Heinrich Meyr - Böcker

The first accessible, comprehensive treatment of synchronization in digital communications. This two-volume work presents a bottom-up approach—emphasis is on applications rather than mathematics. The first volume presents the basics of phase, frequency and amplitude control, then covers more advanced topics such as the nonlinear theory of synchronizers. The second volume covers symbol/suppressed carrier synchronizers. Chapters are relatively self-contained for ease of reference.

Digital Communication Receivers, Volume 2: Synchronization, Channel Estimation, and Signal Processing offers a complete treatment on the theoretical and practical aspects of synchronization and channel estimation from the standpoint of digital signal processing. The focus on these increasingly important topics, the systematic approach to algorithm development, and the linked algorithm-architecture methodology in digital receiver design are unique features of this book. The material is structured according to different classes of transmission channels. In Part C, baseband transmission over wire or optical fiber is addressed. Part D covers passband transmission over satellite or terrestrial wireless channels. Part E deals with transmission over fading channels. Designed for the practicing communication engineer and the graduate student, the book places considerable emphasis on helpful examples, summaries, illustrations, and bibliographies. Contents include: Basic materialBaseband communicationsPassband transmissionReceiver structure for PAM signalsSynthesis of synchronization algorithmsPerformance analysis of synchronizersBit error degradation caused by random tracking errorsFrequency estimationTiming adjustment by interpolationDSP system implementationCharacterization, modeling, and simulation of linear fading channelsDetection and parameter synchronization on fading channelsReceiver structures for fading channelsParameter synchronization for flat fading channelsParameter synchronization for selective fading channels

We are presently observing a paradigm change in designing complex SoC as it occurs roughly every twelve years due to the exponentially increasing number of transistors on a chip. This design discontinuity, as all previous ones, is characterized by a move to a higher level of abstraction. This is required to cope with the rapidly increasing design costs. While the present paradigm change shares the move to a higher level of abstraction with all previous ones, there exists also a key difference. For the ?rst time shrinking geometries do not leadtoacorrespondingincreaseofperformance. InarecenttalkLisaSuofIBM pointed out that in 65nm technology only about 25% of performance increase can be attributed to scaling geometries while the lion share is due to innovative processor architecture [1]. We believe that this fact will revolutionize the entire semiconductor industry. What is the reason for the end of the traditional view of Moore’s law? It is instructive to look at the major drivers of the semiconductor industry: wireless communications and multimedia. Both areas are characterized by a rapidly increasingdemandofcomputationalpowerinordertoprocessthesophisticated algorithmsnecessarytooptimallyutilizethepreciousresourcebandwidth. The computational power cannot be provided by traditional processor architectures and shared bus type of interconnects. The simple reason for this fact is energy ef?ciency: there exist orders of magnitude between the energy ef?ciency of an algorithm implemented as a ?xed functionality computational element and of a software implementation on a processor.

New software tools and a sophisticated methodology above RTL are required to answer the challenges of designing an optimized application specific processor (ASIP). This book offers an automated and fully integrated implementation flow and compares it to common implementation practice. Case-studies emphasise that neither the architectural advantages nor the design space of ASIPs are sacrificed for an automated implementation. Realizing a building block which fulfils the requirements on programmability and computational power is now efficiently possible for the first time.Optimized ASIP Synthesis from Architecture Description Language Models inspires hardware designers as well as application engineers to design powerful ASIPs that will make their SoC designs unique.

Today more than 90 per cent of all programmable processors are employed in embedded systems. This number is actually not surprising, contemplating that in a typical home you might find one or two PCs equipped with high-performance standard processors, and probably dozens of embedded systems, including electronic entertainment, household, and telecom devices, each of them equipped with one or more embedded processors. The question arises why programmable processors are so popular in embedded system design. The answer lies in the fact that they help to narrow the gap between chip capacity and designer productivity. Embedded processors cores are nothing but one step further towards improved design reuse, just along the lines of standard cells in logic synthesis and macrocells in RTL synthesis in earlier times of IC design. Additionally, programmable processors permit to migrate functionality from hardware to software, resulting in an even improved reuse factor as well as greatly increased flexibility.The LISA processor design platform (LPDP) presented in Architecture Exploration for Embedded Processors with LISA addresses recent design challenges and results in highly satisfactory solutions. The LPDP covers all major high-level phases of embedded processor design and is capable of automatically generating almost all required software development tools from processor models in the LISA language. It supports a profiling-based, stepwise refinement of processor models down to cycle-accurate and even RTL synthesis models. Moreover, it elegantly avoids model inconsistencies otherwise omnipresent in traditional design flows.

After a brief introduction to low-power VLSI design, the design space of ASIP instruction set architectures (ISAs) is introduced with a special focus on important features for digital signal processing. Based on the degrees of freedom offered by this design space, a consistent ASIP design flow is proposed: this design flow starts with a given application and uses incremental optimization of the ASIP hardware, of ASIP coprocessors and of the ASIP software by using a top-down approach and by applying application-specific modifications on all levels of design hierarchy. A broad range of real-world signal processing applications serves as vehicle to illustrate each design decision and provides a hands-on approach to ASIP design. Finally, two complete case studies demonstrate the feasibility and the efficiency of the proposed methodology and quantitatively evaluate the benefits of ASIPs in an industrial context.

Computerarchitecturepresentlyfacesanunprecedentedrevolution: Thestep from monolithic processors towards multi-core ICs, motivated by the ever - creasingneedforpowerandenergyef ciencyinnanoelectronics. Whetheryou prefer to call it MPSoC (multi-processor system-on-chip) or CMP (chip mul- processor), no doubt this revolution affects large domains of both computer science and electronics, and it poses many new interdisciplinary challenges. For instance, ef cient programming models and tools for MPSoC are largely an open issue: "Multi-core platforms are a reality - but where is the software support" (R. Lauwereins, IMEC). Solving it will require enormous research efforts as well as the education of a whole new breed of software engineers that bring the results from universities into industrial practice. Atthesametime,thedesignofcomplexMPSoCarchitecturesisanextremely time-consuming task, particularly in the wireless and multimedia application domains, where heterogeneous architectures are predominant.Due to the - ploding NRE and mask costs most companies are now following a platform approach: Invest a large (but one-time) design effort into a proper core - chitecture, and create easy-to-design derivatives for new standards or product features. Needless to say, only the most ef cient MPSoC platforms have a real chance to enjoy a multi-year lifetime on the highly competitive semiconductor market for embedded systems.

Increasing complexity of modern embedded systems demands system designers to ramp up their design productivity without compromising performance goals. This is promoted by modern Electronic System Level (ESL) techniques. Language-driven Exploration and Implementation of Partially Re-configurable ASIPs addresses an important segment of the ESL area by modeling partially re-configurable processors via high-level Architecture Description Language (ADL). This approach also hints an imminent evolution in the area of re-configurable system design.

Already today more than 90% of all programmable processors are employed in embedded systems. This number is actually not surprising, contemplating that in a typical home you might find one or two PCs equipped with high­ of embedded systems, performance standard processors, but probably dozens including electronic entertainment, household, and telecom devices, each of them equipped with one or more embedded processors. Moreover, the elec­ tronic components of upper-class cars incorporate easily over one hundred pro­ cessors. Hence, efficient embedded processor design is certainly an area worth looking at. The question arises why programmable processors are so popular in embed­ ded system design. The answer lies in the fact that they help to narrow the gap between chip capacity and designer productivity. Embedded processors cores are nothing but one step further towards improved design reuse, just along the lines of standard cells in logic synthesis and macrocells in RTL synthesis in earlier times of IC design. Additionally, programmable processors permit to migrate functionality from hardware to software, resulting in an even improved reuse factor as well as greatly increased flexibility.

After a brief introduction to low-power VLSI design, the design space of ASIP instruction set architectures (ISAs) is introduced with a special focus on important features for digital signal processing. Based on the degrees of freedom offered by this design space, a consistent ASIP design flow is proposed: this design flow starts with a given application and uses incremental optimization of the ASIP hardware, of ASIP coprocessors and of the ASIP software by using a top-down approach and by applying application-specific modifications on all levels of design hierarchy. A broad range of real-world signal processing applications serves as vehicle to illustrate each design decision and provides a hands-on approach to ASIP design. Finally, two complete case studies demonstrate the feasibility and the efficiency of the proposed methodology and quantitatively evaluate the benefits of ASIPs in an industrial context.

We are presently observing a paradigm change in designing complex SoC as it occurs roughly every twelve years due to the exponentially increasing number of transistors on a chip. This design discontinuity, as all previous ones, is characterized by a move to a higher level of abstraction. This is required to cope with the rapidly increasing design costs. While the present paradigm change shares the move to a higher level of abstraction with all previous ones, there exists also a key difference. For the ?rst time shrinking geometries do not leadtoacorrespondingincreaseofperformance. InarecenttalkLisaSuofIBM pointed out that in 65nm technology only about 25% of performance increase can be attributed to scaling geometries while the lion share is due to innovative processor architecture [1]. We believe that this fact will revolutionize the entire semiconductor industry. What is the reason for the end of the traditional view of Moore’s law? It is instructive to look at the major drivers of the semiconductor industry: wireless communications and multimedia. Both areas are characterized by a rapidly increasingdemandofcomputationalpowerinordertoprocessthesophisticated algorithmsnecessarytooptimallyutilizethepreciousresourcebandwidth. The computational power cannot be provided by traditional processor architectures and shared bus type of interconnects. The simple reason for this fact is energy ef?ciency: there exist orders of magnitude between the energy ef?ciency of an algorithm implemented as a ?xed functionality computational element and of a software implementation on a processor.

New software tools and a sophisticated methodology above RTL are required to answer the challenges of designing an optimized application specific processor (ASIP). This book offers an automated and fully integrated implementation flow and compares it to common implementation practice. Case-studies emphasise that neither the architectural advantages nor the design space of ASIPs are sacrificed for an automated implementation. Realizing a building block which fulfils the requirements on programmability and computational power is now efficiently possible for the first time.Optimized ASIP Synthesis from Architecture Description Language Models inspires hardware designers as well as application engineers to design powerful ASIPs that will make their SoC designs unique.

Computerarchitecturepresentlyfacesanunprecedentedrevolution: Thestep from monolithic processors towards multi-core ICs, motivated by the ever - creasingneedforpowerandenergyef ciencyinnanoelectronics. Whetheryou prefer to call it MPSoC (multi-processor system-on-chip) or CMP (chip mul- processor), no doubt this revolution affects large domains of both computer science and electronics, and it poses many new interdisciplinary challenges. For instance, ef cient programming models and tools for MPSoC are largely an open issue: "Multi-core platforms are a reality - but where is the software support" (R. Lauwereins, IMEC). Solving it will require enormous research efforts as well as the education of a whole new breed of software engineers that bring the results from universities into industrial practice. Atthesametime,thedesignofcomplexMPSoCarchitecturesisanextremely time-consuming task, particularly in the wireless and multimedia application domains, where heterogeneous architectures are predominant.Due to the - ploding NRE and mask costs most companies are now following a platform approach: Invest a large (but one-time) design effort into a proper core - chitecture, and create easy-to-design derivatives for new standards or product features. Needless to say, only the most ef cient MPSoC platforms have a real chance to enjoy a multi-year lifetime on the highly competitive semiconductor market for embedded systems.