EtherWaves Expands Digital Radio Choice - Adds Support for Tensilica Dataplane Processor Cores

Update: Cadence Completes Acquisition of Tensilica (Apr 24, 2013)

Mobile device designers now have additional choices for adding ClearSignal advanced Software Defined Radio (SDR) capability

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL and SANTA CLARA, CALIF. USA --  September 12, 2011-- EtherWaves, an acknowledged industry leader for Digital Radio Intellectual Property (IP) for cars and SoC (system-on-chip), and Tensilica, the leader in customizable dataplane processor IP cores, today announced the further expansion of the ClearSignal software-based DAB/DMB solution, by porting to Tensilica's Xtensa® dataplane processor architecture. This addition meets EtherWaves' strategy of supporting leading chip architectures and continuously expanding the ClearSignal availability.

The new ClearSignal RF agnostic design broadens SoC designers' choice to immediately add Digital Radio capability to mobile devices, while keeping the required low power consumption. This ClearSignal implementation takes advantage of Tensilica's ConnX Vectra LX DSP Engine and other architecture optimizations for achieving a typical DAB channel reception at clock rates as low as 50 MIPS.

The new version implements all the broadcasting standards supported by ClearSignal: DAB, DAB+, T-DMB, DRM and in future DRM+, while exhibiting its renowned high performance.

"Tensilica cores and ClearSignal SDR-based Digital Radio match well in their quest  and achievement of high performance radio reception," said Ben Gagin, EtherWaves CEO. "The successful porting to Tensilica's core follows our winning strategy to support the leading chip architectures, thereby offering additional flexibility to our customers," he added.

"Digital Radio is clearly the future of the radio market and we are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute with the rapid development of this new EtherWaves multi-standard solution," stated Larry Przywara, Tensilica's senior director of multimedia marketing. "This successful achievement proves that our architecture has the programmability and speed/power/efficiency necessary to help designers meet the high performance and cost-effectiveness requirements of modern Digital Radio receivers."

Tensilica's Xtensa dataplane processors can be customized for applications such as digital audio, baseband DSP, and many other functions that most general-purpose processor cores can't efficiently perform. By customizing the processor using Tensilica's automated process, designers can get the best combination of low power, high performance and efficiency for their designs.

The new ClearSignal version is available for licensing from EtherWaves, who also provides Digital Radio integration services for fast and cost effective implementation.

About ClearSignal

ClearSignal is a comprehensive software implementation for receiving and decoding Dual DAB / DAB+ / DMB / DMB SLS / DAB DATA / DRM / MP4 broadcasting, offering:

• High scalability, such as:
  • simultaneous decoding of audio and data services
  • dual-tuner, capable of decoding simultaneously two similar or different  systems, for example DAB+ and DRM (or DMB),  or decoding audio from one DAB audio service while decoding TPEG(2) on a DAB data service
  • decoding DRM with background DAB
• Seamless audio switch-over
  • when travelling between regions with different Digital Radio standards
  • when switching between different standards - FM Synchronization
• Complete package, fully documented and accompanied by training, support, ATP and test materials.

Previous versions of ClearSignal have been used by Tier 1 automotive infotainment makers, deployed in high-end German and Italian automotive cars and used by innovative SoC manufacturers.

With the rapid introduction of powerful DSP in smartphones and automotive head-units, ClearSignal is committed to move forward on the roadmap for reducing customers' system costs and financial risks involved in maintaining stocks of dedicated ASICs.

About EtherWaves

EtherWaves develops and licenses Intellectual Property (IP) for Digital Radio receivers, focusing on the Automotive OEM and SoC market. Designed as pure software, EtherWaves IP enables the use of the powerful Software Defined Radio approach in the automotive and SOC markets for long term availability. In SOC designs, it enables a flexible mix of cores and silicon blocks, for fast development cycle, as well as low power consumption and cost-effective for the end-product. The company's ClearSignal technology enables high-quality, multi-standard Digital Broadcast reception.  EtherWaves is a privately held company with headquarters in Israel. For more information, please visit us at http://www.etherwaves.com

About Tensilica

Tensilica, Inc. is the leader in customizable dataplane processor IP cores. Dataplane Processor Units (DPUs) combine the best capabilities of CPUs and DSPs while delivering 10 to100x the performance and can be customized using Tensilica's automated design tools to meet specific signal processing performance targets. Tensilica's DPUs  power SOC designs at system OEMs and six out of the top 10 semiconductor companies for products including mobile phones, consumer electronics devices (including digital TV, Blu-ray Disc players, broadband set top boxes, digital still cameras and portable media players), computers, and storage, networking and communications equipment. For more information on Tensilica's patented, benchmark-proven DPUs visit www.tensilica.com.