A heterogeneous multi-core platform for low power signal processing in systems-on-chip

This paper presents a low-power and programmable DSP architecture - a heterogeneous multiprocessor platform consisting of standard CPU/DSP cores, and a set of simple instruction set processors called mini-cores each optimized for a particular class of algorithm (FIR, IIR, LMS, etc.). Communication is based on message passing. The mini-cores are designed as parameterized soft macros intended for a synthesis based design flow. A 520.000 transistor 0.25µm CMOS prototype chip containing 6 mini-cores has been fabricated and tested. Its power consumption is only 50% higher than a hardwired ASIC and more than 6-21 times lower than a general purpose CPU/DSP corewhile executing non-trivial industrial applications.