Multi-core DSP performance

In terms of raw processing power, the picoArray beats any of today’s leading DSPs by more than a factor of 10, and that same advantage applies in terms of performance-per-Dollar metrics.

Shown to provide up to forty times better cost-per-channel than traditional DSP architectures as measured by the independent audit BDTI Communications Benchmark (OFDM)™, the picoArray is the first volume shipping multicore processor to be submitted to independent testing for both performance and usability.

The latest generation of processors is the PC20x series:

Performance table @160MHz

picoChip Performance Comparisons

The previous generation picoChip PC102 delivers substantially higher performance than any other device:

These are not just a theoretical maximums – the efficiency of picoBus and picoTools means that >90% of this computing power can be used in real systems with the complex mix of control and datapath processing that is typical of today’s advanced wireless systems.

Microprocessor Reports has profiled ‘Extreme Processors’, and picoArray has clearly the highest performance of any of them. They propose a benchmark of ByteGigaOperations per second (ByteGOPS), allowing for speed and word width. Using this, the highest performing processors are:

As important as performance are programmability & applicability. The picoArray scores well here too, with a powerful development envioronment that allows engineers with no previous experience to quickly develop complex systems using familiar languages (ANSI C).