Cadence Design Systems announced Tuesday its collaboration with CommSolid, the cellular internet of things (IoT) company, to address growing cellular IoT market with new baseband IP tailored for ultra-low power cellular communication compliant with 3GPP’s NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) communications standard.
CommSolid integrated a single Cadence Tensilica Fusion F1 DSP into its latest CSN130 baseband solution to run an ultra-low-power modem plus smart IoT applications such as voice trigger, audio identification and sensor fusion. The Tensilica solution can be integrated into system-on-chip (SoC) devices to deliver fast time to market with low risk through pre-verified and pre-certified intellectual property (IP).
The Tensilica Fusion F1 DSP offers low-energy, high-performance control and signal processing ideally suited for the IoT and wearable markets. This highly configurable DSP is designed to excel at digital signal processing tasks like wake-on voice, voice pre-processing, sensor fusion and narrowband connectivity, as well as traditional control code tasks like communications stacks and RTOSs (real time operating system).
All processing workloads are completed with ultra-low energy consumption in a very small footprint. The Fusion F1 DSP is an optimal solution for SoCs targeting smart home, wearable, smart city, medical, headphone and other connectivity products.
Based on a 32-bit Xtensa control processor with DSP features, including algorithm-specific operations for a fully programmable approach, designers get all of the customization advantages that Tensilica processors are known for, along with incredible flexibility. Tensilica Fusion DSPs can support multiple existing and developing standards, as well as customer specific algorithms.
Designers can use the GUI based Xtensa Processor Generator, to select just the processor options they need, to create an optimal and energy-efficient Fusion DSP processor for their application. With easy-to-use, optimized, and pre-verified, options, designers can get up and running quickly, with minimal verification effort, reducing time-to-market.
“Fast time to market along with proven, tested technology and a flexible modem solution are key to our vision of innovative IoT products like smart wallets, reflector posts or suitcases,” said Dr. Matthias Weiss, managing director of CommSolid. “We are pleased to collaborate with Cadence in providing leading-edge NB-IoT solutions allowing every sensor to be connected to the internet. The combination of CommSolid’s NB-IoT technology and the Fusion F1 DSP by Cadence Tensilica provides a solid basis for revolutionary smart applications.”
“As the demand for narrowband communication products increases, customers are looking for low-power, reliable IP solutions that allow them to build differentiated SoCs to address a breadth of applications,” said Larry Przywara, group director of marketing, Audio/Voice IP, Cadence. “The aim of the collaboration with CommSolid is to develop customizable NB-IoT IP to accelerate the time to market for semiconductor companies competing in the growing cellular IoT market.”
