GEM-SOC: A RISC/DSP dual-core platform for portable media applications

A RISC/DSP dual-core platform for portable media application named GEM-SOC is presented in this paper. RISC is responsible for control related tasks and running OS, DSP is in charge of media applications and works as a slave for RISC. Mailbox based shared-memory inter-core communication mechanism is used in this platform. The GEM-SOC is fabricated in a 0.18 mum 6LM SMIC standard cell technology, occupies about 25 mm
²
, operates at 166 MHz, and consumes 0.6 Watts. Ogg Vorbis audio application has been developed on this platform and results show that GEM-SOC can achieve real time decode at 37.68MHz with communication overhead at 2.64-2.77%