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Several Massively Parallel Chip Vendors Fall by the Wayside By BDTI, 12/17/2008 In the last few years, there have been a slew of massively parallel chip vendors entering the embedded processor market. The massively parallel approach has become more accepted since Intel commercialized its multi-core PC architecture. It’s still a difficult area in which to build a successful business, however, because it requires not only creating a good architecture, but also developing a sound programming model and competent development tools. Even traditional processor start-ups fail at a prodigious rate, and massively parallel chips have the additional challenge of being perceived as hard to program.  So perhaps it’s not surprising that several massively parallel chip vendors have recently fallen by the wayside:  Ambric and MathStar, both of which have ceased operations, and Rapport, which is in the process of being acquired for some of its assets and whose processors will probably never be sold as such. Though their endpoints are similar, each of these companies had its own challenges and reasons for failure. (More)

ST Offers DSP Software Components for STM32 By BDTI, 12/17/2008 ST Microelectronics recently announced a new library of digital signal processing software components for its low-cost microcontroller family, the STM32. STM32 chips are based on ARM’s Cortex-M3 core, and they target low-cost embedded applications, particularly motor control.  The software component library includes a speech codec and variety of DSP and control-oriented functions, such as FIR and IIR filters, a PID controller, and an FFT. The PID controller is available in both C and assembly, and one of the two IIRs is also written in C; other functions are implemented in assembly only. The speech codec (there is currently only one codec in the library) is based on the Speex open-source format. Library functions can be used with the IAR, Keil and Raisonance tool chains for the STM32. (More)

Custom Benchmarks Lead to Successful Products By BDTI, 12/17/2008 Processor and SoC vendors are always looking for the next “killer app.” To enter a new market, though, vendors face two key challenges. First, they must ensure that their product is competitive; and second, they must convince prospective customers of their product’s advantages. These challenges are tough to overcome in new markets due to a lack of well-understood application requirements and established benchmarks. In addition, it is often difficult to obtain reliable information about competing products. (More)

Jeff Bier's Impulse Response — Don’t Ban Benchmarks By Jeff Bier, 12/17/2008 I recently read a license agreement for a suite of software development tools and discovered some interesting fine print: the agreement prohibits licensees from benchmarking the tools. Well, it doesn’t prohibit benchmarking per se, but it prohibits disclosure of any results. (More)