CEVA unveils 32-bit, dual-MAC DSP core

Of particular interest to DSP developers is the addition of 32-bit and dual 16x16-bit multipliers. (The TeakLite I and II have only a single 16-bit multiplier.) The 32-bit multipliers offer the increased precision needed for high-fidelity audio applications, while the dual 16x16-bit multipliers boost performance for a wide range of DSP applications. The TeakLite-III also gets a speed boost from new audio-oriented instructions and instructions for accelerating FFT, Viterbi, and Huffman algorithms. Initial performance estimates by CEVA show TeakLite-III cores to be 4x faster than previous TeakLite cores on basic operations and 2x faster on most popular audio codecs. The new cores will run at 350 MHz in a 90nm G process and up to 425 MHz in a 65nm G process, under worst case conditions. The increase in clock speed is largely enabled by deepening the pipeline to 10 stages, up from 4 stages in previous TeakLite cores. CEVA has also introduced pipelined memory accesses to allow memory to keep pace with the higher clock rates.

Other changes include migration to a 32-bit architecture (TeakLite I and II were 16-bit architectures) and new RISC features. The new RISC features include

• A 32-bit general purpose register bank
• A 32-bit linear address space that extends the addressable memory to 4 Gb
• A cached memory subsystem that frees the developer from managing memory
• Branch prediction and conditional instructions, both of which improve the performance of decision-making code

TeakLite III continues the trend in DSP cores of incorporating more control functionality. It will likely compete against other dual-MAC DSPs such as the C55x+, which runs at 400-500 MHz under worst case conditions. It will also compete with 32-bit RISC processors which incorporate DSP functionality, such as the ARM11 and MIPS24KEc cores.

CEVA reports that two top tier Semiconductor vendors have licensed TeakLite III cores; a US-based vendor developing a multi-mode baseband chip, and an Asian vendor developing chips for high definition audio applications.

The CEVA-TL3210 and TL3214 are available for license today. The TL3211 is slated for licensing in early 2008.