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Messages from 11450

Article: 11450
Subject: Re: Combinatoric Divide-by-3 Algorithm
From: hrubin@b.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin)
Date: 14 Aug 1998 20:40:05 -0500
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
In article <35D098E9.764ABCC0@nt.com>, Catalin  <baetoc@nt.com> wrote:
>Keneth,

>1/4+1/16+1/64+1/256+1/1024+...=1/3. So shift your number by 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
>and add everithing.

>Catalin Baetoniu

This looks good, BUT it loses by rounding down.  For example, dividing 
3 will get 3/4 + 3/16 + ..., and this will end up being 0.

Nor does adding 1 help.  Take 9; even 10/4 + 10/16 + ... yields 
2 + 0 = 2, instead of 3.

Nor does simply going in the other direction make it easy.  We have

	1/3 = 1/2 - 1/8 - 1/32 - ...,

But doing it this way does not work either; try it for 2 and 8.

I believe that there are better ways, but it is necessary to be
careful.

>Kenneth W. Wagner wrote:

>> I need to implement in an fpga an algorithm that will divide an integer
>> by 3.  The dividend length is still to be determined but will be
>> somewhere between 20 and 30 bits, and the divisor is always the number
>> 3.

>> Does anyone know an efficient combinatoric algorithm that can accomplish
>> this?

>> Thanks in advance,
>> Ken





-- 
This address is for information only.  I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
hrubin@stat.purdue.edu         Phone: (765)494-6054   FAX: (765)494-0558
Article: 11451
Subject: Re: Combinatoric Divide-by-3 Algorithm
From: Ray Andraka <no_spam_randraka@ids.net>
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 22:43:38 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>


Herman Rubin wrote:

> In article <35D098E9.764ABCC0@nt.com>, Catalin  <baetoc@nt.com> wrote:
> >Keneth,
>
> >1/4+1/16+1/64+1/256+1/1024+...=1/3. So shift your number by 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
> >and add everithing.
>
> >Catalin Baetoniu
>
> This looks good, BUT it loses by rounding down.  For example, dividing
> 3 will get 3/4 + 3/16 + ..., and this will end up being 0.
>
> Nor does adding 1 help.  Take 9; even 10/4 + 10/16 + ... yields
> 2 + 0 = 2, instead of 3.
>
> Nor does simply going in the other direction make it easy.  We have
>
>         1/3 = 1/2 - 1/8 - 1/32 - ...,
>
> But doing it this way does not work either; try it for 2 and 8.
>
> I believe that there are better ways, but it is necessary to be
> careful.

Depends on how much precision you are carrying!  For your example of 3, if you
have no bits below the radix point, then you will get zero (this is an LSB
error). For three bits under the radix point, you get 3/4 + 1/8 + 0 = 7/8.  If
you had four bits below the radix point, then you get 3/4 + 3/16 +0 = 15/16.  If
you have 8 bits below the radix, you get 3/4+3/16+3/64+3/25 + 0 = 255/256.  All
of these results are an error of one LSB.

--
-Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930     Fax 401/884-7950
email randraka@ids.net
http://users.ids.net/~randraka


Article: 11452
Subject: Re: FFT-Speed
From: Ray Andraka <no_spam_randraka@ids.net>
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 23:03:09 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
For a totally hardware solution, the traditional butterfly calculation may not
be the best approach.  One alternate approach is found by realizing that the
multiplications in the butterfly are performing a rotation of a complex
vector.  This can be done by doing a cordic rotation instead, and it uses less
hardware.

In a LUT based FPGA, it is also possible to use a distributed arithmetic
algorithm.   Les Mintzer did  a paper a number of years ago on a DA
implementation of a 1024 point FFT, which if I remember right, he did in a tad
over 100uS.  It fit easily into a 4025 device. With the newer FPGAs, That
number can be significantly improved both because the speeds have increased
considerably since then, and because you have many more gates to allow a
higher degree of parallelism.   Of course that is for a fixed point
implementation (you don't want to do floating point in an FPGA if you don't
have to).  You can however do a block floating point implementation for
relatively little extra overhead.



John L. Smith wrote:

> ems wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 12 Aug 1998 17:08:46 +0200, Thomas Focke
> > <thomas.focke@himh1.hi.bosch.de> wrote:
> >
> > >I'm looking for a comparison regarding achievable FFT-speed between
> > >FPGA vs. DSP-solutions.
> > >For instance: DSP TMS C6x can manage a 1024 point-FFT in 104 µs.
> > >Which FPGA can achieve which speed?
> >
> > First of all, you need a pipelined 32-bit FP adder, *and* a pipelined
> > 32-bit FP multiplier (ie. you need an ASIC). For a 1K complex
> > transform, you also need a fast 8Kbyte data cache, with an access time
> > equal to the cycle time of the multiplier and adder.
> >
>
> snip
>
> > In other words, using only one multiplier and one adder, on a 20ns
> > cycle time, means you're running at only one-tenth of the speed
> > already achievable by a commercial device. The only way to
> > significantly increase speed is to have multiple FP units, which is
> > what TI does.
>
> Evan,   Have you looked at any of the papers that discuss doing FFT
> in FPGA using Distributed Arithmetic methods? Is an FP multiplier
> absolutely necessary, or can some of the multiplications and/or additions
> be performed more efficiently in FPGA by using the 4 input LUT
> structures? If there is some flaw in the papers that have been written
> saying FPGAs can outperform a C80, I'm sure many folks
> would like to know.

--
-Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930     Fax 401/884-7950
email randraka@ids.net
http://users.ids.net/~randraka


Article: 11453
Subject: Re: Combinatoric Divide-by-3 Algorithm
From: Terje Mathisen <Terje.Mathisen@hda.hydro.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 10:27:02 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Herman Rubin wrote:
> 
> In article <35D098E9.764ABCC0@nt.com>, Catalin  <baetoc@nt.com> wrote:
> >Keneth,
> 
> >1/4+1/16+1/64+1/256+1/1024+...=1/3. So shift your number by 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
> >and add everithing.
> 
> >Catalin Baetoniu
> 
> This looks good, BUT it loses by rounding down.  For example, dividing
> 3 will get 3/4 + 3/16 + ..., and this will end up being 0.
> 
> Nor does adding 1 help.  Take 9; even 10/4 + 10/16 + ... yields
> 2 + 0 = 2, instead of 3.
> 
> Nor does simply going in the other direction make it easy.  We have
> 
>         1/3 = 1/2 - 1/8 - 1/32 - ...,
> 
> But doing it this way does not work either; try it for 2 and 8.
> 
> I believe that there are better ways, but it is necessary to be
> careful.

This problem is really identical to handling division by fixed constants
with reciprocal multiplication instead, and this problem have been fully
solved, for all possible divisors:

To get an N-bit accurate division result (assuming you want C semantics,
i.e. truncation), you need an N+1 bit reciprocal value, where the last
bit is rounded up. (You also need effectively 2N bits in the
multiplication result, but that can be handled with a N+1 bit register
and starting from the LSB end, shifting the current sum down after each
addition (because the fractional bits shifted out cannot contribute to
any more carries).

Terje

-- 
- <Terje.Mathisen@hda.hydro.com>
Using self-discipline, see http://www.eiffel.com/discipline
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"
Article: 11454
Subject: Re: FFT-Speed
From: "John L. Smith" <jsmith@visicom.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 12:01:12 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
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Ray Andraka wrote:

> In a LUT based FPGA, it is also possible to use a distributed arithmetic
> algorithm.   Les Mintzer did  a paper a number of years ago on a DA
> implementation of a 1024 point FFT, which if I remember right, he did in a tad
> over 100uS.

Les Mintzer's paper can be found online in the ICSPAT proceedings for '96,at
http://www.icspat.com.



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--------------697099339A9A019104098E99--

Article: 11455
Subject: Looking for this Digital Design Book
From: nadson@aol.com
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 18:15:47 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi, Im looking for the book by Ed Karalis "Digital Design Principals and
Computer Architecture" Its for a class but I'm looking to find it used as I
don't want to spend $100 on a book for one course. Thanx, Dan

nadson@aol.com

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Article: 11456
Subject: entry level ASIC salary question
From: Scott Campbell <sjcampbe@earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 14:53:32 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi, my name is Scott Campbell, and I will be graduating this June (99)
with my BS in computer engineering from University of California Davis.
I am curious if any of you have insight on what kind of salary range I
could expect as an entry level ASIC/FPGA engineer. Any help you can give

would be appreciated.

Article: 11457
Subject: SCSI core
From: Jason Caulkins <Jase@maxinet.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 22:11:20 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi

I am looking for a SCSI core for an ALTERA flex device.

Any leads?

Thanks!

--
Jason Caulkins


Article: 11458
Subject: RAMBUS for FPGAs -- was Re: Why is Intel *really* pushing rambus into desktop PCs ?
From: "Jan Gray" <jsgray@acm.org.nospam>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 23:21:23 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Joseph H Allen wrote ...
>RAMBUS terrifies me because I would not be able to hook them up to FPGAs
>as I can with SDRAMs.  Also they actually require a protocol.  Often I can
>do a FIFO-less continuous data design with SDRAMs, but I doubt this will be
>possible with RAMBUS.  Anyway, I hope RAMBUS goes away.


Interesting topic!

Interfacing to SDRAMs at full speed, sans PLLs, seems tricky -- e.g. Brad
Taylor's XCELL article "XC4000XL FPGAs Interface to SDRAMs at 100 MHz"
(http://www.xilinx.com/xcell/xl28/xl28_25.pdf) describes fairly narrow
margins :- "...Tco + Tsu = 6.0 ns + 3.0 ns = 9.0 ns (This allows 1.0 ns
slack for board delay and clock jitter.)..." ... "... requires the board
delay to compensate for clock jitter...".

I think DRDRAM will be a common DRAM interface.  So I wonder -- wishful
thinking -- *could* FPGA vendors license the RAC cell
(http://www.rambus.com/presentations/controller_design/sld001.htm) and build
on that to provide an on-chip, dedicated, easy-to-use DRDRAM controller?


For example, for a hypothetical XC4000- or ORCA-like device, this could be a
configurable DRDRAM interface adjacent to the right edge IOBs, with these
ports:

*** dout[n-1:0], din[n-1:0] (n = 16, 18, 32, 36, 64, 72, even 128, 144) --
sink and source DRDRAM data bits (through FIFOs :-) ) -- replaces
corresponding n IOBs, using their programmable interconnect (including IOBs'
longline TBUFs).  Subsumes either n fixed IOBs, or n/k programmable groups
of k IOBs, or n programmable arbitrary sequential IOBs (a la XC6200
programmable row scatter/gather idea).

*** addr[m-1:0] (m = 16 or 32) -- provide word or block burst address in one
(addr[31:0]) or two (addr[15:0]) cycles, either on dedicated addr[] port or
multiplexed onto dout[].

*** cmd[5:0] -- commands to reset, read/write/stream data into/out of fifos,
open/close banks, precharge, masks, whatever, but keep it simple!

*** clk -- the above signals are synchronous to clk, which is also
multiplied up (by some programmed constant) using a hypothetical integrated
DRDRAM clock generator (PLL) to <= 800 MHz.

This on-chip DRDRAM controller interface might well be easier to design to
than is off-chip SDRAM today.  And this hypothetical FPGA, configured with a
carefully floorplanned and pipelined 100 MHz, 64-bit datapath design, could
read 8 bytes and write 8 bytes per clock and thus consume the full DRDRAM
channel bandwidth.

Another application of FPGA RAC cells: virtual wires: you could (awkwardly)
stitch FPGAs together through RACs at 20 Gb/s/RAC
(http://www.rambus.com/presentations/controller_design/sld034.htm).


Speaking as an FPGA user, DRDRAM support seems cool, but then I don't really
understand the issues of economics, marketing, integration, clocking, RAC at
FPGA configuration time, RAC initialization and configuration, testing,
testing, testing, packaging, end-user board layout, debugging, etc.

(Also, is it likely that a DRDRAM clock generator
(http://www.rambus.com/presentations/controller_design/sld027.htm) can also
be integrated into our hypothetical FPGA+RAC device or does it require a
somewhat different process?)

Thanks.
Jan Gray



Article: 11459
Subject: PCI BUS Master's Performance
From: YongKook Kim <likepunk@secsm.org>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 21:39:02 +0900
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
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HI,

I'm looking for some FPGA applications for PCI interface core.

And I'm curious about that what is a rule for estimate PCI core's
performances.

If it exists, is it differs between Target and Master?

And how long it takes if one would try to make that core with HDL ?(each
case of  professosionals, and grad. students, and professors...^^)

Thanks...

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note:Samsung S/W Membership ASIC Lab.
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--------------8662EC91FF34A3F2F9B6526C--

Article: 11460
Subject: Re: FFT-Speed
From: ems@nospam.riverside-machines.com (ems)
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 12:54:58 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I had assumed that the original poster was interested in floating
point, since he gave a figure for TI's C6x, and so DA wouldn't be
appropriate.

Mintzer's paper from ICSPAT '96 appears to give a time of
1.6milliseconds for his 16-bit fixed-point non-complex FFT (16
cycles/butterfly * 5120 butterflies * 20ns cycle time). If this is
representative, then it's still way off the pace for dedicated
fixed-point devices. Sharp's 24-bit device (LH9124) was doing 53
microseconds some years ago, using block "floating point" (and, IIRC,
it has to use 60-bit internal precision to maintain the pretence of
floating point).

The problem with the FFT is that it's so well-defined that lots of
people have done custom silicon for it, so it's difficult for an FPGA
to keep up (or impossible, for proper floating point).

Evan

Article: 11461
Subject: Re: entry level ASIC salary question
From: "Flor Netsmar" <Florn5@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:40:41 +0200
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
$75K if you can show University experience in FPGA design.

...How about that!

Scott Campbell wrote in message <35D754DC.F8B1954A@earthlink.net>...
>Hi, my name is Scott Campbell, and I will be graduating this June (99)
>with my BS in computer engineering from University of California Davis.
>I am curious if any of you have insight on what kind of salary range I
>could expect as an entry level ASIC/FPGA engineer. Any help you can give
>
>would be appreciated.
>


Article: 11462
Subject: Re: PCI BUS Master's Performance
From: "Austin Franklin" <darkroo3m@ix.netcom.com>
Date: 17 Aug 1998 13:41:53 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
> And I'm curious about that what is a rule for estimate PCI core's
> performances.

If done correctly, performance can equal any 33MHz 32bit ASIC available.

> If it exists, is it differs between Target and Master?

Yes.

> And how long it takes if one would try to make that core with HDL ?(each
> case of  professosionals, and grad. students, and professors...^^)

HDLs can be a poor choice for PCI development in an FPGA, so it could take
forever ;-)

It is hard to judge just how long a PCI interface could take, as it depends
on the requirements you have for the back end interface.  'Basically' the
PCI interface design is only %25 of the total work.  Placing and routing
the PCI interface is another %25, the back end design is %25, and placing
and routing the back end can be around %25.

Austin Franklin
darkroom@ix.netcom.com

Article: 11463
Subject: Re: Combinatoric Divide-by-3 Algorithm
From: Catalin <baetoc@nt.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 09:58:47 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Herman Rubin wrote:

> In article <35D098E9.764ABCC0@nt.com>, Catalin  <baetoc@nt.com> wrote:
> >Keneth,
>
> >1/4+1/16+1/64+1/256+1/1024+...=1/3. So shift your number by 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
> >and add everithing.
>
> >Catalin Baetoniu
>
> This looks good, BUT it loses by rounding down.  For example, dividing
> 3 will get 3/4 + 3/16 + ..., and this will end up being 0.

Maybe I was not clear enough. By 3 * 1/4 I do not mean integer division of 3 by
4, which is of course 0, but right shift of 3 by two bits. So for 3 you get
0.11+0.0011+0.000011+ (in binary) which adds to (almost) 1 not zero.

> Nor does adding 1 help.  Take 9; even 10/4 + 10/16 + ... yields
> 2 + 0 = 2, instead of 3.

The same goes here. For 10/3 we get (again in binary) 10.10+0.1010+0.001010+...
which gives you 11.01010101... as close to 10/3 as you can get. And for 9/3
10.01+0.1001+0.001001+...=10.11111... which is again almost right. By adding a 1
to the least significant factor you can force rounding instead of truncation and
you get even better results.

Others in this group (Erwin Oertli) have already shown how to improve this even
further by reducing the number of additions required.

> Nor does simply going in the other direction make it easy.  We have
>
>         1/3 = 1/2 - 1/8 - 1/32 - ...,
>
> But doing it this way does not work either; try it for 2 and 8.
>
> I believe that there are better ways, but it is necessary to be
> careful.
>

Catalin Baetoniu

Article: 11464
Subject: Re: Combinatoric Divide-by-3 Algorithm
From: Catalin <baetoc@nt.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 09:59:57 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Herman Rubin wrote:

> In article <35D098E9.764ABCC0@nt.com>, Catalin  <baetoc@nt.com> wrote:
> >Keneth,
>
> >1/4+1/16+1/64+1/256+1/1024+...=1/3. So shift your number by 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.
> >and add everithing.
>
> >Catalin Baetoniu
>
> This looks good, BUT it loses by rounding down.  For example, dividing
> 3 will get 3/4 + 3/16 + ..., and this will end up being 0.

Maybe I was not clear enough. By 3 * 1/4 I do not mean integer division of 3 by
4, which is of course 0, but right shift of 3 by two bits. So for 3 you get
0.11+0.0011+0.000011+ (in binary) which adds to (almost) 1 not zero.

> Nor does adding 1 help.  Take 9; even 10/4 + 10/16 + ... yields
> 2 + 0 = 2, instead of 3.

The same goes here. For 10/3 we get (again in binary) 10.10+0.1010+0.001010+...
which gives you 11.01010101... as close to 10/3 as you can get. And for 9/3
10.01+0.1001+0.001001+...=10.11111... which is again almost right. By adding a 1
to the least significant factor you can force rounding instead of truncation and
you get even better results.

Others in this group (Erwin Oertli) have already shown how to improve this even
further by reducing the number of additions required.

> Nor does simply going in the other direction make it easy.  We have
>
>         1/3 = 1/2 - 1/8 - 1/32 - ...,
>
> But doing it this way does not work either; try it for 2 and 8.
>
> I believe that there are better ways, but it is necessary to be
> careful.
>

Catalin Baetoniu

Article: 11465
Subject: Re: entry level ASIC salary question
From: "Austin Franklin" <darkroo3m@ix.netcom.com>
Date: 17 Aug 1998 15:57:55 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I believe the other response to be quite a bit 'optimistic' ;-)

I would expect $40-$60K depending on your 'real' experience.  Within two
years, after you've actually done some 'real' projects succssfully, you
could expect to move up quite a bit (50-70K+).  Look in the back of
EE-Times for salaries...they advertise for ASIC engineers all the time,
also look in the help wanted section of your major city news paper (San
Francisco/San Jose would be best), and you'll get a better picture of
'salary reality'.

Austin Franklin
darkroom@ix.netcom.com


Scott Campbell <sjcampbe@earthlink.net> wrote in article
<35D754DC.F8B1954A@earthlink.net>...
> Hi, my name is Scott Campbell, and I will be graduating this June (99)
> with my BS in computer engineering from University of California Davis.
> I am curious if any of you have insight on what kind of salary range I
> could expect as an entry level ASIC/FPGA engineer. Any help you can give
> 
> would be appreciated.
> 
> 
Article: 11466
Subject: Data I/O Chiplab and NT
From: Tim Forcer <tmf@ecs.soton.ac.uk.nojunk>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 17:27:17 +0100
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
We have two Data I/O Chiplab 48 "project" programmers, which are nice
units.  But they are unusable under Windows NT due to the dreaded port
access problem.  Data I/O's UK agents state that no software upgrade
will allow function under NT, and we've tried various tricks involving
public-domain drivers such as giveio.sys without success.

Anybody got any bright ideas?  If not, we'll have to maintain a couple
of Win95 machines just for these units.

Note this query is cross-posted - remove cross-posting of replies if you
feel so inclined!

TIA

-- 
Tim Forcer               tmf@ecs.soton.ac.uk
Department of Electronics and Computer Science
The University of Southampton, UK

The University is not responsible for my opinions
Article: 11467
Subject: FPGA & ASIC positions in S.California
From: garynlang@aol.com (Garynlang)
Date: 17 Aug 1998 19:03:50 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
We have 6 ASIC and FPGA openings in
Orange County, CA. (LA area)
For non US residents we provide US work visa
Please contact us for futher details.
Gary
Gary N. Lang
Vice President of ACD,Inc.
E-mail: garynlang@aol.com
Fax:  1-949-362-8046 (USA)
Article: 11468
Subject: Re: FFT-Speed
From: Rickman <spamgoeshere4@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 15:48:10 -0400
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
ems wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 12 Aug 1998 17:08:46 +0200, Thomas Focke
> <thomas.focke@himh1.hi.bosch.de> wrote:
> 
> >I'm looking for a comparison regarding achievable FFT-speed between
> >FPGA vs. DSP-solutions.
> >For instance: DSP TMS C6x can manage a 1024 point-FFT in 104 µs.
> >Which FPGA can achieve which speed?
> 
> Forget it - this is way out of the league of an FPGA. I'm guessing
> that the C6x time is for a 32-bit floating point complex FFT, without
> bit-reversal.

The C6201 is a fixed point processor. TI claims that a 1024 point,
complex transform can be done in 66 uS using a Radix 4 algorithm as
opposed to 104 us for the Radix 2 algorithm. This does make full use of
the two MAC units on board and is done in very highly optimized hand
coded assembly. It also assumes that the processor is running at the
full 200 MHz and does not block for instruction fetches. In a real
machine, you will likely see lower performance due to the limitations of
I/O on the C6x family. 

The floating point C67x branch of this family is claimed to calculate a
floating point FFT in 108 us using the Radix 4 algorithm or 124 us using
a Radix 2 algorithm. This processor will have many of the same speed
limitations from I/O as the fixed point versions. 

 
> First of all, you need a pipelined 32-bit FP adder, *and* a pipelined
> 32-bit FP multiplier (ie. you need an ASIC). For a 1K complex
> transform, you also need a fast 8Kbyte data cache, with an access time
> equal to the cycle time of the multiplier and adder.

You only need FP units if you need FP math. The fastest FP DSP currently
is the Sharc which produces a result in 460 us, a factor of close to 10
slower than the C6201. 
 
> There are a number of ways to do FFTs, but a straightforward radix-2
> butterfly will require 6 cycles, with the adder producing a new result
> on every cycle, and the multiplier producing 4 new results. You also
> have to get a lot of data in and out of this mess on every cycle.

This assumes that your adder and multiplier are not pipelined. Ether one
can be pipelined to produce results with a faster clock. Or you can use
6 adders and four multipliers to produce an FFT result on every clock
cycle as does the Sharp device. 

> For a 1K transform, you repeat the butterfly 5120 times, giving a
> total of 30,720 cycles, or 614us for a 20ns cycle. You then double
> this for complex data, giving over 1.2ms, without bit-reversal,
> compared to TI's time of approx. 100us (and, in practice, there will
> probably be additional overhead related to getting data in and out of
> cache).
 
> In other words, using only one multiplier and one adder, on a 20ns
> cycle time, means you're running at only one-tenth of the speed
> already achievable by a commercial device. The only way to
> significantly increase speed is to have multiple FP units, which is
> what TI does. I looked at doing all this in an ASIC a few years ago,
> but the costs were prohibitive, and the performance wasn't up to it.
> 
> Evan
> 
> PS - anyone out there need someone to do an FFT ASIC? Mail me at the
> address above, minus the 'nospam'... :)

I haven't researched this in a few years, but it seems that there is a
new FFT chip out every 4 or 5 years that is just a bit faster than the
current DSP chips. It would appear that the Sharp chip is getting a
little age on it. Does anyone know of a faster dedicated chip in
commercial production? 

From the work I have been doing with Xilinx XL chips, I would hazzard a
guess that with careful pipeline design you could get the clock speed up
towards 80 or 100 MHz. Certainly there is enough I/O to read and write
two words on every clock along with the twiddle factors. I don't
remember how fast the Sharp chip runs. If it runs at 40 to 50 MHz, it
would seem that you could double the performance with an FPGA approach.
To achieve the same speeds with DSPs, you would need to use multiple
DSPs along with multiple memories...etc. So, there may even be some cost
advantages to a "custom" FPGA approach if you consider the total cost of
the support devices and real estate. 

-- 

Rick Collins

redsp@XYusa.net

remove the XY to email me.
Article: 11469
Subject: FPGA Programmer Available!
From: "Blake Nelson" <nelson@cstn.com>
Date: 17 Aug 1998 15:19:34 PDT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
My FPGA design team is located in Denver, CO.  We work for our customers on
an outsource from this location. FPGA-Xilinx, Altera, Actel.

regards,
Blake Nelson
nelson@cstn.com
(303)948-0482





Article: 11470
Subject: Job opportunities in Bay area for ASIC/ FPGA designers / Application Engg.
From: ravi <" ravi"@xaqti.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 18:23:06 -0700
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
XaQti Employment Opportunities
XaQti Corporation, a fabless semiconductor company located in North San
Jose, is a technology leader in the
emerging gigabit Ethernet marketplace.

XaQti is an equal opportunity employer (EOC).

If you are interested in participating in a dynamic and rapidly growing
company and you think you are qualified for
any of these positions, please send your resume to:

ravi@xaqti.com

Listings by Job Title:

                                            Tactical Marketing Manager

 Job Description

 The professional we seek will assume responsibility for the planning,
development, and introduction of semiconductor products. Additional
responsibilities will
 include scouting potential competitors, analyzing new market
opportunities as well as visiting OEM customers, forecasting, supporting

and training the sales force
 and making technical product presentations. Other responsibilities
include developing marketing strategies, and developing business cases
for product
 opportunities. Assist Sales in securing design wins. Train field
application engineers as and when required. Work very closely with
Design Engineering and
 Software teams to produce data sheets for new products. Assist in the
definition of features and functions for new product development. Travel

to customer
 locations as necessary.

 Requirements

 The ideal candidates will have 4+ years related semiconductor
experience in creation of product strategies, product planning, and
tactical marketing. A four year
 marketing or technical degree, or equivalent experience, is required;
MBA preferred. Networking and Ethernet knowledge is highly desired; Good

oral and written
 communication skills; Ability to travel domestically and
internationally.

                                                 Technical Marketing

 Job Description

 This professional will support Marketing in technical marketing
activities including trade shows, direct mail, web site, literature and
technical papers. This individual
 will contribute to and monitor technical accuracy of product
collateral, press releases, benchmark reports,as well as, provide
significant technical and collateral
 support on product launches. Recommend positioning for company and
products. Other responsibilities include generation of sales leads,
support of collateral
 support of partners and business relationship, may be asked to attend
trade and industry meetings such as trade shows, product roll-outs or
product seminars and
 event promotion.

 Requirements

 The ideal candidates will have related network or semiconductor
experience BA/BS or equivalent with 5-7 years experience in high tech
marketing, including
 marketing communications, product launches and tactical marketing.
Candidates with hands-on experience in website and datasheet creation
would will be given a
 preference. Good written communication skills; Ability to travel
domestically and internationally on an occasional basis.

                                Design Engineering Member of Technical
Staff

 Job Description

 Be a principal technical contributor to IC/ASIC development.
Collaborate with software, architecture, systems hardware and
applications groups to define
 products and help drive all phases of chip development. Provide
technical leadership for the IC engineering group.

 Requirements

 BSEE/MSEE or equivalent and seven years experience designing IC’s in
the networking/data-comm. industries. Working knowledge of LAN,
networking
 protocols, Ethernet, fast Ethernet and gigabit Ethernet. Demonstrated
command of logic design principles, state machines and software/hardware

partitioning
 tradeoffs.

                                           Senior ASIC Design Engineer

 Job Description

 Contribute to, participate in and lead some phases of IC/ASIC
development. Provide technical leadership in instituting development
tools infrastructure and
 methodology for IC engineering group.

 Requirements

 BSEE/MSEE or equivalent and five years experience designing IC’s in the

networking/data-comm. industries. Working knowledge of LAN, networking
 protocols, Ethernet, fast Ethernet and gigabit Ethernet. Experience
working with turnkey ASIC and/or COT foundry services.

                                       Senior Hardware Systems Engineer

 Job Description

 Participate in all phases of systems hardware development of
evaluation, demo and application platforms for XaQti’s high-speed
networking silicon solutions.
 Drive activities including design, schematic capture, layout,
fabrication, assembly and testing of PCB designs. Work with IC team to
tune timing specifications for
 collateral and app notes.

 Requirements

 BSEE/MSEE or equivalent and five years experience in the definition,
architecture, design and debug of board-level system designs in the
networking and
 data-comm. Industries. Hands-on knowledge of state-of-the-art board and

PCB design tools and methods.

                                             Hardware Design Engineer

 Job Description

 Participate in all phases of systems hardware development of all
evaluation, demo, and application platforms for XaQti's high-speed
networking silicon solutions.
 Participate in design, schematic capture, layout, assembly and testing
of PCB designs. Collaborate with software and IC design teams to verify
 silicon-software-board functionality.

 Requirements:

 BSEE/MSEE or equivalent and three years experience designing and
debugging board-level system designs in the networking and data
communications industries.
 Hands-on knowledge of state-of-the-art board and PCB design tools and
methods; knowledge of logic design principles, state machines, and
software/hardware
 partitioning tradeoffs a plus; team player, strong written and oral
communications skills; highly motivated to work in a fast-paced start-up

environment.

Applications Engineer

 Job Description

 Manage and provide technical support to XaQti customers. Formulate
application development and support plans. Assist Sales Division in
securing design wins.
 Provide pre-sales and post sales technical support. Train field
application engineers as and when required. Work very closely with
Design Engineering and
 Software teams to produce data sheets for new products. Assist in the
definition of features and functions for new product development. Travel

to customer
 locations as necessary.

 Requirements

 BSEE/MSEE or equivalent and four years experience in system design
and/or providing technical support for semiconductors to OEM customers.
General
 knowledge of networking hardware, software, and protocols; Knowledge of

components and semiconductors used to build networking
hardware/software;
 Ethernet knowledge highly desired; Good oral and written communication
skills; Willingness to travel occasionally.


If you are interested in participating in a dynamic and rapidly growing
company and you think you are qualified for
any of these positions, please send your resume to:

ravi@xaqti.com



Article: 11471
Subject: Where are the multiple drivers?
From: Joel.Kolstad@USA.Net
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 01:24:35 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
I've got this brief snippet of code here:

-- Generate the other strobes
process(Reset,Clk)
begin
if (Clk'Event and Clk='1') then
  Strobes(1)<=Strobes(0); Strobes(2)<=Strobes(1); Strobes(3)<=Strobes(2);
Strobes(6)<=Strobes(5); Strobes(7)<=Strobes(6);
end if;
end process;

...that Synopsys' FPGA Express complains:

Warning: The net '/StrobeGen/Strobes<1>' has more than one driver. 
(FE-CHECK-5)

It does this for all 5 signals that I'm using above.  I can guarantee that,
other than the code above, no process assigns a value to Strobes 1, 2, 3, 6,
or 7.  So just what is it unhappy about?  Does anyone know?

Thanks...

---Joel Kolstad
Joel.Kolstad@USA.Net

-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
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Article: 11472
Subject: XC6200 macro & Synopsys VHDL entry
From: Vera Chung <n1649396@sparrow.qut.edu.au>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 17:43:33 +1000
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi, everybody!

I am now using Synopsys (VHDL entry) to design the Xilinx XC6200, but I
have some problems to compile 30 macro (library).  Do you know how to
compile the XC6200 Synopsys example "multadd.vhd" ??

I have already analyze "add_uc.vhd" & "mult_uc.vhd" into the work
diectory, then analyze multadd.vhd & elaborate multadd.  After that , I
compile multadd, but still many errors and can't save as DB or EDIF
format.
Do I need to elaborate and compile mult_uc(behave), mult_uc(struct),
mult_uc(configuration) or add_uc(behave), add_uc(struct),
add_uc(configuration)before I compile multadd.vhd? 

If I use command window (design_analyzer > ) and type elaborate multadd,
is it same as I use FILE -> ELABORATE -> click the filename ??  There
have many struct, behave & configurate files inside, do I need to
compile each of them?

I can successfully compile some simple vhdl program with the macro few
weeks ago but they can't compile now,  I guess there should be some
procedure to compile the top design with macro. I have try many
different combination, sometime can compile and sometime can't.  I want
to know the correct compile procedure.

Xilinx do not have any technical support for the XC6200 software, do you
know who should I contact if I have XC6200 software problem?

Thank you very much in Advance !!

Regards,
Vera
Article: 11473
Subject: XC4062 mapping problems with Synopsis tools
From: kraemerm@my-dejanews.com
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 09:31:20 GMT
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
Hi,

some third party is currently making a 25kGates VHDL design for us. We plan
to make a few prototypes (20-50) with FPGAs and make an ASIC later on. As I
have some experience with Xilinx 3k and 4k devices, I asked them to map it to
Xilinx XC4062XL, which should have a sufficient size.

For testing, they mapped a small design (1kG) and found that obviously no
optimization is done. It seems that each and every gate is mapped to a single
CLB. So we get a very high propagation delay (7-10 CLBs instead of just only
one) and of course a very poor CLB usage. Are we doing anything wrong?
B.t.w., the same design maps perfectly to an Altera device. Of course we want
to avoid (if possible) any special language elements for Xilinx, as we will
make an ASIC later on. Due to these problems I consider to use Altera
instead, but I must decide quickly as I wanted to tranfer my PCB to layout
until the end of this week.

Any quick help is highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

--
Michael Kraemer

-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp   Create Your Own Free Member Forum
Article: 11474
Subject: Help on Xilinx !
From: watm <watm@asterix.ist.utl.pt>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 10:45:37 +0100
Links: << >>  << T >>  << A >>
    I'm making a project using Xilinx tools and one weird thing has
happened :

    I designed the blocks in the shematic, simulated them, checked that
everything was like i expected to be and ....  when i loaded the code
into the FPGA, nothing happened the expected !
    This very strange, because it din't happened one or two times but
several, it simulates one thing, and relly happens another. Sometimes
entirely different.

    I am optimizing the design to area, i. e., making Xilinx fit the
code into the FPGA (XC4006E)

    If someone can give me a hel, i would appreciated ....

Thanks in advance,
Rui Pinto



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