Comsys and CEVA Partner for Development of Multimode WiMAX Processors

Business Wire, Feb 12, 2007

CEVA-X1641 Quad-MAC DSP Core Being Used by Comsys to Develop Flexible WiMAX Baseband Processor Addressing Mobile Internet Convergence

BARCELONA, Spain -- Comsys Communication and Signal Processing and CEVA, Inc. today announced that Comsys has licensed the CEVA-X1641[TM] Quad-MAC DSP Core for its latest generation of WiMAX baseband processors. Comsys will utilize the CEVA DSP core for the computation-intensive baseband processing functions within their converged and multimode cellular/mobile WiMAX solutions.

As a leading customer for the CEVA-X1641 DSP, Comsys' background in cellular technology proved essential during the development stage, enabling CEVA to architect the DSP core specifically to meet the demanding performance requirements of converged cellular/mobile WiMAX and 4G baseband processing. Features include 4 simultaneous multipliers, a 128-bit data memory bandwidth and dedicated mechanisms such as dynamic and selective unit shutdowns and clock gating. As a result the powerful DSP core is equipped to handle data rates up 100Mb/s with very low power consumption, thus giving longer battery life in mobile handsets.

"The trend towards convergence of Cellular and WiMAX technologies for handsets continues to build momentum, and Comsys is committed to enabling this convergence through the development of advanced baseband processors supporting current and future profiles," said Ehud Reshef, Product Manager at Comsys. "The exceptional performance and the flexibility offered by the CEVA-X1641 DSP provides us with the platform to develop our multimode baseband processors addressing both current and future mobile WiMAX applications."

"Comsys is recognized as a leader in the development of innovative baseband processors, and their selection of the CEVA-X1641 DSP core for their mobile WiMAX/4G products is a testament to the performance capabilities of our DSP core," said Eyal Ben-Avraham, Vice President of Business Development at CEVA. "Furthermore, by adopting our CEVA-X architecture for their WiMAX baseband processors, Comsys may re-use the same platform for next-generation standards such as 802.16e, 802.16m, 3GPP-LTE and additional evolving 4G standards."

Comsys' WiMAX solutions are specifically designed with a flexible architecture to support current and future mobile WiMAX profiles, including second wave certification, and to enable service continuity over existing cellular technologies, with the target of driving mobile Internet convergence. With software/hardware partitioning that has been optimized to meet the specific power and die-size requirements of mobile terminals, its solutions incorporate a software-configurable modem core that addresses Mobile WiMAX, 3G Long Term Evolution (LTE) as well as future 4G standards requirements. Integrating an advanced MAC engine with optimized neighbour-cell management, Comsys WiMAX solutions support full mobility at high vehicular speeds.

CEVA-X1641 is the first Quad-MAC DSP core in the scalable CEVA-X family, and is designed specifically to run highly computation-intensive tasks that require substantial data throughput and high memory bandwidth. The core is fully synthesizable with enhanced memory architecture. This provides customers with the flexibility to optimize memory size and structure for their specific application. Like other CEVA-X ISA compliant cores, the CEVA-X1641 is a combined VLIW/SIMD architecture, and also incorporates specialized video instructions and mechanisms to accelerate multimedia processing in applications like mobile TV and video conferencing.

CEVA and Comsys are both exhibiting at Booth 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, February 12-15,2007. CEVA is located at Stand 2F07, Hall 2 / Hospitality Suite 4.1HS47, Hall 4, level 1. Comsys is located at Stand 2B73 in Hall 2.