Imagination's Ensigma Series4 universal communications IP cores shipping now to multiple licensees

Ensigma Series4 RPUs (radio processor units) provide unprecedented performance and programmability for advanced yet flexible on-chip communications processing

London, UK – 27 June 2013 – Imagination Technologies (IMG.L), a leading multimedia, processor, communications and cloud technologies company, announces that its Ensigma Series4 radio processor unit (RPU) IP core family is now available for licensing, and has already been supplied to lead partners.

The new Series4 family of RPUs introduces a highly efficient and high-bandwidth architecture, enabling support for the most demanding communications standards such as 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO and DVB-T2 in an optimal and low-power implementation. By adding new highly-specialised data processors combined with a significantly upgraded internal data fabric, the latest Series4 RPUs deliver unprecedented performance and throughput ideal for next generation applications from connected home multimedia to advanced continuous data roaming.

The Ensigma Series4 family of RPUs provides a unique universal and highly scalable solution for integrating global connectivity and broadcast communications capabilities into SoCs. By combining the latest software programmable radio techniques with an advanced 4th generation multi-processor architecture, a wide range of communications standards are fully supported, including:

• All 802.11 based Wi-Fi standards up to full 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO and 802.11n with 4x4 MIMO as well as Bluetooth
• All major broadcast TV receiver standards
• All major digital and FM broadcast radio standards

The flexible hardware architecture of Ensigma Series4 RPUs means that the engine can be easily scaled to address everything from the smallest most cost-sensitive embedded connected processors to the most advanced connected smart TVs or tablets targeting global markets. For optimal deployment, the Series4 family of Ensigma RPUs comes in four ranges:

• Ensigma C4xxx cores support connectivity standards
• Ensigma T4xxx cores support TV standards
• Ensigma R4xxx cores support broadcast radio standards
• Ensigma U4xxx cores are universal variants supporting all standards

By supporting multiple standards on a single engine, Ensigma Series4 RPUs solve the ever-growing challenge of proliferating broadcast and/or connectivity standards. They also address the issue of ‘future-proof’ integration of all communications requirements onto the latest SoCs, while achieving the lowest system cost, highest performance and lowest power consumption under all operating conditions. A high level of programmability means the same SoC can be used across multiple markets and product generations with only minimal changes.

Tony King-Smith, EVP marketing, Imagination, says: “More and more of our licensees, from Tier 1 to specialist product suppliers, are showing intense interest in our latest unique Ensigma Series4 RPUs across a range of markets, as they see the benefits of integrating highly efficient and advanced communications processing on-chip. We have stated for several years that ultimately RPUs will go on-chip just as GPUs have done, and now we’re see this trend being acknowledged by our partners across a broadening range of markets. Given the increasingly advanced and complex communications requirements of consumer, industrial and automotive products, the Ensigma RPU is a unique solution ideally suited today’s highly competitive markets.

Availability

Members of the Ensigma Series4 family of RPUs are available now. Contact info@imgtec.com for more information.

Ensigma Series4 RPUs

Ensigma RPUs are part of the broad range of Imagination IP families, which also include the industry-leading PowerVR graphics and video IP (GPUs and VPUs), popular MIPS CPU IP, Flow cloud IP and other solutions for next-generation SoCs.

Ensigma Series4 RPUs are ideal for markets including global chassis TV and set-top boxes, consumer and automotive radio, tablets and other connected consumer products, as well as embedded processors powering the Internet of Things.

The Ensigma Series4 architecture uniquely combines fully programmable modulation and coding processors with multi-standard hardware accelerators and a multi-stream DMA (Direct Memory Access) fabric to yield a power and area optimised multi-standard baseband solution. The core modulation and coding processor is complemented by an array of configurable, and in some cases programmable, hardware accelerators implementing functions less suited to software, such as signal down-conversion and advanced error correction, and are themselves re-used between standards.

The Ensigma Series4 IP architecture features a highly-scalable multicore approach for maximum configurability, combined with an ultra-high bandwidth programmable bus fabric and an extremely efficient VLIW-based 4th  generation modulation processor with multi-context capabilities. This enables Series4 RPUs to be configured to 4x4 MIMO, 802.11ac and beyond, as well as more than 30 standards for every major 802.11 profile, TV and radio broadcast, Bluetooth and many other broadcast and connectivity communications standards.

Ensigma RPUs support all key standards for connectivity including 802.11abg, 802.11n with up to 4x4 MIMO, 802.11ac with up to 2x2 MIMO, as well as Bluetooth. They also enable global TV products supporting DVB-T2, DVB-T, ISDB-T, ATSC, GB20600-2006 (CTTB), DVB-S2, DVB-S, ISDB-S, DVB-C, J.83B, ISDB-C; analogue TV; mobile TV including T-DMB, 1-Seg ISDB-T; and broadcast radio standards including DAB/DAB+, HD Radio, 3-seg ISDB-T, ISDB-Tmm and FM.

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies - a global leader in multimedia, processor, communication and cloud technologies - creates and licenses market-leading processor solutions including graphics, video, vision, CPU and embedded processing, multi-standard communications, cross-platform V.VoIP and VoLTE, and cloud connectivity. These silicon and software intellectual property (IP) solutions for systems-on-chip (SoC) are complemented by an extensive portfolio of software, tools and ecosystems. Target markets include mobile phone, connected home consumer, mobile and tablet computing, in-car electronics, networking, telecoms, health, smart energy and connected sensors. Imagination’s licensees include many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEM/ODMs. Corporate headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com.