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The complexity of the new generation of consumer electronics and automotive audio systems is increasing day by day. Market drivers such as audio processing based on generative AI, immersive audio effects, and advanced infotainment systems in software-defined vehicles have put forward higher requirements for the performance of audio DSPS. However, a single DSP can no longer meet the growing computing demands, while multiple DSPS will significantly increase the programming difficulty.

Nowadays, original equipment manufacturers (Oems) and system-on-chip (SoC) suppliers must independently complete all multi-core hardware design and software development work under the increasingly urgent pressure of product launch. Meanwhile, programmers are struggling to deal with the complex synchronization problems of software-based shared storage domains, racking their brains to find ways to allocate tasks reasonably to multi-core clusters. This may lead to the design performance failing to meet expectations.

Against this backdrop of rapid development, there is an urgent need for an out-of-the-box hardware design that is equipped with multi-core operation software to reduce hardware design time and effectively manage the software complexity in the development of multi-core audio products.

Multi-core innovative technologies make outstanding performance and ease of use possible

To simplify the programming process of multiple DSPS, Cadence has upgraded its flagship product, the Xtensa LX8 platform. The new version will have symmetrical multi-processing capabilities. With the brand-new Xtensa Multicore LX8 platform, SoC designers can automatically generate up to eight symmetric multi-processor (SMP) clusters with hardware cache consistency.

Cadence has elevated the high-performance Tensilica HiFi 5s DSP platform to a new level and launched its first product based on this. Tensilica's cache-consistent HiFi 5s SMP offers scalable performance and higher resource utilization, while simplifying software development for various audio DSP applications.

Bob O'Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Research, pointed out: "Given the increasing complexity of entertainment and information applications in today's automobiles, the demand for powerful audio processing platforms that can support technologies such as symmetric multi-processing is becoming increasingly prominent." Given that software-defined vehicles are expected to offer a variety of new features over time, it's easy to understand why car manufacturers and Tier 1 original equipment manufacturers (Oems) need to integrate the most advanced IVI functions into their new vehicles as much as possible.

HiFi 5s symmetric multi-core processor supporting cache consistency

The Tensilica cache Consistency HiFi 5s SMP is optimized for high-performance, low-power audio applications, supporting expansion from dual-core to octa-core, and integrating cluster features such as an interrupt distributor and cross-core debugging capabilities. Application development is supported by two popular open-source multi-verification operating systems (RTOS), Zephyr and FreeRTOS. Cadence's own multi-core support plan for RTOS XOS will be launched later in 2025.

Simple integration of software and hardware

Within a few hours after customers specify the HiFi 5s DSP configuration and the number of cores, they can download the multi-core cluster from Cadence's Xtensa processor Generator (XPG), which greatly simplifies the hardware integration process. Designers will also receive a complete, multi-core supported software development kit (SDK).

This multi-core-aware RTOS can allocate tasks among cores and manage cross-core software synchronization, reducing application load. Cache consistency enables each core in an SMP cluster to obtain a unified storage view, thereby avoiding the fragmentation problem and underutilization defects commonly found in non-consistent multi-core designs. In this way, the application can be easily scaled according to the number of cores to meet different performance requirements.

Both customers and partners are optimistic about the cache consistency HiFi 5s SMP

Zhao Guoguang, the general manager of Bestechnic, said, "Whether it's small earbuds, wireless headphones or smart speakers, today's consumers are pursuing highly immersive audio experiences." To meet such a wide range of products and use cases, an easy-to-program and scalable audio computing platform is needed. The Tensilica HiFi 5s SMP outstandingly meets these demands while also maximizing resource utilization, thus enabling the timely launch of cost-effective products to the market.

The automotive infotainment market is ever-changing, and each round of updates requires the introduction of new features. Therefore, a rapid market launch is of vital importance. In this highly dynamic market, the efficient and rapid development and deployment of complex audio software is the key to success. Miao Haibo, co-founder and chief scientist of Dashchip, said, "The cache-consistent multi-core HiFi 5s SMP offers unprecedented scalability and adaptability, while significantly simplifying the difficulty of software development, enabling Oems to provide consumers with highly immersive in-car audio experiences in a timely manner."

Mahesh Balakrishnan, vice president of Dolby Laboratories and general manager of the Consumer Entertainment Division, said: "From cinemas to homes, from mobile phones to today's cars, enjoying the Dolby Atmos experience has never been easier." Our ability to bring innovative audio experiences to consumers is built on in-depth collaboration with partners such as Cadence. We are very pleased to celebrate this latest innovation, which will offer original equipment manufacturers (Oems) more options to seamlessly meet the growing demand for next-generation audio.

We are delighted to see Cadence's market-leading Tensilica HiFi DSP continue to innovate. The automotive and TWS headphone audio applications generated by our highly-acclaimed AudioWeaver tool are efficiently mapped to Tensilica caches consistent HiFi 5s SMP, which offers true concurrent processing capabilities for scalable performance. The hardware cache consistency mechanism provided by this platform helps us avoid software-based cross-core synchronization errors, making multi-core software development a breeze." Paul Beckman, Chief Technology Officer of DSP Concepts, which has long collaborated with Cadence, said, "With AudioWeaver, Oems can now achieve higher performance configurations in a timely manner on the cache-consistent HiFi 5s SMP platform. And ensure that each multi-core configuration maximizes the utilization of the total available memory and cycles."

Let both customers and partners benefit

A unified resource view simplifies the integration of partner software, allowing available DSP cycles and total available memory information to be made available to the customer's code. By managing cache consistency through hardware, cross-core related software synchronization errors have been eliminated, thereby improving product quality and reducing returns. The highly tuned SMP architecture enables audio applications to achieve performance close to the theoretical maximum and match the number of cores. The ability to adapt to application changes has also been greatly enhanced, effectively shortening the overall completion time of software development.

"As audio devices become increasingly complex, managing complex software and fully leveraging the potential of multi-DSP computing platforms is a challenge," Chris Jones, Senior Marketing Director of Tensilica Products at Cadence's Chip Solutions Division, said, "Programming convenience and software reliability are increasingly crucial for helping customers gain a competitive edge." We have newly launched a configurable Tensilica cache consistency HiFi 5s SMP solution, enabling customers to efficiently expand their audio products while achieving higher resource utilization and accelerating time-to-market.

Relying on the industry-leading instruction set scalability of the Xtensa platform, customers can enhance the HiFi 5s ISA to optimize their applications. The Xtensa SDK includes the SystemC model to accelerate the software development process. Cadence and its powerful partner ecosystem (covering over 200 partners) offer a wide range of HiFi-optimized software packages and audio/voice/voice codecs, helping customers quickly provide the right feature set for each product SKU.

Product supply

Cache consistency HiFi 5s SMP has been adopted by early customers and is now officially available on the market. Customers can quickly get started through the multi-core examples provided by the SDK.

For more information, please contact a Cadence sales representative or visit the Cache Consistency HiFi 5s SMP product page.

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