DSP

VLVm1 Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for image processing

The VLVm1 is the first of GPT’s optimized Variable Length Vector (VLV) DSP IP cores targeted at image processing. VLVs allow forward and backward code compatibility by architecturally specifying a vector length. Unlike SIMD which has a fixed width, VLV specifies an arbitrary and dynamic length for vectors. An implementation can be customized for performance/power/price based on the number of vector elements to be executed simultaneously. Code does not need to be recompiled when the vector length changes. Non-power-of-two vectors can be easily specified.

Combining GPT’s superscalar out-of-order ‘Unity’ CPU with a VLV execution unit, the VLVm1 processors run at up to 3GHz.

Variable-length vector (VLV) DSP technology features:

Vector length register to specify any length (up to 64KB)
Out-of-order instruction and out-of-order element processing
Integer 16/32-bit, floating point 16-bit
General computing and image processing vector instructions
Software forward and backward compatibility