VeriSilicon Announces ZSP G4 Architecture

A leading Custom Silicon Solutions and Semiconductor IP provider, today announced the introduction of its fourth generation ZSP architecture (ZSP G4) and the availability of the ZSP981 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), the first core in the ZSP G4 series. The ZSP G4 architecture is compatible with the previous generation architecture and extends it further by introducing vector computation capabilities, higher bandwidth interfaces and more execution resources. Designed with inputs from wireless industry experts, the ZSP981 offers a 17X performance improvement over third generation ZSP cores while providing the power efficiency needed for mobile devices. ZSP981 provides modem developers the right level of programmable signal processing capability to implement new and evolving wireless technologies such as LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 802.11ac and more.

ZSP981 is the first of a set of cores based on the ZSP G4 architecture family. The cores range from a 4-issue, 4-MAC scalar core to a 6-issue, 260-MAC vector core. The cores differ primarily in their performance, power and area characteristics. They offer the flexibility and scalability necessary to target evolving application needs. Developers can easily select a DSP core from the ZSP G4 family that best satisfies the power, performance, area and flexibility considerations of the target platform. In addition, they can define custom instructions to exercise user defined hardware via the enhanced Z.Turbo interface. Cores based on ZSP G4 are ideally suited for multi-mode terminals, femto-cells, smart grid, M2M and mobile infrastructure.

ZSP981 is a fully synthesizable, 6-issue superscalar DSP core. Running at 1.2 GHz, a single ZSP981 can deliver 82 billion multiply accumulate operations per second. With wide, high speed interfaces to shared memory and enhanced Z.Turbo coprocessor ports to hardware accelerators, the ZSP981 enables system designers to achieve the desired balance between software and hardware in their systems. Also included in the ZSP981 subsystem are a power management module, a multi-core communication module and a multichannel Direct Memory Access (DMA), which greatly simplify system level integration and development.

"A pure Software Defined Radio (SDR) approach presents power challenges in mobile devices. User equipment system developers seek an optimal balance between performance and power, which is made possible by our ZSP981 DSP core," says Dr. Wayne Dai, President and CEO of VeriSilicon. "Based on the ZSP G4 architecture, we have created an adaptive and scalable wireless platform that can help mobile communication SoC vendors achieve the best solution in the shortest time."

The ZSP981 architecture is supported by ZView(TM) , a full-featured, easy-to-use suite of tools consisting of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), compiler, assembler, optimizer, linker, debugger, simulators, and profiling utilities. ZView(TM) incorporates a number of significant new enhancements, including a vectorizing C compiler, and other optimization tools to accelerate software development.

To combat poor internet connectivity in Africa, founders of Ushahidi, David Kobia, Juliana Rotich, and Erik Hersman, are set to launch a modem, BRCK, that provides internet connection even without electricity.

BRCK, is a product designed by Africans, for Africans to work best in areas of the continent where internet connectivity is unpredictable. It can work even in remote areas where there are fairly unreliable internet connections.

Head at MIT Center for Civic Media Ethan Zuckerman described it as, “the equivalent of a backup generator for the net.”

BRCK connects two mains and has a battery that could work for 8 hours without power. It works much like a cell phone by gaining its connectivity through a standard SIM card and/or Ethernet or WiFi connections while intelligently and seamlessly switching between Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and 3G or 4G connections. It is extremely small, and designed to be the easiest possible networking device to set up. Once operating, it can connect up to 20 devices with a WiFi signal that can cover several rooms.

The idea to create BRCK was born out of the problem encountered in Ushahidi (“Ushahidi” means “testimony” in Swahili.), a non-profit technology company created in Africa in 2008 in response to the post-election violence in Kenya. With the use of Ushahidi, citizens can report incidence of violence and use this information to build maps illustrating where troubled spots are. Ushahidi builds open source software and digital tools to help people in the developing world use information more effectively.

“As a company full of engineers working in places with poor infrastructure, we simply cannot get connected as reliably as our peers in the developed world,” the company says.

“At Ushahidi, we face this problem all the time. We realised that what we really needed was a smart, rugged device that could connect to the internet any way it could, hop from one network to another, create a hotspot for multiple devices, while plugged in or running on battery power.”

However, when the founders devised that failure in internet connection could mar the purpose of the project Ushahidi; they launched a “KickStater” to fund it. The project started with the help of $172,107 raised on crowdfunding site for the Kickstarter.

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