MIPS Technologies has introduced its first processor cores to integrate DSP (digital signal processor) instructions. The MIPS32 24KE line aims to eliminate discreet DSP co-processors in set-top boxes, DTVs, DVD recorders, voice switches, IP phones, digital cameras, printers, modems, residential gateways and automotive telematics.

The 24KE chips include a MIPS32 core, along with MIPS's DSP ASE (application-specific extension), a DSP design that MIPS began marketing to third-party SoC vendors last October. The DSP ASE improves the MIPS32's voice and video processing performance up to 200 percent, the company says.

The 24KE core family includes:

• 24KEc — basic version
• 24KEf — adds IEEE 754-compliant hardware floating point unit
• 24KEc Pro and 24KEf — CorExtend capability allows SoC designers to add proprietary instructions and tightly coupled hardware

In addition to integrated DSP capabilities, the 24KE family features a small die area, low cost, and low power consumption, MIPS says. Exclusive of cache, the most basic model occupies 3 square millimeters of die area, and draws 0.58 mW/MHz at 1.2 VDC. It delivers a claimed 1.44 Dhrystone MIPS (millions of instructions per second) per clock cycle, and can clock to between 400 and 633 MHz when built on 0.13-micron process technology, MIPS says.

MIPS's VP of marketing, Russ Bell, said, “The 24KE core family can eliminate unnecessary hardware and tool chains and reduce DSP royalty payments.”

Forward Concepts President Will Strauss said, “The market for programmable DSP chips reached the $ 7.8 billion mark in 2004, up some 27% over 2003, and we predict continued growth over that level for 2005. The larger market — approximately $10.4 billion — is actually for embedded DSPs, and that is a market in which more than one hundred chip vendors participate. With the introduction of the 24KE cores, both segments represent major market opportunities for MIPS Technologies.”

Availability

The 24KE chips are currently sampling to key customers, with general availability scheduled for Q3 2005. The cores will be supported by a complete suite of software development tools, the MIPS DSP Library, and a third party DSP applications network, MIPS says.

The 24KE family will be supported this summer on embedded Linux and VxWorks embedded OSes, with Windows CE support following later this year, according to MIPS product marketing manager Kevin McDermott.

 
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