Case Study: Fujitsu achieves 20% reduced power and high-performance LTE DSP with Synopsys Processor Designer

Fujitsu Laboratories Designs Custom DSP for Software-Defined Radio with Synopsys Processor Designer

Fujitsu Laboratories, a research subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd., needed a custom DSP for a 3G/LTE multi‑mode baseband processor for smartphones and tablets but faced a huge gate count, strict low‑power targets, and a tight schedule—conditions where a general‑purpose DSP could not meet LTE performance requirements.

Using Synopsys Processor Designer to create an application‑specific instruction‑set processor, Fujitsu rapidly explored DSP architectures, generated a complete early software toolchain, and implemented a vector engine. The 28 nm custom DSP met the 12 GOPS at 250 MHz performance target, reduced power consumption by 20% versus standard DSPs, integrated into FPGA prototypes, and avoided royalty costs while benefitting from responsive Synopsys support.

Fujitsu

Makoto Mouri

Research Manager