Press Release
Target Compiler Technologies launches new service for the creation of processor-specific DSP tool-kits
Leuven, Belgium, June 8, 1999 – At the 36th Design Automation Conference later this month, Target Compiler Technologies ('Target') will launch a new service for its customers, called 'Checkmate'. Through this service, Target will be able to create affordable tool-kits for end-users of DSP processors designed with Chess/Checkers, Target's retargetable compilation environment.
The Chess/Checkers environment was introduced by Target in November of 1998. It consists of the following retargetable tools: a C compiler (Chess), a linker (Bridge), an instruction-set simulator (Checkers) and an assembler and disassembler (Darts). Users can specify their DSP architecture in nML, a high-level processor modelling language. Automatically the Chess/Checkers tools will work for the specified DSP. Chess/Checkers is primarily being used to develop new DSP architectures for various application-domains. The tools offers unique exploration capabilities: alternative DSP architectures can be compared quickly by describing them in nML and evaluating their performance for the application domain, using the Chess/Checkers tools.
Once a DSP architecture has been developed with Chess/Checkers, the processor designer can call on Target's new Checkmate service, to have a tool-kit made for this DSP. "The processor designer supplies Target with the processor model of the DSP, from which Target will then create a tool-kit containing a compiler, a linker, an instruction-set simulator and an assembler and disassembler for this particular processor," said Dirk Lanneer, Target's R&D Manager. "These tools have the same functionality as the retargetable tools in the Chess/Checkers distribution, except that they only work for the specified DSP and can therefore not be re-targeted anymore to other architectures." According to Lanneer, "the creation of the tool-kit can typically be done in a few days of time."
According to Gert Goossens, Target's General Manager, the processor-specific tool-kits created by the Checkmate service are intended for the processor's end-users, who want to implement their applications on the new DSP. "The quick availability of a DSP tool-kit is a prerequisite for the successful introduction of a new DSP in the market place," Goossens said. "Our main customers are design teams who are using the retargetable Chess/Checkers tools to develop new DSP architectures. However, the end-users of a DSP typically have less need for retargetability. They require support tools that generate efficient code for their target processor and that are easily affordable. So far, the ability to create those processor-specific tool-kits was a missing link in our business model."
At this stage, Target is not actively developing tool-kits for existing general-purpose DSP architectures. "Currently our focus is on application-specific DSPs, which are designed by our customers with the Chess/Checkers environment," said Johan Van Praet, Product Development Manager at Target. "The Chess compiler favours a certain style of DSP architectures, with highly encoded instructions, a heterogeneous register-set and single-cycle execution of instructions. The early use of Chess/Checkers during the architectural design phase naturally leads to an architecture that is well-suited for the Chess compiler. This good matching between compiler and DSP architecture is fully retained in the processor-specific tool-kits created by Checkmate.'"
The processor-specific tool-kit is created under a contract between the processor developer and Target. Authorised users of the processor can then purchase a license for the resulting tool-kit directly from Target.
Chess/Checkers will be demonstrated at the 36th Design Automation Conference, Booth 722, New Orleans, June 21-24, 1999.
Corporate Information
Target Compiler Technologies n.v. is an innovation company, specialising in design technologies for embedded software in electronic systems. Target was incorporated in 1996 as a spin-off company of IMEC, the Belgian R&D centre for micro-electronics. Target's shareholders are IMEC v.z.w., Software Holding & Finance n.v. (a Belgian private holding, investing in high-tech companies) and Tetracom b.v.b.a. (a group representing Target's management).
Target focuses on system design companies in competitive market segments like telecommunications and consumer electronics. Target's main product, Chess/Checkers, is based on a unique, patented technology initiated at IMEC.
Contact
Gert Goossens
Target Compiler Technologies n.v.
Phone: +32-16-40 81 14
Fax: +32-16-40 53 00
E-mail:
www.retarget.com
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