PMC-Sierra is shipping a hardware/software reference design for an analog telephone VoIP adapter. The company says its Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) platform is powered by the “now ubiquitous” Linux operating system, and includes “all hardware and software to build a complete telephone adapter.”

(Click for larger view of PMC-Sierra ATA reference board)

PMC-Sierra says its ATA design delivers high quality VoIP services while minimizing total cost. It supports 200Mbps of data throughput, and can handle up to two channels of voice over IP, with QoS (quality-of-service) prioritization of voice processing over data throughput.

The ATA design is build around a PMC-Sierra's MSP2015 VoIP chip, or the MSP2020, which adds a security processor. Both chips run at 170MHz, and have 16KB each of instruction and data cache, along with a 16KB “scratchpad.” Both belong to the company's MSP line of multi-service processors for VoIP terminals, and can deliver PSTN-like quality without an off-chip DSP, the company says.

The ATA reference design architecture
(Click to enlarge)
In addition to a complete hardware design, the ATA reference design also includes voice processing firmware and Codecs, a SIP signaling protocol stack, and telephony and management applications.

Additional features include:

• 2 FXS ports for 2 simultaneous voice calls, supporting G.711 and G.729 voice encoder/decoders
• WAN side Ethernet port for broadband Internet connectivity
• LAN side Ethernet port for connection to home Ethernet network supporting prioritization of voice traffic over internet traffic
• Secure signaling and voice channel encryption with DES, 3DES and AES
• Web-based GUI for local or remote system management
• Fax relay support with T.38 compliance

Software side

PMC-Sierra says the included Linux OS enables device makers to extend telephony and management applications, while third-party vendors can enhance key features such as security and QoS (quality-of-service) traffic shaping.

PMC's VP of software and systems development, Ravi Periasamy, said, “PMC-Sierra's VoIP ATA solution is the first platform to use our Linux-based software environment, encapsulating all software elements from low level device drivers, high quality voice encoders and decoders, all the way up the software stack including signaling protocols and management interfaces. Providing such integrated software greatly reduces our customers' design efforts.”

PMC-Sierra says its ATA design has been validated by China Telecommunication Technology Labs, and by TTA (Telecommunications Technology Association) in Korea.

Availability

The ATA design is available now, with schematics, gerber files, source and object code, and documentation. MSP2015 and MSP2020 devices are shipping in volume.

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