Better performing AR7 ADSL router-on-a-chip at reduced cost
( 01 Jul 2003 )
- By John Ribeiro in India
Engineers at Texas Instruments (India) have designed a fully integrated ADSL router- on-a-chip, called the AR7, for customer premise equipment (CPE) that integrates on single-chip digital and analog functions such as one MIPS 32-bit RISC processor, a DSP-based digital transceiver, an ADSL analog front-end (AFE) including line driver and receiver, and power-management circuitry.
'A key design concern for us was to reduce cost by integrating as much as possible on the chip,' says Suresh Kumar, manager at TI India. With the ART, the system component count is likely to come down to 150 discretes in comparison to 415 discretes in the AR5 chipset, a predecessor to the AR7.
The AR7 runs on Linux and VxWorks operating systems and comes with a complete network software package. It has built-in support for current ADSL standards including ITU G.992.1 Annexes A, B, C, I and J, and can support newer, higher throughput and increased reach protocols such as ADSL2+ and READSL (reach extended ADSL). OEMs can implement a full-featured, expandable multi-port gateway kit to increase functionality by connecting the AR7 to a four-port Ethernet switch or TI's TNETW1130 802.11a/b/g solution. Using TI's broadband portfolio, manufacturers can add-on 802.11 or voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) to their ADSL routers.
The chip's I/Os operate at 3.3V, the core operates at 1.5V, and the line driver operates at 12V.
The AR7 is sampling to initial customers now with production and end-equipment expected in Q3 2003. The chip is built with a 130nm copper CMOS process that supports system-on-chip (SoC) integration of analog circuits with digital logic. The design is in 3 million gates, while the size of the die is approximately 60 square millimeters, and the package is 324 ball grid array (BGA). The chip will be priced at US$25 (5000).
Engineers at Texas Instruments (India) have designed a fully integrated ADSL router-
