Date: 08/11/2008

45 nm, six-core DSP from Freescale to outperform all the present DSPs in the market

Freescale Semiconductor introduces the MSC8156 processor - a six-core device based on new SC3850 StarCore DSP core technology and designed for wireless broadband base station equipment of advanced 3G and 4G service providing equipments.

Termed as the landmark DSP, MSC8156 is one of the industry's first DSPs based on 45-nm process technology.

The MSC8156 is a single processor that replaces multiple discrete parts required by other solutions. When deployed in base station applications, the device is designed to deliver two times the performance of Freescale's MSC8144 offering, which was previously the industry's highest performing programmable DSP.

The MSC8156 supports the high data rates specified by the latest OFDMA standards and enables the high throughput and low latency requirements of next-generation base stations. The MSC8156, tuned for OFDMA-based systems providing up to five times greater spectral efficiency than many advanced HSPA networks, enables optimal economics for operators and opens the door to entirely new categories of end-user services.

The MSC8156 DSP's onboard Multi-Accelerator Platform Engine technology for baseband, called MAPLE-B, works in concert with the six fully programmable DSP cores to support the 3G-LTE, TDD-LTE, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX standards, as well as the symbol rate functionality of HSPA and HSPA+. Delivering multi-standard capabilities on a single platform eliminates the need to redesign hardware for different base station standards, so the device is scalable across macro-, micro- and pico-base station form factors. MAPLE-B includes Turbo, Viterbi, FFT and DFT processing engines and two configurable RISC engines, which can be reprogrammed in the future to accommodate updates.

SC3850 processor core of this DSP includes a 2X increase in DSP multiplication capacity


Availability
Freescale plans to sample the MSC8156 to alpha customers during the first quarter of 2009. It is offered in a 783-pin FC-PBGA package. The company plans to offer the device in two versions, based on different core speeds of 800 Mhz and 1Ghz.

Pricing: Estimated at $192 for 10K volumes