LSI Logic has licensed its ZSP digital signal processor core to Sequans Communications, a fabless semiconductor company and supplier of silicon and software for broadband wireless access.
LSI Logic has licensed its ZSP digital signal processor (DSP) core to Sequans Communications, a fabless semiconductor company and leading supplier of silicon and software for broadband wireless access. Sequans will implement the ZSP core as part of its Subscriber Station system-on-chip (SoC) for the emerging IEEE802.16e mobile WiMAX market. ‘As our customers build their WiMAX-compliant systems for worldwide deployment, flexibility and scalability become critical elements in our design’, said Georges Karam, President and CEO, Sequans Communications.

‘The LSI ZSP core allows us to balance hard-wired fixed logic and programmable DSP functionality to achieve the necessary flexibility to address changes in the WiMAX 802.16e specification and customer and region-specific requirements with the same chipset’.

‘The well-balanced implementation also helped to achieve our cost, performance and power consumption goals which are critical to the success of WiMAX 802.16e mobile within devices such as cellphones, notebooks and PDAs’.

‘The scalability of the ZSP architecture allows Sequans to select the most suitable core for their current implementation and respond quickly to changing specifications and regional requirements, thus maximising the revenue and the over all return on investment for their product before it is necessary to design a new chip’, said Prasad Kalluri, Senior Director, DSP Products Division, LSI Logic.

Ideal for wireless applications ranging from 3G to WiMAX, the ZSP core delivers dual-multiplier-accumulator (MAC) capabilities in an efficient footprint with low-power consumption.

By licensing the ZSP technology, Sequans now joins a growing number of companies including Yamaha, Broadcom, Renesas, PMC-Sierra and UTStarcom to implement LSI ZSP cores in their wireless, voice and multimedia applications.