Philips Semiconductors - Newsroom; Backgrounders;

1999-10-09, BG9909,
Backgrounder From Philips Semiconductors

Technical information on Philips Semiconductors' Telecoms Platform

What is a Silicon System Platform (SSP)?

Essentially an SSP is a generic architecture for a given application domain, consisting of hardware and software modules, which are designed to be re-useable and are fully interoperable and compatible. Benefits of the SSP approach include the use of tested modules and a dramatic reduction in design creation times. For further information on SSPs, please refer to BG9906, entitled "Further information on Philips Semiconductors' Silicon System Platforms", which can be found at www.semiconductors.philips.com/news/backgrounders/bg9906.html.

Telecoms Platform

The Telecoms Platform is being developed as an SSP for the rapid design of ASICs for mobile phones that are becoming more sophisticated and complex every year. The ever-shortening product life cycles of mobile phones means that new phones have to be brought to market very quickly or market share will be lost.

"Philips Semiconductors is already a major supplier of highly integrated GSM chipsets", said Thierry Laurent, Philips Semiconductors' Managing Director for Business Unit Telecom Terminals. "This gives us extensive systems knowledge of mobile phone design and requirements so that we can provide complete system solutions for customers."

The Telecom Platform architecture

A key feature of the SSP approach is the use of programmable processors that enable many of the functions to be performed by software. As a result, modifications to the products can be made by manufacturers right up to the last stages of production and even once in the field. The Telecoms Platform is based on the following processor cores. ARM processor cores, which are the leading processor for the current generation of mobile GSM phones. Philips Semiconductors Highly-parallel R.E.A.L. (Reconfigurable Embedded DSP Architecture Low-cost/Low-power) Digital Signal Processor (DSP) cores provide speech and audio processing.

ARM cores

Designed for small size and low power consumption, the ARM cores are licensed from ARM Limited. These two features have resulted in them becoming the de facto standard for mobile GSM phones and, as a result, the majority of software for mobile phones is written for ARM processors. Customers' software investment in their in-house and third party software is therefore protected through the next generations of mobile phones.

R.E.A.L. DSP for speech and audio processing

Philips Semiconductors' R.E.A.L. DSP (Reconfigurable Embedded Architecture for Low-cost/low-power) DSP technology answers these demands, allowing designers to incorporate advanced digital signal processing functions into high-volume automotive products where cost and/or power consumption are critical design parameters. As a low-power DSP using highly parallel architectures to overcome power and execution time obstacles, it provides the required processing power while remaining a cost-effective solution.

R.E.A.L. DSP technology is primarily designed to produce DSP cores that become integral parts of complete 'system-on-silicon' solutions. The R.E.A.L. DSP development platforms therefore integrate seamlessly into Philips Semiconductors' standardized ASIC design flow, enabling an extensive range of memory types, microcontrollers, peripherals and I/O sub-systems to be added to the final IC. Already fully proven in a range of telecom (PCD6002 digital telephone answering machine IC; and GSM baseband ICs) and audio applications, the R.E.A.L. DSP design platform also meets the short time-to-market and IP (Intellectual Property) re-use requirements of fast-moving consumer markets.

Additional hardware and software

Peripheral hardware blocks and software is being defined to provide features, such as graphics, speech recognition, speech synthesis, etc., using Philips Semiconductors own Intellectual Property as well as that from Oak and Palm.

Software Architecture

Philips Semiconductors is introducing a software architecture for these products that supports multiple Operating Systems and middleware software, and abstracts platform functionality via consistent APIs, making the decision on how a certain function is performed (hardware or software) transparent to the application software. The software layer of the Telecoms Platform provides a consistent basis for the whole product range with its different product configurations.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier based on Dataquest's 1998 report^*. Headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, the company's innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position it as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Its recent acquisition of VLSI Technology (San Jose, California, USA) further enhances Philips Semiconductors' position as one of the world's leading suppliers of handset solutions for digital cellular and cordless telephone systems including GSM, CDMA, TDMA, DECT, ISM, GPRS and Bluetooth. In addition to these digital system solutions, Philips Semiconductors also produces ICs for wired and analog cordless telephony and paging. The company's activities are supported by sales offices in all major markets around the world, and by systems labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be obtained by accessing its home page at www.semiconductors.philips.com

* Based on Vendor Revenue from Shipments of Total Semiconductors Worldwide according to Dataquest's 1998 Worldwide Semiconductor Market Share report published in May, 1999.