Video, Voice, Image Processing: Configurable DSPs Handle It All

The first two configurable processors from Cradle Technologies target video and voice communications. The ECE3400 video and voice communications engine and the MPE3400 media processing engine deliver up to 28 GMACs of DSP throughput by integrating multiple RISC and FPGA-like programmable blocks onto a software-configurable platform.

The ECE3400 and MPE3400 both include six RISC processors, eight DSP engines, and over 198 kbytes of distributed SRAM. The ECE3400 also has a camera CCIR 601/656 interface and can perform fixed- or floating-point DSP operations and fixed-to-floating-point or floating-to-fixed conversion.

Software downloaded into the chips will define the functions implemented by the integrated processors. The company's extensive library of software intellectual property will let the ECE3400 implement video-conferencing systems, such as Internet-protocol (IP) video gateways, IP video phones, and video surveillance systems, on one chip. A similar software library can configure the MPE3400 to become a single-chip solution for an eight-page/minute color printer or a full image-scanning pipeline from charge-coupled-device capture to printing subsystem. Or, color-printer solutions with 30-ppm throughputs can be built with multichip configurations.

Housed in 420-contact BGAs, the engines consume about 3 W when a 1.2-V supply powers the core and a 3.3-V supply powers the I/O. The ECE and MPE3400 cost $49 each in lots of 25,000.