Cadence Design Systems, Inc. today announced that it is collaborating with TSMC on the development of an Internet of Things (IoT) intellectual property (IP) subsystem demonstration platform for TSMC's ultra-low power (ULP) process. Targeting wearable, home automation, always-on and industrial control applications, this IP subsystem, with the support of the Cadence® suite of digital and custom/analog tools, provides the opportunity to simplify IoT designs and accelerate the time to market for mutual customers.
Initially targeting the TSMC 55ULP process, the flexible Cadence IoT IP subsystem includes the Cadence Tensilica® Fusion digital signal processor (DSP), analog interfaces, peripheral and sensor interfaces. The flexibility of the subsystem will also allow users the option to select an applications processor if needed for their design. This Cadence IoT IP subsystem can also be implemented in 40ULP and 28ULP as additional performance is needed for more compute intensive applications in the future. Many of the 200+ Cadence Tensilica processor licensees are already designing and producing SoCs and end products in IoT applications; such products include WiFi/IoT connectivity chips, motion plus voice sensor fusion devices, and wearables including smart watches. Some of these next generation devices may be implemented in TSMC 55ULP over the next twelve months as the IP enablement gets more mature.
Cadence's Fusion DSP includes configurable options for security algorithm acceleration, wireless communications protocol processing, and ultra-low power voice trigger. The Fusion DSP includes configurable I/O interfaces that allow direct connection to sensor interfaces and I2C and I2S serial interface controllers. The Fusion DSP, including TSMC reference flow scripts and companion software development tools, is available now.
"With our extensive library of processor, analog, memory, and interface IP, Cadence is in a unique position to team with TSMC to create IP subsystems that give designers the ability to rapidly develop creative IoT and consumer application SoCs," said Martin Lund, senior vice president and general manager of the IP Group at Cadence.
"By collaborating with Cadence on the development of this IoT IP subsystem, we are enabling our mutual customers to quickly take advantage of the ultra-low power benefits of the 55 ULP process for their innovative designs," said Suk Lee, TSMC senior director, Design Infrastructure Marketing Division.
