Unleashing the Tensilica Xtensa and Diamond Cores ISSN

The Tensilica Xtensa and Diamond Cores ISSN are two powerful and versatile processor cores that have revolutionized the semiconductor industry. These cores have been widely adopted in various applications ranging from consumer electronics to automotive and industrial systems. In this article, we will explore the capabilities and features of these cores, and discuss how they have contributed to shaping the future of embedded systems.

The Tensilica Xtensa Core

The Tensilica Xtensa Core is a highly customizable and extensible processor core that allows designers to tailor the core to meet the specific requirements of their applications. It offers a wide range of configuration options, including the number of execution units, memory hierarchy, and supported instruction set extensions. This flexibility enables the core to achieve optimal performance and power efficiency for diverse workloads.

One of the key advantages of the Xtensa Core is its ease of customization. Designers can leverage Tensilica's automated processor generator tool, which allows them to define the desired features and constraints of the core through a high-level description language. This tool then automatically generates the corresponding RTL (register-transfer level) implementation, reducing the time and effort required for core development.

Designing SOCs with Configured Cores: Unleashing the Tensilica Xtensa and Diamond Cores (ISSN)

by Steve Leibson(1st Edition, Kindle Edition)

5 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	5604 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Print length	:	344 pages

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The Xtensa Core also supports an extensive library of instruction set extensions, enabling designers to add custom instructions tailored to their specific algorithms. This customization capability results in significant performance gains for compute-intensive applications, such as machine learning, image processing, and digital signal processing.

The Diamond Core ISSN

The Diamond Core ISSN, developed by Diamond Systems Corporation, is a compact and efficient processor core designed for embedded systems. It combines high performance with low power consumption, making it ideal for battery-powered devices and applications with limited energy budgets.

The Diamond Core utilizes a combination of advanced microarchitectural techniques, including out-of-order execution and dynamic branch prediction, to achieve excellent performance. Its low power consumption is achieved through the use of power-saving features such as clock gating and dynamic voltage and frequency scaling.

In addition to its impressive performance and power efficiency, the Diamond Core offers a comprehensive set of features for system integration. It includes configurable memory interfaces, peripherals, and interfaces for connecting external components, allowing designers to easily integrate the core into their system-on-chip (SoC) designs.

Application Areas

The Tensilica Xtensa and Diamond Cores are deployed in a wide range of applications. Some of the prominent areas where these cores have made a significant impact include:

• Consumer Electronics: The cores power various consumer electronic devices, including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and wearables. Their high performance and low power consumption enable seamless user experiences and extended battery life.
• Automotive: The cores find extensive usage in automotive applications, including in-vehicle infotainment systems, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS),and autonomous driving platforms. These applications demand real-time performance and reliability, both of which are provided by the Xtensa and Diamond Cores.
• Industrial Systems: The cores are widely used in industrial control systems, robotics, and automation platforms. Their versatility and ability to handle complex computations make them suitable for a wide range of industrial applications.
• IoT (Internet of Things): The Xtensa and Diamond Cores are well-suited for IoT devices, which often have strict power and space constraints. Their low power consumption and small form factor make them a perfect fit for smart home devices, environmental monitoring sensors, and other IoT applications.

The Tensilica Xtensa and Diamond Cores ISSN are powerful and versatile processor cores that have transformed the embedded systems landscape. Their customization capabilities, high performance, and low power consumption make them ideal choices for a wide range of applications, from consumer electronics to automotive and industrial systems. As the demand for intelligent and connected devices continues to grow, the Xtensa and Diamond Cores will undoubtedly play a crucial role in enabling the next generation of innovative embedded systems.

Designing SOCs with Configured Cores: Unleashing the Tensilica Xtensa and Diamond Cores (ISSN)

by Steve Leibson(1st Edition, Kindle Edition)

5 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	5604 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Print length	:	344 pages

FREE

Microprocessor cores used for SOC design are the direct descendents of Intel’s original 4004 microprocessor. Just as packaged microprocessor ICs vary widely in their attributes, so do microprocessors packaged as IP cores. However, SOC designers still compare and select processor cores the way they previously compared and selected packaged microprocessor ICs. The big problem with this selection method is that it assumes that the laws of the microprocessor universe have remained unchanged for decades. This assumption is no longer valid.

Processor cores for SOC designs can be far more plastic than microprocessor ICs for board-level system designs. Shaping these cores for specific applications produces much better processor efficiency and much lower system clock rates. Together, Tensilica’s Xtensa and Diamond processor cores constitute a family of software-compatible microprocessors covering an extremely wide performance range from simple control processors, to DSPs, to 3-way superscalar processors. Yet all of these processors use the same software-development tools so that programmers familiar with one processor in the family can easily switch to another.

This book emphasizes a processor-centric MPSOC (multiple-processor SOC) design style shaped by the realities of the 21st-century and nanometer silicon. It advocates the assignment of tasks to firmware-controlled processors whenever possible to maximize SOC flexibility, cut power dissipation, reduce the size and number of hand-built logic blocks, shrink the associated verification effort, and minimize the overall design risk.

· An essential, no-nonsense guide to the design of 21st-century mega-gate SOCs using nanometer silicon.
· Discusses today's key issues affecting SOC design, based on author's decades of personal experience in developing large digital systems as a design engineer while working at Hewlett-Packard's Desktop Computer Division and at EDA workstation pioneer Cadnetix, and covering such topics as an award-winning technology journalist and editor-in-chief for EDN magazine and the Microprocessor Report.
· Explores conventionally accepted boundaries and perceived limits of processor-based system design and then explodes these artificial constraints through a fresh outlook on and discussion of the special abilities of processor cores designed specifically for SOC design.
· Thorough exploration of the evolution of processors and processor cores used for ASIC and SOC design with a look at where the industry has come from, and where it's going.
· Easy-to-understand explanations of the capabilities of configurable and extensible processor cores through a detailed examination of Tensilica's configurable, extensible Xtensa processor core and six pre-configured Diamond cores.
· The most comprehensive assessment available of the practical aspects of configuring and using multiple processor cores to achieve very difficult and ambitious SOC price, performance, and power design goals.