The missing dimension in real-time signal processing architectures

This paper introduces work done at STAR Semiconductor over the last three years in simplifying the use of digital signal processing techniques. This work has been directed at creating a technology that can go from a block diagram description to the efficient coding of a generally programmable signal processor in a matter of minutes. To achieve this required the development of a new kind of DSP processor. This processor, called a SPROC is a multi-processor device that provides, by design, for the handling of concurrency (the missing dimension). The first generation of this technology is now functional and is being applied to a wide variety of production designs. The authors find that the typical electrical performance of the graphically coded SPROC processors in stream processing applications is significantly better than custom coded conventional single chip DSPs. This paper discusses the SPROC architecture and the schedulers that serve it