AccelChip's New IP-Explorer Technology Takes DSP Algorithm Optimization to New Heights

MILPITAS, CA, October 10, 2005 – AccelChip Inc., the industry’s leading provider of semiconductor Intellectual Property (IP) and software for MATLAB® and Simulink® DSP algorithms targeting silicon, today announced new technology that provides unparalleled automation for DSP applications in FPGAs and ASICs. Extending the company’s leadership in Model-Based Design solutions, AccelChip® DSP Synthesis 2005.4 with IP-Explorer™ Technology is available immediately.

Implementing DSP algorithms in silicon requires careful selection of IP blocks based on their specifications in the context of the target application. Prior to IP-Explorer designers were required to have extensive knowledge about the blocks’ characteristics across a wide range of system parameters and silicon choices. Combining IP-Explorer Technology with AccelChip DSP Synthesis software automates and extends upward the design space exploration process to accommodate macro-architectures, or functional variants of mathematical building blocks such as sine, log, and divide functions. With the new technology, AccelChip’s DSP Synthesis automatically selects and inserts the optimal AccelWare DSP IP implementation for each function in the design based on system requirements such as frequency, throughput, bit-width, area and sample-rate.

“AccelChip has always been unique in that we enable customers to code and explore architectures at the macro-level for functions like FFT, filters and trig functions using our AccelWare generators,” said Michael Bohm, AccelChip’s CTO and vice president of product development. “On the other hand, C-based tools only allow trade-offs to be made at the micro-architecture level or multiplier and adder level. AccelChip’s new IP Explorer Technology has taken the trial-and-error out of using IP blocks by enabling the tool to select from various macro-architectures depending on specific design and system requirements.”

AccelChip is delivering on the promise of architectural synthesis. For example, with IP-Explorer Technology, when an algorithm uses a sine function, the tool chooses between CORDIC, linear-interpolated look-up table, and bipartite table implementations, and selects the appropriate bit widths based on the floating-point model. It then even automatically inserts pipeline registers when needed to hit the performance and area goals. Combining IP optimization and architectural synthesis is an entirely new level of automation. The IP-Explorer Technology will save customers tremendous time and considerable effort getting complex DSP designs to market.

IP-Explorer utilizes extensive heuristic modeling based on over 6000 AccelChip and customer designs. AccelChip’s automated IP development system runs all possible combinations of AccelWare against these designs using the latest versions of the most popular design tools to determine silicon results. The resulting database is used by IP-Explorer to select the optimal macro-architecture as a starting point for the design. If system requirements change during product development, the design is automatically updated to new architectures if required. IP- Explorer Technology has been added to the AccelWare Building Block Toolkit, supporting trigonometric, logarithmic and division functions. Heuristic modeling will be added to the AccelWare Signal Processing, Communications and Advanced Math Toolkits in upcoming releases.

“AccelChip’s MATLAB-based synthesis solution extends Xilinx’s Simulink-based tool, System Generator for DSP, by automating the selection of models and their parameters for algorithms written in MATLAB,” said Omid Tahernia, vice president and general manager, Xilinx DSP Division. “Our mutual customers are using this combination of Model-Based Design solutions to accelerate the design of radar, sonar, GPS and wireless communication systems. By using IP-Explorer Technology, designers can now create smaller, faster designs in less time when targeting Xilinx FPGAs.”

Pricing and Availability

Version 2005.4 of AccelChip DSP Synthesis with IP-Explorer and AccelWare IP Generator Toolkits is now shipping. Current AccelChip customers on support will receive the new release at no additional fee. For more information on AccelChip DSP Synthesis and AccelWare IP Toolkits.

About the Company

AccelChip Inc. is the industry’s leading provider of semiconductor IP and software for MATLAB and Simulink DSP algorithms targeting silicon. The company develops and markets design tools, integrated verification flows, and parametric IP toolkits that combine to automate the development and implementation of DSP algorithms in FPGAs and ASICs. AccelChip’s proven solution integrates the domain-specific DSP design environment (MATLAB and Simulink) with industry-standard hardware design flows from Aldec, Altera, Cadence, Mentor Graphics, Synplicity, Synopsys, The MathWorks, and Xilinx. Founded in 2000, AccelChip is located in Milpitas, California, and has design centers in Portland, Oregon, and Carlsbad, California. AccelChip’s Web address is www.accelchip.com. For more information, contact Wendy Truax at (503) 351-0103.

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AccelChip and AccelWare are registered trademarks of AccelChip Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies.