charm blocks of stone into alignment. Amphion's business is providing speech, video and data processing ASVCs - the key building blocks in System-on-a-Chip designs. Available off-the-shelf, ASVCs are a major contributor to speeding the design and development processes for customers implementing applications in SoC, ASIC and FPGA.

Notes to Editors:
Amphion, The Amphion logo, "Virtual Components for the Converging World", "Innovation by Amphion", "The Multimedia ASVC Company", Optima and Celerity are trademarks of Amphion Semiconductor Ltd. All other brand names or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
 

Contacts :

David Mann, Amphion
UK: +44 (0)28 9050-4040
marcom@amphion.com

Jordan Selburn, Amphion
USA: (408) 392-8983
marcom@amphion.com