Embedded Processor Watch

Editor: Jim Turley

In This Issue:

• AMD Extends Line of 186-Based Comm Controllers
• Motorola Buys Into Symbian; EPOC for MCore Coming
• Osicom Speeds Net+ARM Silicon
• Industry Resources: DSP Growth Going Forward by 32%
• Industry Resources: If You're Into the Guts
• New Embedded IC Announcements

AMD Extends Line of 186-Based Comm Controllers

AMD has given its newest communications controller a pair of siblings to play with. The 186CC (see Embedded Processor Watch #4) is joined by the 186CH and 'CU, two subset devices with fewer serial channels and lower prices.

Both the 'CH and the 'CU are subsets of the 186CC, which has begun sampling. The 'CH deletes the USB slave port and GCI physical interface, and cuts the number of HDLC channels (and DMA channels to serve them) in half. That leaves the 'CH with a 186 processor core, two HDLC channels, and four DMA channels. The feature set suits the 'CH for relatively unchallenging telecommunications applications in line cards and digital phones, according to AMD.

The 'CU includes a smaller, but different, subset of features. It dumps all of its HDLC channels and their associated interfaces while retaining the USB interface. This leaves the 186CU with a USB port to go with its DMA controller, UARTs, timers, and general-purpose I/O pins. AMD sees the 'CU as a useful part for intelligent USB peripherals that need a 16- bit processor with some serial and parallel I/O.

All three devices are pin-compatible despite the great number of unconnected pins the two new chips must have. They also share the same 80186 CPU running at 33, 40, or 50 MHz. An on-chip DRAM controller alleviates some of the need for an on-chip cache. At 25 MHz, the 186CC, 'CH, and 'CU are priced at $13.50, $10.11, and $9.65, respectively. The relatively large price difference between the 'CC and its new subsets indicates the value AMD places on the combination of USB and HDLC, an enabling feature for ISDN terminal adapters. Absent either one of these, the price drops by at least 25%.

The new devices compete with Motorola's 68302 family of communications controllers, specifically the 68LC302. The 'LC302 has a pair of HDLC channels but no memory controller, giving the 'CH an advantage in ease of use. AMD's 186CU is similar to a handful of 8-bit USB controllers offered by a number of microcontroller companies, but with more performance and lots of extra I/O. As such, it might be useful for low- end printers or high-end game controllers.

Motorola Buys Into Symbian; EPOC for MCore Coming

Making good on its earlier promise, Motorola has officially joined Symbian, the software spinoff of Psion Software jointly owned by Psion, Nokia, and Ericsson. Motorola's $46 million ante now puts it on even footing with the two Scandinavian telephone makers, with each holding about 23% of the company. Psion holds the remaining 31% (see Embedded Processor Watch #6).

Coincident with the financial announcement, Symbian revealed it would begin work porting its operating system, EPOC32, to Motorola's new MCore microprocessor family. MCore, which was announced just last year, is Motorola's newest 32-bit processor family, with low-power features that make it suitable for cellular telephones, high-end pagers, and other battery-powered devices. MCore will be only the second CPU family to support EPOC32, which currently runs only on ARM chips.

EPOC32's eventual dominance of "smart phones" seems assured, given that the world's biggest makers of such equipment--Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola--all have a financial interest in the operating system. ARM's future has also looked very bright as the only (until recently) CPU architecture on which EPOC32 would run. With MCore support coming, Motorola's ARM-killer is now poised to flex its muscle, at least within Motorola products.

Osicom Speeds Net+ARM Silicon

Osicom's Net+ARM Ethernet CPU (see Microprocessor Report 5/11/98, p. 11) will be available in 15- and 40-MHz speed grades in 1Q99. The faster speeds don't affect Ethernet performance, but do increase CPU headroom enough that the chip could be used in single-chip networked systems.

Industry Resources: DSP Growth Going Forward by 32%

Brace yourself for 32% growth in programmable DSPs in 1999, says Forward Concepts in its DSP Strategies 2002, a new 600-page report from the market-research firm. The report covers programmable and nonprogrammable DSP devices such as modem, PCI audio, and GPS chips, as well as conventional DSP processors.

Copies of the $4,350 report can be had by calling Forward Concepts (Tempe, Ariz.) at 602.968.3759 or by setting your browser to http://www.fwdconcepts.com.

Industry Resources: If You're Into the Guts

You'll want to savor the more than 100 optical and scanning electron microscope images of IBM's PowerPC 750, the copper-interconnected microprocessor that is the subject of the latest construction-analysis report from Integrated Circuit Engineering (ICE). Report number SCA- 9808-587 examines measured design rules, layer thickness, and other aspects of the PowerPC 750 from all angles.

The report is available bound or on CD-ROM by calling ICE (Scottsdale, Ariz.) at 602.515.9780 or by visiting http://www.ice-corp.com.

New Embedded IC Announcements

CS4220/21/23/24 (Crystal) Four audio codecs have 24-bit resolution, 105- dB ('23/'24) or 100-dB ('20/'21) dynamic range, 110-dB SNR, 90-dB THD. Price: $9.80/1,000; Production: Now; Call Crystal at 512.912.3351.

S2091 (AMCC) Port-bypass circuit (PBC) handles 2.5-Gbps data rates for SONET wave-division multiplexing (WDM), fibre channel AL, or video broadcast. Price: $41/100; Production: Now; Call AMCC at 619.450.9333.

S2060 (AMCC) Transmitter and receiver chip for Gigabit Ethernet; in pin- compatible package with better jitter parameters and lower power consumption. Samples: Now; Production: 4Q98; Price: $11/100; Call AMCC at 619.450.9333 S2052.

AT49F4096A (Atmel) Flash memory has 4-Mbit capacity with one 16K boot block, two 8K parameter blocks, and one 480K main block; 55-ns access time. Price: $4.60/10,000; Production: Now; Call AMCC at 408.441.0311.

NL84620 (NetLogic) Synchronous content-addressable memory (CAM) for network switching routers has 256K capacity, rated 40 million searches/second for entire array. Price: $33/10,000; Production: Now; Call NetLogic at 877.796.2226.

NL81480A (NetLogic) Content-addressable memory (CAM) has 64K capacity, organized as 1,024 x 64, with 90-ns single-cycle compare time; can be cascaded. Price: $10/10,000; Production: Now; Call NetLogic at 877.796.2226.