computer science

PicoChip

PicoChip is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand PicoChip rather than just read about it. In short: Picochip was a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company based in Bath, England, founded in 2000. In January 2012 Picochip was acquired by Mindspeed Technologies, Inc and subsequently by Intel.

Key takeaways

PicoChip belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect PicoChip to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of PicoChip from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Picochip was a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company based in Bath, England, founded in 2000. In January 2012 Picochip was acquired by Mindspeed Technologies, Inc and subsequently by Intel. The company was active in two areas, with two distinct product families. Picochip was one of the first companies to start developing solutions for small cell basestation (femtocells), for homes and offices. These help combat reception issues such as: dropped calls, poor sound quality, delays, and slow downloads. The idea is to increase the capacity of cellular networks and to address coverage holes.

Multi-core DSP Picochip developed a multi-core digital signal processor, the picoArray. This integrates 250–300 individual DSP cores onto a single die (depending on the specific product) and as such it can be described as a massively parallel processor array. Each of these cores is a 16-bit processor with Harvard architecture, local memory and 3-way VLIW. Although each device contained 250–300 processors, the architecture allowed devices to be connected to form far larger systems, in some cases with tens of thousands of cores. The company had three multi-core DSP products (PC202 / 203 / 205) that delivered approximately 40 GMACS and 200 GIPS of performance. The earlier PC102 is obsolete. The programming model allows each processor to be coded independently (in ANSI C or assembler) and then to communicate over an any:any interconnect mesh. The communication flows are fixed at compile time, not dynamically at run time (analogous to place & route of an FPGA but at higher level of abstraction). This can be described as communicating sequential processes. Each process maps to a processor, which is fully independent from other processors with "encapsulation", with interaction only through defined message passing and data flows through the mesh. This architecture is also related to object-oriented programming concepts. Notably, the development environment is deterministic: simulation of code is cycle-accurate to hardware execution. Advantages claimed include ease of development, improved reliability of code and software-reuse. Although the picoArray architecture is generic and could in principle be used for any DSP application, the company has stated its strategy is to focus on wireless infrastructure. In particular, the processor is widely used for baseband processing in WiMAX base stations and for femtocells. Independent benchmarks of representative communications systems by Berkeley Design (BDTI) indicate that the picoArray delivers significantly better performance-per-dollar than traditional single-core DSP devices.

Femtocells and small cells Picochip was one of the earliest companies to be active in femtocells and small cells, and first demonstrated a prototype at MWC2005. The company since developed a range of system on a chip (SoC) products named "picoXcell". The company supplied SoCs into the small cell market, and claimed to have 70% share of the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) market according to data from ABI Research. The company was a founder member of the Femto Forum, which later was renamed to SmallCell Forum, and was on the executive board of that organisation.

Corporate Investors included Atlas Venture, AT&T, Highland Capital Partners, Intel Capital, Pond Venture Partners, Rothschild, Samsung and Scottish Equity Partners. There were also undisclosed strategic investors. As of 2012 the company had raised a total of $110M in venture funding. In January 2012 Picochip was acquired by Californian company Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. for about $52 million. In December 2013, Intel acquired Mindspeed's small-cell assets including the picoChip technology.

References

External links

BDTI Analysis and Architecture discussion Archived 2007-03-03 at the Wayback Machine BDTI Benchmark results BDTI performance benchmark

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with PicoChip

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what PicoChip claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to PicoChip before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about PicoChip ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of PicoChip

In research: PicoChip appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses PicoChip in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: PicoChip is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2012 mergers and acquisitions, Companies based in Bath, Somerset, Defunct companies of England, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for PicoChip outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study PicoChip in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what PicoChip means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain PicoChip out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is PicoChip in simple terms?

Picochip was a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company based in Bath, England, founded in 2000. In January 2012 Picochip was acquired by Mindspeed Technologies, Inc and subsequently by Intel.

Why does PicoChip matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study PicoChip?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on PicoChip.