Press Release
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19th March 2001, Santa
Clara, California, USA
Amphion
launches low-power Turbo code core solutions for 3G wireless and satellite
communications
Amphion
extends Channel Coding product range with Turbo Encoder and Decoder cores
for 3GPP, CDMA2000 and satellite communications
Amphion Semiconductor, Inc. (formerly known as Integrated Silicon Systems) today
announced the introduction of highly integrated virtual component (IP core)
Channel Coding solutions for Turbo Code encoding and decoding. The Amphion
CS3500 series of Application Specific Virtual Components (ASVC) is intended to
deliver the highest forward error correction (FEC) performance in applications
such as third generation (3G) wireless handsets and basestation infrastructures,
and satellite communications. Standard products in the CS3500 ASVC family
are scheduled for ASIC and programmable logic in versions that have been
optimized for maximum performance and minimal power consumption. Further
economies in power usage have been made possible by incorporating unique signal
processing algorithms into Amphion’s Turbo Code decoder architectures –
especially valuable in 3G terminal/phone designs for mobile cellular
communications.
Amphion’s CS3510 and CS3610 ASVC
offerings support error correction standards as specified by the Third
Generation Product Partnership (3GPP) for average data rates of 2.048 Mbps.
In burst processing mode, the CS3500 family supports data rates more than one
order of magnitude higher than average rates. A standard 16-bit processor
interface enables easy user set-up of coding parameters. The sister CS3520
and CS3620 ASVCs support similar CDMA standards (TIA/EIA/IS-2000.2-A), while the
CS3530 and CS3630 cover both standards.
“These new products are fully compliant
with the next-generation cellular telephone standards mandated by 3GPP and
CDMA2000 for incorporation in both basestation and handset design.” said
Jordan Selburn, Amphion’s Director of Product Marketing. “One key
feature of Amphion’s Turbo Code products is the unique power-saving techniques
incorporated here for the first time. Think of the CS3500 ASVCs as low
power on-chip ASSPs for Turbo Code.”
Amphion (formerly
ISS) is a long-time
supplier of Forward Error Correction (FEC) solutions, notably Reed Solomon and
Viterbi cores, in highly reusable Firm IP (targeted netlist) versions for ASIC
and FPGA. CS3000 Channel Coding ASVCs form the heart of IP-based SoC
platforms for today’s digital communications systems.
Turbo Codes
The use of Turbo Codes enhances the data transmission
efficiency in digital communications systems, enabling reliable communications
over power-constrained communications channels at close to Shannon’s limit.
This technique provides a particularly robust error correction solution designed
to combat channel fading. “Turbo Codes present a more elegant and
silicon-efficient solution than so-called Concatenated FEC solutions, typically
assembled from Reed Solomon block coder and Viterbi convolutional coder
elements.” said Stephen Farson, Amphion’s VP Engineering. “Using
Amphion’s Turbo Code cores, 3G systems designers get an off-the-shelf,
standards-compliant solution that has been architected top-down with more
aggressive power budgets in mind.” In the Amphion Turbo Code decoder, a
mechanism for early termination of iterative decoding helps conserve power by
intelligent and timely suspension of processing activity. This feature
contributes to power consumption savings for System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs
destined for use in battery-powered mobile cell phones, for example.
Availability
A selection of Amphion’s range of Turbo Code products for ASIC (e.g. TSMC
0.18-micron process), Xilinx Virtex-E FPGA devices, and Altera APEX devices will
be available beginning in the second quarter of 2001. Details on pricing
and delivery are available on request from Amphion sales offices in the US,
Europe and Japan, and via e-mail at info@amphion.com
(For Amphion DECT-related product details see the IP
for ASICs Page of DECTweb)
About Amphion
Amphion is the leading supplier of application-specific virtual components (ASVCs)
for multimedia and communications System-on-a-Chip (SoC) integrated circuits.
Amphion delivers video/image compression, speech/voice coding, and channel
coding solutions for consumer and communications applications. Using
proprietary techniques for direct-mapped implementations of digital signal
processing functions and algorithms in hardware, Amphion develops and licenses
IP cores that realize 10X to 1000X improvements in performance compared to
conventional implementations using software-programmable DSP processors.
Amphion is a privately-held company with corporate headquarters in Belfast,
Northern Ireland, UK and worldwide sales and marketing operations in San Jose,
California. For more information, visit the Amphion website at http://www.Amphion.com
ISS
becomes Amphion™
Until year-end 2000, Amphion was known as
Integrated Silicon Systems Ltd, or ISS. The change of corporate identity
represents the company’s commitment to providing innovative signal processing
solutions aimed at rapidly growing markets such as wireless, broadband and
Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP). Over the last 20 months, ISS has
rapidly rolled out a broad range of application specific virtual components (ASVCs)
designed to be the cornerstones of advanced convergence products. The name
Amphion is taken from Greek mythology: Amphion, a son of Zeus, built walls
around the city of Thebes using his lyre to charm blocks of stone into
alignment. Amphion’s business is providing speech, video and data
processing ASVCs – the key building blocks in System-on-a-Chip designs.
Available off-the-shelf, ASVCs are a major contributor to speeding the design
and development processes for customers implementing applications in SoC, ASIC
and FPGA.
Notes
to Editors:
Amphion, The Amphion logo, “Virtual Components
for the Converging World”, “Innovation by Amphion”, “The Multimedia ASVC
Company”, Optima and Celerity are trademarks of Amphion Semiconductor Ltd.
All other brand names or product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
For
more information please contact:
David Mann
Amphion Semiconductor Ltd
50 Malone Road
Belfast BT9 5BS
Northern Ireland, UK
Tel: +44 28 9050-4000
Fax: +44 28 9050-4001
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