1. A Digital Signal Prophecy The past, present and future of programmable DSP and the effects on high performance applications
Continuing technology enhancements have resulted in FPGAs that provide you with a million system gates in a single device capable of running at clock rates up to 200MHz. When applied to digital signal processing this enables some new and exciting applications.
Xilinx’s new Virtex FPGAs combine the flexibility of a programmable digital signal processor with the performance of a custom IC and give you instant access to the highest performance technology.
In this presentation we’ll look at how the dramatic increase in flexible signal processing power is impacting high performance DSP applications.

2. DSP design skyrocketed
DSP Past (Last Year)
Capabilities in accelerating
DSP Application
Billions of MACs
per second
DSP Modeling
Tools
Optimal Bit Widths
XC4000 & Spartan
High performance & flexibility
Libraries of DSP building blocks
Market acceptance
Optimized DSP
Cores from the
Xilinx CORE Generator
Number of FPGA-based
DSP design skyrocketed
A year ago at this conference we presented the capabilities of the XC4000 and Spartan FPGA families in accelerating DSP applications.
We talked about their ability to deliver performance in the billions of multiply accumulates per second, we talked about how the Xilinx CORE Generator could deliver optimized DSP building blocks and how DSP modeling tools with bit true capability allowed the DSP designer to optimise their FPGA-based solutions.
The number of FPGA-based DSP design starts has skyrocketed. An independent survey conducted by Forward Concepts showed that even prior to 1998, FPGAs were used as often as custom ICs and one third as often as fixed point DSP processors.
But in this fast moving technology driven marketplace last years solutions are, in some respects, ancient history.
4000
400
1997 survey concluded that FPGAs are used for new DSP applications as often as custom ICs and 33% as often as DSPs Source: Forward Concepts
Millions of MACs
2 MACs
uP FPGA

3. DSP Present . . . More DSP capacity Faster clock speeds
27 Billion
More DSP capacity
From 7,448 to 27,648 Logic cells
Faster clock speeds
160 MHz DSP clocks
7x Increased DSP performance
27 Billion 16-bit MACs / second
Lower cost
100 Million MACs per $
Billions of MACs per Second
Let’s move the clock ahead a year and look at what has happened to programmable DSP solutions.
With the introduction of Virtex FPGAs late last year DSP parallel processing capacity has increased seven fold.
The combination of more logic cells and faster clock rates makes it is possible to achieve 27 billion 16 bit multiply accumulates per second (FIR filter benchmark) in a single Virtex device at a cost of 100 million MACs per dollar.
With new DSP applications demanding more performance this technology provides capabilities beyond those of the most aggressive DSP processor technology.
4 Billion
2 Billion
Data rates are above 1 MHz in 26% of new design starts
Source: Forward Concepts 1997 survey
Processor XC V1000
8 MACs FPGA FPGA

4. New DSP System Level Features
Efficient
multi-rate FIR filters
Block RAM
Block RAM
Block RAM
More on-chip storage
Distributed RAM - FIR Filter
Block RAM - FFT buffers
Shift registers - D.A. & serial
Multiply “AND” MHz
DLL - Multi-rate clocks
High speed
serial arithmetic
Faster and efficient
multipliers
Simplified clock
generation
The Virtex family has many features that have been optimised for DSP applications.
In addition to the distributed RAM feature that originally enabled efficient multi-rate FIR filters, Virtex has block memory resources that provide more on-chip storage and enable applications such as single chip, high speed parallel FFT solutions. More efficient shift registers enable better data buffering and high speed serial arithmetic, and system level features such as delay locked loops simplify clock generation and help to increase data transfer rates off-chip.
Logic Cell:
Look-up table or
Distributed RAM
HDL-Friendly Programmable Interconnect

5. Increased HDL Design Efficiency For DSP Functions
Improved logic synthesis results
HDL Code,
DSP Cores
Verilog, VHDL
CORE Generator +
HDL Synthesis
Cores for fast design time and optimal results
Fast, Efficient
Results
Capacity to spare
This combination of millions of programmable gates, improved logic synthesis results for DSP functions, and and the increasing number of optimal DSP cores enables high performance results and efficient design in the shortest possible time.

6. Flexibility and Performance For demanding New Applications
Communications
Satellite modems
Cellular base stations
Spread spectrum
Cable
xDSL
Military radio
Video and Image Processing
DTV, HDTV
Video conferencing
Medical imaging
Digital photography
Digital copiers

7. Flexibility and Performance For Video and Image Processing
More complex 2-dimensional algorithm
2D FIR, 2D DCT, Wavelet
Larger computational mask
Real time image processing
Implement emerging standards
JPEG2000, MPEG4, Digital TV

8. Flexibility and Performance For Communications Applications
Develop advanced DSP algorithms and test in real time
Migration of digital processing toward antenna
Multiple & smart antenna processing
Better spectrum utilization
Advanced error control - Turbo codes
Software / configurable radio
Multiple modulation, error correction and data encryption schemes
with one platform
28.8 Billion MAC - Heterodyne / Polyphase FIR
10usec point complex FFTs in one device

9. 4 Million Programmable Gates 100 Billion MACs
Configurable - Software Radio Reconfigurable Satellite Modem

10. Internet Reconfigurable Logic Tools for Network Configurable Radio
And the DSP Future . . .
Internet Reconfigurable Logic Tools for Network Configurable Radio
500 Billion
Virtex
JBITs
Java API
WWW
IRL
Unlimited
Performance
Billionss of MACs
Remote Wireless Applications
Add new features
Support new standards
Bug fixes
System maintenance
New business model
64 Billion
27 Billion
X Billion
V V FPGA

11. Today’s FPGA Solutions Fulfilling the DSP Prophecy
Continuous
Performance
Increases +
Flexibility
VHDL
Verilog
DSP Functions
IRL Tools
Network- Configurable Radio
Reaching for the
Trillion
MAC Mark

12. Passport Question Question: Answers: 2) Exploit Data parallelism
Name 2 important areas where Xilinx FPGA opens new horizons for Digital Signal Processing applications
Answers:
1) High sample rate
2) Exploit Data parallelism

13. Passport To Xilinx Partners
Demo Stations (Visit 2)
Xilinx DSP - High-Performance Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
Xilinx DSP - Reed Solomon
GV & Associates - Test and integration solutions
Nallatech, Ltd - FPGA based DSP system based
Perigee - Real-time video
Partners Booths (Visit 2)
Frontier Design - C to HDL tools
Integrated Silicon Systems (ISS) - Telecom and DSP cores
Win a Sony Mini-Disk Player / Recorder!