Hardware Accelerators Boost the Performance

of Next-Generation SHARC Processors

By Paul Beckmann, DSP Concepts, LLC

Summary
The recently announced Analog Devices SHARC ADSP-2146x
processor incorporates hardware accelerators for implementing three
widely used signal processing operations: FIR (finite impulse response),
IIR (infinite impulse response), and FFT (fast fourier transform). The
accelerators offload the core processor and have the potential to more
than double the computational throughput of the processor. This paper
introduces the accelerators using their application in next-generation
audio systems as an example.

Why Hardware Accelerators

The FIR filters, IIR filters, and FFT operations so commonly used in
digital signal processing have a regular structure that allows direct
implementation in hardwarespecifically, hardware accelerators.
These accelerators are dedicated fixed-function peripherals designed
to perform a single computationally intensive task over and over.
They offload the main processor, allowing it to do general-purpose
tasks that have little regularity in structure.
Using hardware accelerators offers a cost-effective way to increase
the overall computational power of a processor because the system
designer gains the flexibility of a general-purpose processor coupled
with the computational advantage of dedicated hardware.
Therefore, such accelerators are a valuable asset in meeting the
demands of ever more complex systems in many application areas.
One of those is audio systems, where the number of channels is on the
rise. Home theater systems went from 5.1 channels, to 6.1, and now
7.1 channels. High end automotive amplifiers routinely use 12 or more
speakers to immerse the listener in sound.
Furthermore, audio source material is now available in high definition
(HD) formats whose associated decoders stretch system resources.
In addition, HD algorithms provide content at a higher sampling rate.
Previously the peak sample rate of content was rarely above 48 kHz.
With HD algorithms, the sampling rate is routinely 96 kHz and, in some
cases, even as high as 192 kHz.

To better understand how computational demands are increasing, think

about the state-of-the-art home theater receivers that incorporate
sophisticated room equalization algorithms. These algorithms
compensate for variations in driver response and speaker placement.
The algorithms first analyze the room using a microphone and real-time
transfer function measurements. Measurements at multiple locations
are intelligently combined, and then a compensating filter for each
speaker is designed.
The more precise room equalization algorithms use FIR filters to correct
the response over the entire frequency range. The length of the filter
needed is directly proportional to the sampling rate, and longer filters
are needed for precise control of low frequencies. Filter lengths of 256
points are common at 48 kHz, while achieving the same frequency
resolution at 96 kHz requires a filter length of 512 points. This doubling
of sampling rate and filter length leads to a fourfold increase in the
amount of computation required.

Accelerators in the SHARC ADSP-2146x

SHARC processors from Analog Devices have a long history enabling
sophisticated signal processing functionality in a multitude of applications. The processors feature-rich core and peripherals have made
it a logical choice for product developers. Analog Devices recently
introduced SHARC ADSP-2146x processor reinforces this leadership
position with a higher clock speed (450 MHz) and expanded on-chip
memory (5 Mb).
In addition, the processor features a set of hardware accelerators for
implementing common signal processing operations: FIR filters, IIR
filters, and FFTs. These operations form the basis of communication
systems, medical devices, consumer products, and industrial measurement and control applications. These accelerators complement
the on-board sample rate converter, which was introduced in the
SHARC ADSP-2136x processor, and can also be considered to be
a hardware accelerator.

www.analog.com/SHARC

Accelerator Architecture
All three accelerators for the SHARC ADSP-2146x have a
similar design, which makes the FIR accelerator shown below
a good illustration of the hardware accelerator architecture.
The FIR accelerator has the following components:
Set of control registersconfigures the operation of the
accelerator.
DMA controllermoves data between main memory and the
accelerators local memory. Can also be used to configure
the control registers.
Two blocks of local memorystores coefficients and state
variables (or delay memory), and reduces the bandwidth to
main memory.
Compute unitcontains arithmetic operations tailored to the
accelerator. The FIR compute unit has four parallel MACs.
CONTROL BUS

DMA BUS

FIR CONTROLLER
AND CONTROL
REGISTERS

DMA CONTROLLER

COEFFICIENT
MEMORY
(1024 32-BIT)

COMPUTE
UNIT 4 MACs
FLOATING OR
FIXED-POINT

The total number of peripheral clock cycles needed

to implement a given FIR filter is given by the formula

49 + 4N + B

N
4

+2

where N is the number of filter taps and B is the block size.

The cycle count can be broken down further into:
49 = DMA transfer control block initialization.
4N = loading the coefficient and state values (delay line)
assuming two cycles per load.

+ 2 = cycles to compute one output sample of a length N

4
FIR filter.

Using the Accelerators in Practice

Application software must be designed to get the most out of
the hardware accelerators. Keep in mind that the accelerators
must be configured to operate in parallel with the main CPU
because there is no benefit if the main CPU is idle waiting for
the accelerators to finish.

STATE
MEMORY
(1024 32-BIT)

The operation of the accelerator is automated using chained

DMA. The FIR accelerator typically progresses through the
following steps:
1. Load the coefficient data for this channel from internal
memory to the local accelerator coefficient storage.
2. Load the state variables for this channel from internal
memory to the local accelerator state variable storage.
This includes the first input sample.
3. Compute the output sample using the four MAC units.
4. Store the result.

The accelerators are typically part of a larger signal chain

running within a real-time environment. Interfacing to the
accelerators requires double-buffered input and output data,
and the system designer should bear in mind that the
accelerators introduce a block of latency.
Consider a home theater system with 7.1 channels of audio at
96 kHz operating at a block size of 32 samples. Assume that
room equalization is being applied by eight FIR filters, each
512 points long. If the core CPU were to perform the filtering,
it would take at least 96 kHz 8 512 = 393 MMAC/sec
or 44% of a 450 MHz SHARC processor. This FIR processing
represents a significant portion of the overall computation
and, fortunately, can be offloaded to the accelerator. The inputs
and outputs to the FIR filters are double buffered allowing the
accelerator to operate in parallel with the rest of the audio signal chain. The double buffering introduces 32 samples of delay
in the processing, which is an acceptable 333 s at 96 kHz.

5. If there are samples left to process, then fetch the next

input sample and write to the state variable storage.

Using the previous formula, the accelerator requires 50,056

peripheral cycles to complete the operation. At a rate of 225 MHz
this is 223 s, which is well within the 333 s block time.

6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 until all the output samples in the

channel are computed.

Conclusion

7. Repeat steps 1 to 6 for all input channels.

The ADSP-2146x core has a maximum clock rate of 450 MHz.
By using SIMD (single-instruction multiple-data), the core can
perform two MAC (multiply-accumulate) operations per clock
cycle for a peak rate of 900 MMAC/sec. The accelerator, in
comparison, operates at the SHARC peripheral clock rate of
225 MHz. Using its four dedicated MAC units, the FIR accelerator achieves a peak theoretical throughput of 900 MMAC/sec.
There is some overhead for configuring the FIR accelerator
control registers and moving data in and out of local memory.

2008 Analog Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.

SHARC is a registered trademark of Analog Devices, Inc.
Trademarks and registered trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.
T07813-0-9/08

Continuing advances in audio processing technology are

placing ever higher demands on audio DSPs. The hardware
accelerators within the next-generation SHARC ADSP-2146x
processor provide a significant boost in overall processing
power. The accelerators offload common signal processing
operationsFIR filters, IIR filters, and FFT operationsfrom
the core processor allowing it to focus on other tasks. This
cost-effective approach more than doubles the computational
throughput of the processor. Although this paper focused on
audio applications, the core and accelerators are generalpurpose and well-suited for a variety of signal processing tasks.

www.analog.com/SHARC

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