New DSP IP doubles embedded vision, AI performance
An expansion of the company’s Tensilica Vision DSP family, the Cadence Tensilica Vision Q7 DSP is claimed to double vision and AI performance for automotive, AR/VR, mobile, and surveillance markets. To address the increasing computational requirements for embedded vision and AI applications, the sixth-generation Vision Q7 DSP provides up to 2X greater AI and floating-point performance in the same area compared to its predecessor, says the company.
The Vision Q7 DSP IP is specifically optimized for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), a technique commonly used in the robotics, drone, mobile and automotive markets to automatically construct or update a map of an unknown environment, and in the AR/VR market for inside-out tracking.
“For edge computing in our target markets, offloading vision applications on a high-performance, low-power, highly flexible DSP is a must,” says Lazaar Louis, senior director of product management and marketing for Tensilica IP at Cadence. “Cadence has a long and successful track record spanning six generations of Vision DSPs, and the Vision Q7 DSP was designed to address the needs of our key customers deploying highly complex vision and AI algorithms, including SLAM for perception. The Vision Q7 DSP strengthens our very successful automotive portfolio, bringing leading-edge computation to the ‘computer in the car’ that can be compliant with safety requirements like ISO 26262.”
Key features include:
- Very long instruction word (VLIW) SIMD architecture delivers up to 1.7X higher TOPS compared to the Vision Q6 DSP in the same area
- An enhanced instruction set supporting 8/16/32-bit data types and optional VFPU support for single and half precision enables up to 2X faster performance on SLAM kernels compared to the Vision Q6 and Vision P6 DSPs
- Delivers up to 2X improvement in floating-point operations per mm2 (FLOPS/mm2) for both half precision (FP16) and single precision (FP32) compared to the Vision Q6 and Vision P6 DSPs
- Up to 2X greater AI performance in the same area compared to the Vision Q6 DSP results in up to 2X improvement in GMAC/mm2 compared to the Vision Q6 DSP
For AI applications, the Vision Q7 DSP delivers 512 8-bit MACs, compared to 256 MACs for the Vision Q6 DSP. For greater AI performance, the Vision Q7 DSP can be paired with the Tensilica DNA 100 processor.
The DSP also offers iDMA enhancements including 3D DMA, compression, and a 256-bit AXI interface. The Vision Q7 DSP is a superset of the Vision Q6 DSP, which preserves existing software investment and enables an easy migration from the company’s Vision Q6 or Vision P6 DSPs.
The Vision Q7 DSP is expected to be available for general release in the second quarter of 2019.
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