From ASICs to SOCs: A Practical Approach

3.5. Set-Top-Box SOC Example^[1]

^[1] Copyright 2002, Sonics, Inc. Portions reprinted with permission.

Future generations of STBs must embrace SOC technologies in order to deliver new levels of performance while cutting costs.

STB architects and designers face tough challenges in developing increasingly complex systems; these problems are compounded by aggressive TTM goals. STB design challenges can be met only through core reuse, better tools, new design methodologies, and approaches that promote standardization.

During this STB design exercise, a system model was built and simulated using the Sonics FastForward Development Environment. The architecture employs a DRAM subsystem in conjunction with a SiliconBackplane. Among the advantages of this ...