Embedded Processor Watch

Editor: Jim Turley
Sr. Editor: Tom Halfhill

In This Issue:

• MediaQ Debuts with Embedded Graphics Chip
• Lucent Releases Two-Headed DSP16410
• Industry Resources: Where Tech Really Talks
• Industry Resources: Two Keynote Talks Focus on User Experience
• New Embedded IC Announcements

MediaQ Debuts with Embedded Graphics Chip

Today startup MediaQ (Santa Clara, Calif.) will announce its first product, a 2D-graphics controller with embedded DRAM for use in consumer-electronics devices. The MQ-200 includes a 2D graphics engine, LCD controller, DACs for CRT display, and 2M of on-chip DRAM. The chip works with embedded SuperH, StrongARM, and MIPS processors by virtue of its flexible host interface.

The 23-person company includes S3, C&T, and Cirrus alumni with experience in 2D and 3D graphics controllers and system logic. The group believes that consumer devices, such as set-top boxes, game consoles, PDAs, and Web terminals, will be the best targets for its integrated controller. The device is sampling now in a small (12 x 12 mm) package. When production begins next quarter, the MQ-200 will sell for $28 in 1,000-piece quantities.

Wisely, MediaQ (http://www.mediaq.com) is staying well away from the 3D- accelerator fray, focusing entirely on low-cost devices that the company hopes will become commonplace. Its integrated DRAM is unusual but eliminates the need for an external frame buffer, making the chip attractive for devices that need an LCD, modest 2D graphics performance, and a small footprint on the PCB.

Lucent Releases Two-Headed DSP16410

In the never-ending quest for more DSP performance, Lucent has doubled up on its DSP16000 cores, placing two identical processors in the same package. The new bicephalic device, the DSP16410, delivers peak performance of 800 multiply-accumulate operations per second, according to Lucent. The chip will begin sampling 2Q99, with production quantities slated for 4Q99. In 10,000-unit quantities, the DSP16410 will sell for about $80.

Some DSP users are less interested in MIPS/mW than in MIPS/in2. Packing density in cellular base stations, for example, is of vital importance. Modem banks, too, place a high premium on packing density, leading Lucent and other vendors to create superscalar--or just multiple scalar --DSP processors. TI's 'C5420 chip is similar to Lucent's new device, with two 'C54x DSP cores in a single package.

Marketing literature for such devices has a bad tendency to claim performance is 2x that of the basic DSP, a misleading statistic that confuses quantity with quality. Spreading the software work across two cores is nontrivial, and both cores share the same buses, limiting scalability. Nevertheless, such densely packed DSPs are becoming more common, competing for floor space and rack space with their more conventional cousins.

Industry Resources: Where Tech Really Talks

TechTalks, the first annual event dedicated to speech and linguistic technologies, is coming to the World Trade Center in Boston June 8-9. The exhibit-plus-tutorial format starts off with a keynote presentation by Gaston Bastiaens, President of Lernout & Hauspie. Other topics under scrutiny are voice-enabled information appliances, speech/text translation, hardware for voice technology, and something called V- commerce.

Early registration (before April 19) for the full conference runs $795. For more information, or to register, contact MFI (New York) at 212.615.2982 or visit http://www.techtalks.com.

Industry Resources: Two Keynote Talks Focus on User Experience

At the Embedded Processor Forum, which will be held in San Jose just six weeks from now (May 3-6), two industry experts will kick off the main sessions. On Tuesday morning, May 4, Don Norman will open the conference with his talk, "The Invisible Computer: Embedded Processors and the Consumer Market." Best known for his 13 books, including "Things That Make Us Smart," "The Design of Everyday Things," and "The Invisible Computer," Professor Norman is an expert on the human side of technology. Every Forum attendee will receive a copy of his new book.

On Wednesday morning, Scott Smyers of Sony's U.S. Research Labs will start the day with his views on "Reshaping the Consumer Electronics Landscape with Digital Technologies." The phenomenal rise of low-cost but high-performance embedded processors and the transition of digital entertainment from analog to digital formats will change the scope and the business of consumer electronics.

The counterpoint of these two keynote presentations--the inside-out, technology-focused view, and the outside-in, human-centered view--will make for a fascinating start to the Forum. For more information on the keynote presentations and the 19 new chip announcements that accompany them, check out http://www.MDRonline.com/epf or call 800.527.0288.

New Embedded IC Announcements

SX52BD (Scenix) 8-bit microcontroller optimized for DSP functions provides 4Kx12 words of flash/EEPROM, 256 bytes of SRAM, and 15 bytes of global registers. Price: $5/100,000; Production: Now; Call Scenix at 408.327.8888.

M38869FFAHP (Mitsubishi) 8-bit general-purpose MCU contains 60 Kbytes of on-chip flash memory, 2 Kbytes of RAM, 72 programmable I/O ports, 21- source interrupts. Price: $11.50/10,000; Production: Now; Call Mitsubishi at 408.774.3191.

PIC16F873, PIC16F874 (Microchip) 8-bit flash microcontrollers with 4Kx14bits of flash memory, 128 bytes of EEPROM; up to 5 MIPS performance at 20 MHz. Price: $7.99/1,000; Samples: Now; Production: 2Q99; Call Microchip at 602.786.7668.

S2067 (AMCC) CMOS transceiver uses dual-port, dual I/O, serial backplane interconnect IC of up to 40 Gbit/s of bandwidth for datacom switches. Price: $45.50/100; Production: Now; Call AMCC at 619.535.4260.

S2062 (AMCC) Dual-port, single I/O, CMOS-fabricated transceiver supports 770 to 1300 Mbit/s data-transfer rate, operating at 0.68W power/channel. Price: $39.50/100; Production: Now; Call AMCC at 619.535.4260.

CS4340 (Cirrus Logic) Digital-to-analog converter features 100-dB dynamic range, accepts data at audio sample rates up to 10 kHz, with 5-V power supply. Price: $1.95/1,000; Production: Now; Call Cirrus at 510.249.4244.