Low power field programmable gate array implementation of fast digital signal processing algorithms: characterisation and manipulation of data locality

Dynamic power consumption is very dependent on interconnect, so clever mapping of digital signal processing algorithms to parallelised realisations with data locality is vital. This is a particular problem for fast algorithm implementations where typically, designers will have sacrificed circuit structure for efficiency in software implementation. This study outlines an approach for reducing the dynamic power consumption of a class of fast algorithms by minimising the index space separation; this allows the generation of field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementations with reduced power consumption. It is shown how a 50% reduction in relative index space separation results in a measured power gain of 36 and 37% over a Cooley-Tukey Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based solution for both actual power measurements for a Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA implementation and circuit measurements for a Xilinx Virtex-5 implementation. The authors show the generality of the approach by applying it to a number of other fast algorithms namely the discrete cosine, the discrete Hartley and the Walsh-Hadamard transforms.

Generic SoC QR Array Processor for Adaptive Beamforming

A generic architecture for implementing a QR array processor in silicon is presented. This improves on previous research by considerably simplifying the derivation of timing schedules for a QR system implemented as a folded linear array, where account has to be taken of processor cell latency and timing at the detailed circuit level. The architecture and scheduling derived have been used to create a generator for the rapid design of System-on-a-Chip (SoC) cores for QR decomposition. This is demonstrated through the design of a single-chip architecture for implementing an adaptive beamformer for radar applications. Published as IEEE Trans Circuits and Systems Part II, Analog and Digital Signal Processing, April 2003 NOT Express Briefs. Parts 1 and II of Journal reorganised since then into Regular Papers and Express briefs

Special issue on design and programming of signal processors for multimedia communication:Special issue on design and programming of signal processors for multimedia communication

The technical challenges in the design and programming of signal processors for multimedia communication are discussed. The development of terminal equipment to meet such demand presents a significant technical challenge, considering that it is highly desirable that the equipment be cost effective, power efficient, versatile, and extensible for future upgrades. The main challenges in the design and programming of signal processors for multimedia communication are, general-purpose signal processor design, application-specific signal processor design, operating systems and programming support and application programming. The size of FFT is programmable so that it can be used for various OFDM-based communication systems, such as digital audio broadcasting (DAB), digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) and digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H). The clustered architecture design and distributed ping-pong register files in the PAC DSP raise new challenges of code generation.

Advanced educational parallel DSP system based on TMS320C25 processors

This paper describes the design, application, and evaluation of a user friendly, flexible, scalable and inexpensive Advanced Educational Parallel (AdEPar) digital signal processing (DSP) system based on TMS320C25 digital processors to implement DSP algorithms. This system will be used in the DSP laboratory by graduate students to work on advanced topics such as developing parallel DSP algorithms. The graduating senior students who have gained some experience in DSP can also use the system. The DSP laboratory has proved to be a useful tool in the hands of the instructor to teach the mathematically oriented topics of DSP that are often difficult for students to grasp. The DSP laboratory with assigned projects has greatly improved the ability of the students to understand such complex topics as the fast Fourier transform algorithm, linear and circular convolution, the theory and design of infinite impulse response (IIR) and finite impulse response (FIR) filters. The user friendly PC software support of the AdEPar system makes it easy to develop DSP programs for students. This paper gives the architecture of the AdEPar DSP system. The communication between processors and the PC-DSP processor communication are explained. The parallel debugger kernels and the restrictions of the system are described. The programming in the AdEPar is explained, and two benchmarks (parallel FFT and DES) are presented to show the system performance.

Rapid Implementation and Optimisation of DSP Systems on SoPC Heterogeneous Platforms

The emergence of programmable logic devices as processing platforms for digital signal processing applications poses challenges concerning rapid implementation and high level optimization of algorithms on these platforms. This paper describes Abhainn, a rapid implementation methodology and toolsuite for translating an algorithmic expression of the system to a working implementation on a heterogeneous multiprocessor/field programmable gate array platform, or a standalone system on programmable chip solution. Two particular focuses for Abhainn are the automated but configurable realisation of inter-processor communuication fabrics, and the establishment of novel dedicated hardware component design methodologies allowing algorithm level transformation for system optimization. This paper outlines the approaches employed in both these particular instances.

DESIGNING VLSI SIGNAL PROCESSING CHIPS USING DATA DEPENDENCE GRAPHS.

The highly structured nature of many digital signal processing operations allows these to be directly implemented as regular VLSI circuits. This feature has been successfully exploited in the design of a number of commercial chips, some examples of which are described. While many of the architectures on which such chips are based were originally derived on heuristic basis, there is an increasing interest in the development of systematic design techniques for the direct mapping of computations onto regular VLSI arrays. The purpose of this paper is to show how the the technique proposed by Kung can be readily extended to the design of VLSI signal processing chips where the organisation of computations at the level of individual data bits is of paramount importance. The technique in question allows architectures to be derived using the projection and retiming of data dependence graphs.

Circular Polarization Modulation for Digital Communication Systems

Conventional approaches of digital modulation schemes make use of amplitude, frequency and/or phase as modulation characteristic to transmit data. In this paper, we exploit circular polarization (CP) of the propagating electromagnetic carrier as modulation attribute which is a novel concept in digital communications. The requirement of antenna alignment to maximize received power is eliminated for CP signals and these are not affected by linearly polarized jamming signals. The work presents the concept of Circular Polarization Modulation for 2, 4 and 8 states of carrier and refers them as binary circular polarization modulation (BCPM), quaternary circular polarization modulation (QCPM) and 8-state circular polarization modulation (8CPM) respectively. Issues of modulation, demodulation, 3D symbol constellations and 3D propagating waveforms for the proposed modulation schemes are presented and analyzed in the presence of channel effects, and they are shown to have the same bit error performance in the presence of AWGN compared with conventional schemes while provide 3dB gain in the flat Rayleigh fading channel.

Chip design for high-performance DSP

Advances in silicon technology have been a key development in the realisation of many telecommunication and signal processing systems. In many cases, the development of application-specific digital signal processing (DSP) chips is the most cost-effective solution and provides the highest performance. Advances made in computer-aided design (CAD) tools and design methodologies now allow designers to develop complex chips within months or even weeks. This paper gives an insight into the challenges and design methodologies of implementing advanced highperformance chips for DSP. In particular, the paper reviews some of the techniques used to develop circuit architectures from high-level descriptions and the tools which are then used to realise silicon layout.

Core-based Methodology: An Automated Approach for Implementing a Complete System From Algorithms to a Heterogeneous Network Including FPGAs

In this paper, we present a methodology for implementing a complete Digital Signal Processing (DSP) system onto a heterogeneous network including Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) automatically. The methodology aims to allow design refinement and real time verification at the system level. The DSP application is constructed in the form of a Data Flow Graph (DFG) which provides an entry point to the methodology. The netlist for parts that are mapped onto the FPGA(s) together with the corresponding software and hardware Application Protocol Interface (API) are also generated. Using a set of case studies, we demonstrate that the design and development time can be significantly reduced using the methodology developed.

Evolutionary Requirements for Next-Generation Dataflow-Based FPGA System Design

The use of dataflow digital signal processing system modelling
and synthesis techniques has been a fruitful research theme for many years and has yielded many powerful rapid system synthesis and optimisation capabilities. However, recent years have seen the spectrum of languages and techniques splinter in an application specific manner, resulting in an ad-hoc design process which is increasingly dependent on the particular application under development. This poses a major problem for automated toolflows attempting to provide rapid system synthesis for a wide ranges of applications. By analysing a number of dataflow FPGA implementation case studies, this paper shows that despit ethis common traits may be found in current techniques, which fall largely into three classes. Further, it exposes limitations pertaining to their ability to adapt algorith models to implementations for different operating environments and target platforms.