Centillium packs 1,008 channels in VoP chip

Centillium Communications Inc. is upping the ante in the voice-over-packet (VoP) arena with the release of Entropia III, a fourth-generation SoC that delivers up to 1,008 channels.

Entropia III combines four MIPS 4k cores with and six DSPs in a 772-ball FCBGA package. The MIPS cores serve as network processing engines, handling IP and ATM packetization, packet signaling, protocol handshaking, as well as algorithm and packet acceleration.

With the MIPS processors covering the packet processing tasks, the DSPs are left to handle voice functions such as speech processing, tone detection, and echo cancellation. According to Fima Vaisman, VP of marketing, the chip delivers 28 GMAC DSP performance in a VoP design.

In addition to offering increased processing horsepower, Centillium's Entropia chip provides flexibility on the interface front. The chip is equipped with multiple TDM interfaces for linking in with traditional PSTN lines and wireless equipment. The chip also offers ATM adaptation Layer 1, 2, and 5, and IP interfaces for linking up with packet equipment.

The SoC surpasses the 1,000-channel mark when dealing with G.711 streams featuring 128ms echo cancellation tail lengths. Deep compression modes such as G.726 and G.729 are also supported. In these deeper compression modes, Vaisman said the chip will support fewer channels - 768 in the case of G.726 and 408 in the case of G.729.

The chip, however, achieves these channel densities without taking a big hit on power consumption. Vaisman said many VoP chips on the market consume 6mW to 10mW power per channel. Entropia III, on the other hand, consumes 2mW to 3mW power per channel, which equates to an overall power dissipation figure of 2W.

Entropia III is developed in a 0.13?m CMOS process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. It is priced at under $1 per channel in 10,000-unit quantities and is available now in volume production.

- Robert Keenan

EE Times