Getting to market first with a new product is difficult enough in the ultra-competitive semiconductor industry. Meeting audio codec standards for PC multimedia systems while streamlining development processes only adds to the challenge.
Realtek Semiconductor of Taiwan overcame these barriers by timing the integration of its two main R&D departments, analog signal processing design and digital signal processing design, to coincide with the introduction of MathWorks tools into their design environment. This approach enabled the company to reduce development time while maximising resources in designing a new semiconductor chip, ALC 201/A. The all-purpose chip complies fully with the AC '97 audio codec standards set by Intel in 1997.
The early release and high quality of ALC 201/A helped Realtek, already the leading producer of computer-peripheral integrated circuits (ICs), boost its global market share in AC'97 audio codecs.
The challenge
Designers of audio codec (compression/decompression) algorithms must perform complex, large-scale computations. They must also satisfy the global demand for lighter, smaller, and more portable designs in consumer electronic products such as PDAs, laptops, and mobile phones. This means creating designs that maximise system performance while minimising chip size.
In the past, Realtek engineers had used C code or SPICE for product development, but they found that these tools were inefficient for performing bulk data analysis and system simulation. The Realtek engineers needed design tools with powerful mathematical computation and analysis capabilities. They also needed a development environment that would enable their two R&D teams to work together and share their design drafts.
The solution
Realtek used MATLAB, Simulink, and related toolboxes and blocksets throughout the three stages of their design process: system analysis and numerical computation, Verilog simulation and cosimulation, and hardware implementation.
"The powerful computing engine and the user-friendly interface provided by MATLAB and Simulink simplified the design process," says Zhong Ming Zhang, Analog IC Design Department engineer. "MATLAB helped me design and implement my work easily just two weeks into my first trial of the product and significantly reduced our design cycle time."
The engineers used MATLAB functions along with the Signal Processing Toolbox and the Optimization Toolbox to transfer the product concept into a workable model.
The digital signal processing engineers relied extensively on the matrix-based functions in MATLAB to speed up the design process:
"With traditional C code or other hand-coding design methods, we would have had to spend a lot of time and effort dealing with coding problems, which divert the engineers from the initial design goal and lead to serious design inefficiency," says Yi Shu Zhang, Digital IC Design Department engineer. "The MATLAB language and built-in functions met all our needs, enabling us to concentrate on product development rather than on hand-coding."
Before hardware implementation, Realtek needed to convert the model into Verilog. Using the DSP Blockset and the Fixed-Point Blockset, they fine-tuned the Verilog model by cross-referencing the original MATLAB M-file and algorithm. They could then detect errors more efficiently.
Simulink helped them generate a Verilog model that was virtually identical to the original product concept. In the cosimulation stage, Realtek used Simulink to dynamically simulate the model. They then used the Quantizer, Up sampling, Down sampling, and FIR decimation blocks in the DSP Blockset and the Fixed-Point Blockset libraries to accelerate the processing of complex analog/digital signals.
The Optimization Toolbox helped them to further enhance the effectiveness of the product, which led to increased performance in a smaller chip, and greatly reduced production costs. After iterative analysis, simulation, and verification, the system code was ready for hardware implementation. Less than two years after the release of the SC'97 standard, Realtek announced that the ALC 201/A controller chip was ready for mass production.
The results
* 50% market share in first year of product release. As a result of being first to market with a quality product, Realtek acquired more than a 50% share in Taiwan's audio codec market in 2001.
* High return on investment. By upgrading their design tools with MATLAB and Simulink, Realtek used their R&D resources more efficiently and reaped economic and business benefits sooner and at a lower cost.
* Improved collaboration and reduced design time. The ALC 201/A development project involved considerable teamwork between the two major R&D departments.
"The intuitive graphical user interface and integrated design environment provided by MATLAB and Simulink played vital roles throughout the project," says Wen Qi Wang, Analog IC design department assistant manager. "With a shared design environment, engineers could easily understand each other's work and quickly integrate design diagrams."
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