Cadence widens DSP IP range for radar and lidar applications
Cadence Design Systems has expanded its popular family of Tensilica ConnX radar, lidar and communications DSPs with two new DSP IP cores for embedded processing. The products primarily target the automotive market, but also cover industrial and consumer applications.
The small, low-power Cadence Tensilica ConnX 110 and ConnX 120 DSPs feature a unified instruction set architecture (ISA) similar to that of the proven ConnX B10 and B20 DSPs. Compared to these, however, they offer customers greater design flexibility. Together, these four DSPs cover a wide performance range from low to ultra-high end, allowing scalable solutions and enabling best-in-class PPA (power, performance and area) values.
The 128-bit ConnX 110 DSP and 256-bit ConnX 120 DSP use an N-way programming model and are fully compatible with the ConnX B10 and B20 DSPs, providing software compatibility for easy migration. Like the entire Tensilica DSP portfolio, the ConnX 110 and ConnX 120 DSPs also support the Tensilica Instruction Extension (TIE) language, which allows customers to customize the instruction set, add special data types and implement fully integrated interfaces between the DSP and external logic. In addition, the new DSPs are supported by an extensive selection of complex math library functions in the NatureDSP, Eigen and Radar libraries. All ConnX DSPs are automotive-grade and offer full ISO 26262 compliance to ASIL-D with FlexLock or to ASIL-B.
The Tensilica ConnX 110 and 120 DSPs are distinguished by the following features and capabilities:
- – Optimized instruction set for radar, lidar and communications applications.
- – 128-bit (ConnX 110) or 256-bit (ConnX 120) SIMD performance for complex mathematical operations based on 8-, 16- and 32-bit fixed-point and floating-point with half, standard or double precision
- – Unified instruction set and simplified programming model that allows unique code creation and usage across different SIMD widths within the ConnX family
- – An optimized architecture for small memory and low-power signal processing
- – Optional acceleration operations for linear feedback shifts, convolutions encoding, and single and double maximum value searches
- – ConnX 120 also offers Viterbi and Turbo decoders
“NXP continues to rely on the Cadence Tensilica DSP cores for our ADAS product portfolio,” said Robert Dunnigan, director program management ADAS at NXP Semiconductors. “We have multiple generations of radar products covering applications from basic corner radar to advanced front and 4D detection radar, all using these DSP cores. We look forward to the new features and performance improvements in the ConnX family of products. Equally important to us, Cadence continues to provide ASIL-B/D automotive support and ISO 26262 compliance in the DSP product offering.”
“Radar and communications processing require solutions that can perform more and more calculations in less time,” said David Glasco, vice president of research and development for Tensilica IP at Cadence. “Automotive radar requires high-resolution multi-antenna systems with short response times. Similarly, 5G wireless communications require much higher data rates and shorter latencies than previous generations. The Tensilica ConnX 110 and ConnX 120 DSPs meet these requirements by extending the already efficient processing capabilities of the ConnX DSPs and providing higher fixed- and floating-point processing capacity for complex computations while maintaining low power consumption and small footprint.”
https://www.cadence.com/go/connx110
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