Finally, a decent domestic DSP processor - 1967BH28

Despite the rapid development of general-purpose processors (ARM, x86 and more exotic), specialized digital signal processing (DSP) processors do not lose their relevance. One of the most popular DSPs with a floating point in their native country was the ADSP-TS201S processor from Analog Devices. At one time (10-15 years ago), this processor was unparalleled in high-performance DSP systems operating in real time. Its main characteristics:

• CPU frequency - 600 MHz
• The amount of internal memory - 3 MB
• 4 high-speed ports - 600 MB / s
• External bus - 100 MHz
• DMA channels - 12 channels

Solutions on the ADSP-TS201S processor have proven themselves in a wide class of equipment, both civilian and not very civilian. But all good things come to know yourself that the end.

This is what happened with the popular processor - this year the production of the ADSP-TS201S is completely discontinued . But there is good news, now you can breathe freely and relax, because at the same time, the Russian company Milander finally began supplying a proprietary DSP processor of its own design 1967BH28 . This processor is an analog of ADSP-TS201S with some additives from Milander.

The command system of the domestic processor completely coincides with its original and, in addition, has additional commands to improve the efficiency of calculations (as the developers promise). The processor frequency is 450 MHz (I would like no less than the original). The amount of intra-chip memory is 3 MB (static memory, in contrast to the dynamic memory of the ADSP-TS201S ). The external bus frequency is 100 MHz. Four high-speed serial input-output interfaces (4-bit links), similar to ADSP-TS201S . More detailed information is on the manufacturer's website, those who wish can familiarize themselves.

The task of the 1967BH28 processor is to provide the ability to replace solutions on the ADSP-TS201S processor.decisions on the Russian processor (than not import substitution !?).

Now the most interesting, but what actually is a new domestic development? For this, comparative tests of the 1967BH28 processor and the original were made. The experimental objects were the popular ADP201cP5 module on the ADSP-TS201S of the Instrumental Systems company and their latest ADP201McP5 module on the 1967BH28 processor . Photos of the modules are presented below in all their glory .





The photo shows that the modules are almost the same and differ only in the types of processors. The 6U construct with the CompactPCI interface is used. In total, there are 5 processors on modules connected by links (high-speed serial interface). Two out of five processors have the ability to connect analog or digital I / O submodules via FPGA.

Software

Tests have shown software compatibility. ALL the software that I developed for the ADP201cP5 module without the slightest modification works successfully on the ADP201McP5 module . Also , an emulator designed for the ADSP-TS201S was connected to the 1967BH28 processor without problems . Those. one of the main tasks has been solved - not to rewrite a bunch of software developed over a decade and a half for solutions on the ADSP-TS201S processor .

Interfaces

The exchange rate via the CompactPCI interface turned out to be similar for both modules. Which is quite expected, because the main limiter is, in fact, the PCI bus with its 64 bits and 66 megahertz.

Tests of the high-speed serial interface showed full performance at a processor frequency of 450 MHz (the maximum frequency at the moment), which is 450 MB / s, respectively (although the links are 4-bit, they work in double rate mode, so 1 byte is transmitted per clock cycle) . Here, the new processor is inferior to its original ADSP-TS201S , which operates at a frequency of 600 MHz and its links, respectively, provide 600 MB / s.

Calculations

And here is the most interesting and enjoyable. Testing of the computing capabilities of the 1967BH28 processor was carried out on the main function of the DSP - the integrated FFT. The soul-warming results shown in the table were obtained :

	ADSP-TS201S (600MHz)	1967BH28 (450MHz)
CFFT1K	25us	26us
CFFT4K	294us	119us
CFFT8K	1120us	360us

It can be seen that despite the difference in the operating frequency between the 1967BH28 processor and the ADSP-TS201S, it is not in our favor , the domestic crystal has a noticeable advantage. It is most evident when the size of the processed arrays increases. Such a result is the use of static memory operating at the processor frequency. The analogue (ADSP-TS201S) uses dynamic memory operating at a frequency of 125 MHz, and a cache operating at a processor frequency. The table shows that, within the cache size, the performance of the ADSP-TS201S and 1967BH28 processors is approximately the same. But when arrays go beyond the cache, the advantage of our hero 1967BH28 becomes obvious.

so

In general, we can state that the new, as it were, domestic processor turned out to be successful and is able to completely replace the popular ADSP-TS201S in DSP systems. Although, unfortunately, this does not make the development of 15 years ago more modern.