Lexra aces DSP test

Lexra aces DSP test, Bluetooth core fit for Xilinx
By Michael Santarini, EE Times
July 2, 2001 (9:50 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20010702S0019

Lexra Inc.'s LX5280 licensable DSP core has been certified by Berkeley Design Technology Inc., with a BDTImark2000 score of 790 out of 1,000 for a 185-MHz implementation. According to Lexra, as a processor capable of executing compute-intensive DSP algorithms as well as RTOS-based control code, the LX5280 demonstrates in the BDTImark2000 testing that its architecture is as high-performance as the most popular DSPs, such as the DSP16xxx from Agere. The benchmark is said to have concluded that the LX5280 ties with Agere's DSP16xxx as the highest-performance non-long-instruction-word DSPs.

Lexra said it has seven design wins in Internet TV, Internet access device and voice-over-Internet Protocol chips. The company believes that achieving a near-1,000 BDTImark2000 gives the LX5280 a favorable price/performance point for licensees looking to integrate a DSP core that will run multiple algorithms. Applications requiring more than 1,000 BDTImark2000 ca n almost always be channelized and divided into multiple LX5280s for execution, Lexra said. The small die area of the LX5280 makes it feasible for licensees to use multiple instantiations to scale the performance.

Further information about the BDTImark2000 is available on Berkeley Design's Web site, www.BDTI.com.

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NewLogic Technologies AG, a Xilinx AllianceCore partner, has released a version of its Boost Lite Bluetooth baseband processor core for Xilinx Virtex-II and Virtex-E FPGAs. The core is said to perform all baseband functions and is qualified by the Bluetooth Qualification Board. NewLogic offers a similar solution for Xilinx competitor Altera.

The new core targets Bluetooth-enabled personal, home and business mobile devices and appliances. A Virtex-II FPGA based hardware development board is also available.

The core complies with the latest v1.1 Bluetooth specification and performs data serialization, cyclic redundancy ch ecking, encryption and forward error correction, according to NewLogic. It has selectable operating frequency modes (12, 13 or 16 MHz) and low-power modes (sniff, hold and park). All Bluetooth packet types as well as TDMA/TDD frames are supported. The core also processes voice traffic by means of an optional continuous variable-slope delta modulation encoder and PCM interface.

The Boost Lite development board for Xilinx Virtex-II and Virtex-E FPGAs is available for Bluetooth system development.

The baseband processor residing in the Virtex-II FPGA interfaces to an external SiliconWave radio module and ARM processor. The core also comes with an optional software stack that includes the link control (L2CAP), link manager (LMP) and HCI layers of the Bluetooth protocol stack.

An encrypted netlist version of the core targeting a single project starts at $25,000.

The company offers synthesizable netlist and RTL source code versions of the core. NewLogic also licenses the full Blue tooth protocol software stack.

The Virtex-II and Virtex-E FPGA development boards and training courses are available separately.

See www.xilinx.com/ipcenter or www.newlogic.com.