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Samplify Couples Compression with Converters By BDTI, 11/19/2008 High data rates pose a number of system design challenges. They require lots of I/O and an extremely fast processor or FPGA, they need lots of memory for storage and buffering, and they eat power as data gets shipped all over the system. That’s why, when high-speed data gets to a processor, often the first thing that’s done is to compress it. But what if you could compress the data before it ever gets to the processor and before it gets shipped around the system? What if you could compress it right at the A/D, where the data first comes in? That’s the clever idea that Samplify Systems hopes to build a business on. (More)

Freescale Ups the Ante with Six-Core Chip By BDTI, 11/19/2008 Earlier this month Freescale announced that it will be offering a new six-core DSP chip, the MSC8156, that targets wireless infrastructure applications.  The chip uses a new DSP processor core, the StarCore SC3850, which is similar to the earlier SC3400 but has (among other enhancements) twice the multiply-accumulate (MAC) throughput – the SC3850 can execute eight 16-bit MACs per cycle rather than four. This is the first new DSP processor product from Freescale in quite a while, and the first such product since Lisa Su took over the reigns of Freescale’s networking and multimedia group from longtime general manager Lynelle McKay. The MSC8156 will be fabbed in a 45 nm process and will be available in two speed grades, 800 MHz and 1 GHz. Freescale expects to sample chips in the first quarter of 2009, with production pricing starting at $192 in 10K quantities. (More)

Change for the Better – With the help of BDTI By BDTI, 11/19/2008 When is the right time to adopt a new way of doing things? It’s a no-brainer that systems designers have to select a new tool or component when the one they’ve been using is obsoleted.  But should a company adopt a new design methodology when the one they’re using still works?  After all, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”—right?  Well, maybe. (More)

Jeff Bier's Impulse Response—We’re Sorry, You’ve Been Disconnected By Jeff Bier, 11/19/2008 A few years back I flew to Boston for a conference. Since I have a well-founded fear of driving in Boston, I rented a car with GPS navigation. I drove out of the airport and checked the GPS system, which was functioning perfectly. A short time later, I headed into a tunnel. Suddenly, there were exits coming up fast (inside the tunnel!), and I wasn’t sure which one to take. I looked to my navigation system for guidance, but it was completely clueless. Having lost the GPS signal when I entered the tunnel, the system refused to give me any route information. (More)