technical details -enhanced Version 4 ColdFirer released

Motorola, Inc. has disclosed the technical details of the enhanced Version 4 ColdFirer core at MicroDesign Resources' annual Microprocessor Forum.

Called the V4e, the advanced core uses smart DigitalDNAT technology to combine new specialized processing elements to greatly improve system performance yet remain very cost-effective.

The V4e ColdFire core meets the demands of today's increasingly complex applications head on. The horsepower of the V4 core can be combined with the new virtual memory management unit, a floating- point unit (FPU), an enhanced multiply-accumulate unit (EMAC), and dual-ported processor-local RAM with user-defined addressing capabilities.

In addition, the V4e is designed to provide hardware support for on-chip multiprocessing for systems requiring intensive numeric processing capabilities beyond that provided by a single processor. Designs implemented in 0.18 micron technology are expected to provide 350 Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS of processing power per core when operating at 225 MHz, while migrating to 0.13 micron technology boosts the performance level to 333 MHz and over 500 Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS per core.

For designers using protected-mode real-time operating systems, the virtual memory management unit is engineered to provide process isolation for better reliability and security.

Designers facing the task of creating more complex applications with greatly improved performance may benefit from the higher performanceoffered by the FPU. Applications such as digital audio, which require digital signal processor (DSP) functionality on a microprocessor with a single unified code stream, will find the enhanced performance and signal-processing capabilities of the EMAC to be very beneficial.