Renesas Technology Introduces 200MHz SH7710 Ethernet Processor

  

Renesas Technology America, Inc. today announced the SH7710 microprocessor (MPU), a 32-bit RISC device optimized for voice-over-IP (VoIP) equipment including VoIP ATAs (Analog Telephone Adapters), routers, home gateway servers, and secure routers. The MPU has an on-chip IPsec accelerator and two Ethernet controllers for high throughput performance. Operating at 200MHz, it can encode and decode up to 4 channels of voice while running an operating system, SIP (session initiation protocol) and other networking protocol stack. It can perform secure communication processing at high speeds, while carrying out 3DES (triple data encryption standard) processing for high security in a VPN (Virtual Private Network) configuration.

The device delivers the 260-MIPS performance needed to support high quality voice conversations while minimizing bandwidth, a requirement for SOHO use as well as for home applications. The MPU's built-in digital signal processing (DSP) unit is used to perform such multimedia related tasks. The DSP unit also can be used for other types of processing, such as the MPEG computations used to transmit signals from IP cameras. This capability ushers in the next generation of Internet phones that require video with VoIP.

A complete set of VoIP middleware is supported on the SH7710, and can be licensed to VoIP equipment OEMs. All speech CODECs are ITU(international telecommunication union)-compliant, and the common ones are G.711, G.723.1, G.726, and G.729A. The speech CODEC license includes patent indemnification that covers major countries in North America, Asia, and Europe. An echo canceller and an adaptive jitter buffer manager are also available.

The SH7710 is a member of the Renesas SuperH(R) family and has a powerful SH3-DSP CPU core. The MPU provides buffer memory and dedicated data transfer DMACs (direct memory access controllers), so data transfers can be carried out directly between external memory and the buffer memory, and between the buffer memory and encryption circuitry without CPU intervention. This reduces the CPU load, allowing maximum communication data rates. In addition, the device's IPsec hardware accelerator supports the DES and 3DES encryption/decryption methods, as well as the MD5 (message digest 5) and SHA-1 (secure hash algorithm 1) authentication data generation methods.

The MPU has two Ethernet controllers that support a 10/100Mbps network. A dedicated Ethernet DMAC enables efficient data transmission/reception control, and a 14KB FIFO buffer reduces the occurrence of data overflow for enhanced communication. The device allows automatic transfer of Ethernet frames between the two Ethernet controller channels, without CPU processing. Also, the SH7710 has a FIFO-equipped serial interface that can be connected directly to a serial CODEC, reducing system complexity and cost.

Support tools are available to facilitate the system design process. Renesas offers an integrated development environment that has software tools, evaluation boards such as Solution Engine from Hitachi ULSI Systems, and the low-cost Renesas Technology E10A on-chip debug emulator.

Networking products are a key application area for the semiconductor devices Renesas Technology manufactures, and advanced security technology is one of the strengths Renesas offers to meet the increasing need for enhanced security. Future enhancements of products for secure network solutions are planned.

Price and availability

                                                  Price / Availability
Product Name                         Package           (samples)
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SH7710           (HD6417710F)     256-pin HQFP         $ 20 / Now
               -------------------------------------------------------
                (HD6417710BP)      256-pin CSP         $ 20 / Now
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About Renesas Technology Corp.
Renesas Technology Corp. designs and manufactures highly integrated semiconductor system solutions for mobile, automotive, PC/AV and network markets. Established on April 1, 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT)(TSE:6501) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503) and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Renesas Technology is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and the world's leading microcontroller supplier globally. Besides microcontrollers, Renesas Technology offers flash memories, system-on-chip devices, Smart Card ICs, mixed-signal products, SRAMs and more.

Specifications: Renesas Technology SH7710 32-bit Processor

Item                           Specifications
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Product code                   SH7710 (HD6417710F/HD6417710BP)
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CPU core                       SH3-DSP (32-bit RISC CPU core)
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Maximum operating frequency    200MHz
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Processing performance         260 MIPS (at 200MHz operation)
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Operating ambient temperature  -20 degrees C to +75 degrees C
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Power supply voltage           I/O: 3.3V;  Internal: 1.5V
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Cache memory                   32KBytes, mixed instructions/data type,
                               4-way set associative
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X/Y memory                     16KBytes
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On-chip peripheral functions   -- IPsec accelerator:  DES, 3DES, MD5,
                                  and SHA-1 support
                               -- Ethernet controller:  2 channels
                               -- Dedicated DMAC for Ethernet
                                  controller: 4 channels
                               -- General-purpose DMAC:  6 channels
                               -- Serial interface with FIFO:
                                  2 channels
                               -- Serial communication interface:
                                  2 channels
                               -- Real-time clock
                               -- Timer: 3 channels
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Package                        256-pin HQFP, 256-pin CSP
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Process                        0.18-micron CMOS process
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