Digital signal processing (DSP) system developers face some of the most challenging development efforts in modern systems. Altera® tools, intellectual property (IP), and reference designs reduce program risk by enabling more productive development cycles with better results, including:
- Shorter development time
- A proven increase in code efficiency
- Floating-point development with the fused-datapath tool flow
- Floating-point vector processing to support linear algebra operations
- Reduced development and verification efforts with DSP Builder Advanced Blockset
- Floating-point and fixed-point library functions
- Extensive set of radar and wireless reference designs available
Figure 1. DSP Builder Tool Flow
DSP Builder with Fused-Datapath Floating-Point Tool Flow
- MATLAB – system-level design with MathWorks’ MATLAB software
- Simulink – FPGA blocks represented in MathWorks’ Simulink software
- DSP Builder – fused datapath for floating-point calculation RTL code generation with DSP Builder
- Quartus® II software – output to SOPC Builder for drivers or FPGA compiler for netlist. SignalTapTM II logic analyzer debug capability after placement and routing
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Learn how Altera FPGAs solve floating-point challenges. View webcast |
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See what BDTI, an independent technology analysis firm, says about Altera’s floating-point DSP design flow. |
Fused Datapath for the Highest Dynamic Range and the Fastest Development Time
Altera has developed a high-performance and low-latency floating-point tool flow using a technology known as “fused datapath”. This allows the designer to build mixed fixed- and floating-point FPGA vector signal processing datapaths. For more information on this tool flow, read the Achieving One TeraFLOPS with 28-nm FPGAs (PDF) white paper.
Altera’s Quartus II software is already known among military users as the most efficient and productive FPGA tool suite available today. Read the Military Productivity Factors in Large FPGA Designs (PDF) white paper to learn more.
Quartus II software comes with MathWorks’ MATLAB/Simulink interface to enable radar, electronic warfare (EW), and wireless system architects to translate their designs into an FPGA and easily verify the designs. Wireless system functions include multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) equalization and digital pre-distortion feedback processing.
After the system is built, the design engineer can rely on the DSP Builder Advanced Blockset available in Simulink. IEEE754-compliant megafunctions are also provided to create the highest precision and fastest response sensor processing. With floating-point capability and the lowest latency DSP blocks, Altera variable-precision DSP systems deliver superior algorithm implementation and reduce system size, weight, and power (SWaP).
Figure 2. DSP Builder Advanced Blockset
Updates in Quartus II Software v11.0
- DSPBA Stratix® V FPGA QoR
- Optimized general use of Stratix V DSP block features
- Systolic finite impulse response (FIR) structure using chained multipliers, internal coefficient, and pre-adders where appropriate
- Improved floating-point optimizations, particularly for constant multipliers
- Floating-point folding
- 64-bit MATLAB support
- DSPB: Linux 64-bit
- DSPBA: Linux and Windows XP, Windows 7 64-bit
Complementing our Stratix, Arria®, and Cyclone® devices and the Quartus II software tool suite is a number of reference designs on the following topics:
- Direct RF providing multichannel transmitter processing
- Radar front-end demonstrating multichannel down conversion and transformation to the frequency domain
- Space-time adaptive processing (STAP) radar processing with compensation for non-ideal systems and the environment to achieve effective detection and moving target indication (MTI)
- Matrix inversion
- Remote radio head filter chains
- Crest factor reduction
- MIMO equalization
Get DSP training today! Register for either the online one-hour training or attend one of our in-person training sessions to learn more about the DSP Builder Advanced Blockset .
Digital Signal Processing Documents
- DSP Builder Advanced Blockset User Guide (PDF)
- DSP Builder Advanced Blockset Reference Manual (PDF)
- DSP Builder Release Notes and Errata (PDF)
- DSP literature
