Domestic DSP announces major breakthrough

Latest update time：2021-08-30 18:54

Reads：

Source: Content from Zhongan Online-Anhui Daily, thank you.

▲The picture shows the sample display of "Soul Core No. 2A". (Data picture)

A chip that is only slightly larger than a one-yuan coin has the powerful function of performing 100 billion floating-point operations per second... On April 23, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 38th Institute released this exciting research result. After 6 years of arduous efforts, scientists from the 38th Institute have made a high-performance digital signal chip with the strongest single-core performance among similar products in the industry, realizing China's "core" and the nation's "soul", making the "smart brain" of various equipment even more powerful. This reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Hong Yi, chief scientist of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and chief designer of "Soul Core No. 2A".

"In the future, from a technical perspective, we need to build a fully software-based processing platform. First, we will strive to pedigree and serialize our products; secondly, we will refine the application areas to make the 'Soul Core' series of chips more efficient and more competitive, providing strong support for artificial intelligence computing, big data computing, etc." On the morning of April 24, in the office of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 38 Institute, Hong Yi, chief scientist of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation and chief designer of "Soul Core No. 2A", accepted an exclusive interview with our reporter.

What does “Soul Core No. 2A” mean?

——The "Chinese chip" can perform hundreds of billions of operations per second, adopts a fully independent system architecture, has better universality, and is now capable of mass production, which fully verifies the availability and reliability of domestic processors

On April 23, at the first Digital China Summit held in Fuzhou, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 38th Institute grandly released the "Soul Core II A", a digital signal processor with the strongest actual computing performance among similar products in the market. The chip was designed completely independently by the 38th Institute and can complete 100 billion floating-point operations per second. The single-core performance is 2.5 times higher than that of similar chips in the current international market. After the "ZTE incident", the launch of this "Chinese chip" has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life.

"Chinese people can make their own chips. The successive launch of 'Soul Core No. 1' and 'Soul Core No. 2A' have fully verified the availability and reliability of domestically produced processors." said Hong Yi.

In 2012, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 38th Institute launched the first practical high-performance floating-point general-purpose DSP (digital signal processor) chip independently developed by my country - "Soul Core No. 1". "Soul Core No. 1" can complete 30 billion floating-point operations or 8 billion floating-point multiplication and accumulation operations per second. It can be said to be a true Chinese "core" and national "soul". Its successful application has broken the monopoly of foreign high-performance chips in China. In terms of performance, the performance of "Soul Core No. 1" is 3 to 4 times higher than that of similar DSP chips in the market during the same period, and it has been successfully applied to many national defense science and technology equipment such as the radar of my country's KJ-500 early warning aircraft, allowing KJ-500 to achieve the strategic goal of "small platform, large early warning, high performance, new generation", and becoming my country's first high-end independent digital signal processor widely used in national defense science and technology equipment.

"Compared with 'Soul Core No. 1', 'Soul Core No. 2A' has better performance and universality, and is now capable of mass production." Hong Yi revealed that "Soul Core No. 1" is my country's first DSP chip that is independently designed from the instruction set, architecture, and development environment. "Soul Core No. 2A" also uses a fully independent architecture. Its appearance is only slightly larger than a one-yuan coin, but its computing performance is 4.8 times that of "Soul Core No. 1", and it has more and better interfaces, and has a relatively good application environment and debugging methods. For example, "Soul Core No. 1" used a single-core processor, 68 computing components, more than 600 instructions, and 24Mb storage capacity, while "Soul Core No. 2A" has been fully upgraded in these aspects, with a single core becoming a dual-core, the number of computing components expanded to 84, the number of instructions increased to more than 1,400, and the storage capacity expanded to 48Mb.

What is so good about “Soul Core No. 2A”?

——It has the best DSP core in the current international market, and its reliability and comprehensive cost of use are far superior to similar imported products. In the future, it can cover higher frequency bands such as C-band and X-band.

The TMS320C6678 chip produced by Texas Instruments is a common DSP product in the international market. Compared with similar products in the international market, the "Soul Core II A" also performs well and achieves comprehensive performance.

Hong Yi introduced that the "Soul Core II A" only takes 1.6 microseconds to realize 1024 floating-point FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) calculation through a single-core software. The computing efficiency is 3 times higher than that of the product of Texas Instruments, and the actual performance is 1.7 times that of the product. The device data throughput rate reaches 240Gb per second. While the actual computing performance is equivalent to that of the product of Texas Instruments, the power consumption is reduced by one third, and it is superior to similar imported products in terms of reliability and comprehensive use cost.

"Foreign products generally need to use programmable logic array devices to connect analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog signal converters. 'Soul Core No. 2A' can be directly interconnected with high-speed analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog signal converters, and has relevant timing interfaces, which can realize P-band RF direct acquisition software radio processing." Hong Yi said, "Soul Core No. 2A" is obviously easier to use and can cover higher frequency bands such as C-band and X-band in the future.

At present, "Soul Core II A" has the best DSP core in the current international market, surpassing the performance indicators of similar products on the market, and has won more than 30 scientific and technological achievements such as national technical invention patents and software copyrights. "'Soul Core II A' not only supports multiple protocols, but also supports on-chip network debugging and remote debugging, providing convenient and fast means for system maintenance and development." Hong Yi said that this chip has achieved a good balance in data throughput, flexibility, and ease of use.

Success does not happen overnight. It took scientists from the 38th Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 12 years to develop the "Soul Core No. 1" and launch the "Soul Core No. 2A". "The development of these two chips took six years, and brought together the hard work and sweat of many scientific researchers." Hong Yi said frankly that the successful launch of the chip benefited from the group's good fault-tolerant environment and rich technical accumulation. As early as 1986, the 38th Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation launched my country's first customized integrated circuit. At present, they have been working in the field of integrated circuits for more than 30 years.

What are the application prospects of “Soul Core No. 2A”?

——It will be widely used in high-intensity computing fields such as radar, electronic countermeasures, communications, image processing, medical electronics, industrial robots, etc., laying a solid foundation for my country to establish an independent high-end DSP product spectrum

High-performance chips are known as "industrial food" and represent a country's information technology level. my country has always relied on imports for high-performance DSP chips. Domestic manufacturers can only import chips to produce complete machines, and the industrial structure is hovering at the middle and low end. Especially in the fields of national defense security, public security, and major economic security, "lack of cores and souls" has become a "heartache" threatening my country's national defense security and economic development. The launch of "Soul Core No. 2A" shows that China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 38 Institute is working hard to solve this dilemma.

As a general-purpose DSP processor, "Soul Core II A" will be widely used in high-density computing fields such as radar, electronic countermeasures, communications, image processing, medical electronics, industrial robots, etc. At present, it is being promoted and used in a variety of major equipment and image processing fields. Hong Yi introduced that the launch of "Soul Core II A" has made software radio from an ideal to a reality, and it has become possible for chip functions to gradually depend on the update of software algorithms, laying a solid foundation for my country to establish an independent system of high-end DSP product spectrum.

According to Moore's Law, the chip generation is updated every two years. Every two years, the chip performance is doubled, and the price and power consumption are halved.

"Our product iterations will become faster and faster, but when we reach the top of the pyramid, it is difficult to break through by one's own strength. We must concentrate our efforts to bite the 'hard bone'." Hong Yi said that their dream is to build a software radio processing platform with an independent processing architecture, realize the unification of equipment hardware, and the function depends on the algorithm software running on the hardware, that is, the hardware and software upgrades are independent of each other, and the ecological environment of the independent DSP is continuously improved to provide continuous basic support for the development of military and civilian electronic information equipment. "The foreign blockade has indeed sounded the alarm for China. But for us, we must first continuously optimize the algorithm, improve product performance, and make the product itself more competitive and vital. Only in this way will customers choose you." Hong Yi said.

·Short review·

Core technologies must be in our own hands

Innovation is the first driving force for development. In the current fierce global competition, core technologies cannot be bought with money, and being controlled by others is the biggest hidden danger. The occurrence of the "ZTE incident" has once again put the problem of "lack of core and soul" in front of people, and once again reminded us that solving pain points must rely on independent innovation.

China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 38 recently released the "Soul Core No. 2 A" high-performance chip, which is completely independently developed. Although it is only slightly larger than a one-yuan coin, its computing power reaches 100 billion floating-point operations per second. This is a vivid practice of Chinese scientists mastering core technologies through independent innovation. It not only boosts the confidence of Chinese people in independent innovation, but also fully proves that only by mastering core technologies in their own hands can we truly master the initiative in competition and development. Temporary backwardness does not mean permanent backwardness. In the face of technological barriers, we should not be blindly pessimistic, nor do we have to go to extremes. To achieve high-quality development, China must not only unswervingly adhere to reform and opening up, but also make good use of both international and domestic scientific and technological resources, stimulate the rational and self-reliant mentality and ability of the Chinese people, and master core technologies through self-reliance.

Today is the 1569th issue of content shared by "Semiconductor Industry Observer" for you, welcome to follow.