OPAL/ Modular - massively parallel computing for consumer media devicesEast Grinstead 06 June 2001 The Opal Group and Aspex Technology will co-operate to produce a high performance, flexible, scalable processor which gives high performance for digital media appliances as well as in wired and wireless communications infrastructure. The VASP 4096 Linedancer, which will tape out later this summer, combines 4096 associative processing elements with functional blocks and glue logic enabling a single chip solution with 1.2 billion MOPS performance. Media processing applications such as information gateways, speech recognition or image processing systems can thus migrate from an integrated fixed function set of devices into a flexible software implementation.
Aspex Technology specialises in developing advanced processor architectures
for next generation consumer electronic products, office automation products,
and networking access and communication devices. Linedancer will be the first
off-the-shelf device for sale incorporating Aspex' advanced Associative String
Processing Core (ASProCore). The processor architecture is highly scalable;
cascading multiple ASProCores allows application performance to be scaled
linearly.
The VASP4096 has a 64-bit PCI interface for easy integration, and a 266 MHz
I/O interface for direct high-speed data transfer. A low level ASP controller
(LAC), a secondary data movement controller (SDMC), a 32-bit RISC CPU and an
integrated primary data store (PDS) memory module are also integrated. It is
available in a 672 pin STBGA package and peak power consumption is 4W at 266
MHz.
Software support includes cross development tools, run-time libraries and a
graphical source code debugger for Extended-C code.
Aspex Technology has pioneered the use of associated string processing (ASP)
to manipulate data in ways appropriate to the requirements of consumer digital
media devices. The company's architectural approach combines the implementation
simplicity, high performance and immense scalability of the SIMD (Single
Instruction operating on Multiple Data) computational model, with the natural
manner of associative processing to manipulate data in a variety of abstract
ways. This combination of processor technology delivers the performance that
developers need to implement the mathematical functions for standards
implementation, while retaining the flexibility to customise digital media
services. Each of these qualities is essential to respond quickly to market
opportunities created by emerging standards and protocols.
The ASProCore is a programmable, homogeneous and fault-tolerant SIMD parallel
processor core incorporating a string of identical processing units, a
reconfigurable intercommunication network, and a vector data buffer for fully-
overlapped data input-output. The number of processing units incorporated in a
device can be scaled easily to achieve higher processing power. Linedancer is
the first commercially available processor from Aspex, and features a core
containing 4096 associative processing elements.
Ad Emmen |
 |