Chapter 1

Introduction

The StarCore SC140 digital signal processing (DSP) core, a new member of the SC100 architecture, addresses key market needs of next-generation DSP applications. It is especially suited for wireline and wireless communications, including infrastructure and subscriber communications. It is a flexible programmable DSP core which enables the emergence of computational-intensive communication applications by providing exceptional performance, low power consumption, efficient compilability, and compact code density. The SC140 core efficiently deploys a variable-length execution set (VLES) execution model which utilizes maximum parallelism by allowing multiple address generation and data arithmetic logic units to execute multiple instructions in a single clock cycle.

This chapter describes key features of the SC140 core architecture.

1.1 Target Markets

The design of the SC140 architecture aims to provide a DSP software platform that fulfills the constantly increasing computational requirements of DSP applications due to:

New communication standards and services

Wideband channels and data rates

New user interfaces and media

Currently, software-configurable wireless terminals are already required to accommodate multiple air interfaces and frequency bands for cellular phones, PCs, paging devices, cordless phones, wireless LAN systems, and modems. In addition, multiple voice, messaging, internet, and video services must also be supported. These terminals must be flexible and upgradable so that they can be personalized for each user (such as permitting the dynamic download of applets). Finally, these terminals must be able to process baseband data using software to implement a range of functions previously carried out by hardware.

Target markets for the SC140 architecture include:

Wireless software configurable handset terminals (radios)

Third generation wireless handset systems with wideband data services

Wireless and wireline base stations as well as the corresponding infrastructure

Speech coding, synthesis, and voice recognition

Wireless internet and multimedia

Network and data communication

SC140 DSP Core Reference Manual

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Freescale Semiconductor SC140 specifications Chapter Introduction, Target Markets