Freehand DSP unveils its Open and Scalable Architecture for Application-Specific Programmable DSP cores

Freehand DSP unveils its Open and Scalable Architecture for Application- Specific Programmable DSP cores Freehand DSP announced today the details of a new architecture for Digital Signal Processing engines that uniquely addresses the demand for scalable functional DSP performance, low power consumption, small silicon area and short time-to-market. The Open and Scalable Architecture, code name "OSCAR", allows the quick and easy design, and implementation as part of System-on-Chip solutions, of Application- Specific Programmable DSP (ASPDSP) cores optimized for a variety of multimedia and communication applications. Modern multimedia and communication applications are converging, demanding greater amounts of digital signal processing that General Purpose DSP architectures are failing to deliver within aggressive power consumption and cost targets. "SOC designers seeking ways to improve their existing solutions, or to enable new demanding applications, wish to complement or replace General Purpose DSP cores with more specialized processing engines" said Gweltaz Toquet, Freehand's marketing manager. Freehand, who released earlier this year the EchoDSP - industry's first programmable DSP core optimized for echo cancellation - is now offering a powerful and flexible architecture, with associated Intellectual Property building blocks and development tools, that allows chip designers to tailor ASPDSP engines to the requirements of their DSP applications. OSCAR extends Freehand's reach to a wider range of power- constrained applications, including wireless multimedia communicators (e.g. 3G or Wireless LAN terminals) and personal digital assistants (PDAs). "Freehand offers an interesting new approach to DSP Intellectual Property." said Will Strauss, president of DSP market watcher Forward Concepts. "They have recognized that there is a growing need for specialized DSP processors, and coprocessors for general purpose DSP or RISC cores. Their first product, the EchoDSP core, already addresses an immediate need in the growing VoIP market." Freehand DSP, Rissneleden 138, 174 57 Sundbyberg, Sweden Tel: +46 (0)8 733 04 20 ; Fax: +46 (0)8 733 03 49 ;Home page: www.freehand-dsp.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/04/20011004BIT00420/bit0002.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/10/04/20011004BIT00420/bit0002.pdf Long version