Overview
The MSC8156/MSC8156E is a six-core DSP
based on Freescale’s new SC3850 StarCore
technology and designed to advance the
capabilities of wireless broadband equipment.
It delivers industry-leading performance and
power savings, leveraging 45 nm process
technology in a highly integrated SoC to
provide performance equivalent to 6 GHz of a
single core device. The MSC8156/MSC8156E
will help equipment manufacturers and
carriers create solutions and services that
enable near-term, mainstream adoption of
next-generation wireless standards such as
3G-LTE, WiMAX, HSPA+ and TDD-LTE. The
device is designed to lower system costs by
integrating functionality into a single
device that previously required multiple
discrete parts.
The MSC8156/MSC8156E DSP delivers a
high level of performance and integration,
combining six fully programmable new
and enhanced SC3850 DSP cores, each
running at up to 1 GHz with an architecture
highly optimized for wireless infrastructure
applications. Developed by Freescale and
integrated on chip, the MAPLE-B baseband
accelerator supports hardware acceleration
for Turbo and Viterbi channel decoding and for
DFT/iDFT and FFT/iFFT algorithms. An internal
RISC-based QUICC Engine subsystem
supports multiple networking protocols
to guarantee reliable data transport over
packet networks while significantly offloading
processing from the DSP cores. The optional
security engine core (SEC) in the MSC8156E
accelerates data plane encryption/decryption
and code protection with minimal DSP core
intervention.
The MSC8156/MSC8156E embeds large
internal memory and supports a variety
of advanced, high-speed interface types,
including two Serial RapidIO® interfaces,
two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces for network
communications, a PCI Express® controller,
two DDR controllers for high-speed, industry
standard memory interface and four multi-
channel TDM interfaces.
Digital Signal Processors
MSC8156/MSC8156E
Broadband Wireless Access DSP
Advanced 45 nm, six-core DSP for 3G-LTE, TDD-LTE,
WiMAX, 3GPP-HSPA and TD-SCDMA
JTAG
DDR Interface 64/32-bit 800 MHz
4
TDMs
DMA
I/O Interrupt
Concentrator
UART
Clocks
Timers
Reset
Semaphores
DDR2/DDR3
SDRAM Controller
Class
QUICC Engine
Subsystem
Four TDMs Each
Supporting 8 E1
Boot ROM
I2C
Virtual
Interrupts
High-Speed
Serial Interface
SEC
MAPLE-B
Turbo/
Viterbi
FFT/
IFFT
DFT/
IDFT
Two RGMII
SPI
Two
SGMII
M3 Memory
1056 KB
Dual RISC Processors
DDR Interface 64/32-bit 800 MHz
DDR2/DDR3
SDRAM Controller
512 KB L2 Cache/
M2 Memory
SC3850 DSP Core
32 KB L1
I-Cache
32 KB L1
D-Cache
Six DSP Cores at 1 GHz
MSC8158/MSC8158E Block Diagram
MSC8156E
only
CRC
Two Serial RapidIO® 1x/4x 3.125
Gbaud
PCI Express® 1x/2x/4x
Two SGMII
Other
Modules
Cores Optional
Learn More: For current information about Freescale
products and documentation, please visit
freescale.com/DSP.
Features and Benefits
• SixStarCoreDSPSC3850coresubsystems
operating at up to 1 GHz/8000 MMACS per
core and up to 48000 MMACS per device
• Multi-acceleratorplatformenginefor
baseband (MAPLE-B)
Highly flexible, programmable Turbo and
Viterbi decoder supports configurable
decoding parameters. It can perform up
to 200 Mbps of Turbo decoding
(six iterations) or up to 115 Mbps of
K = 9 (zero tail) Viterbi decoding
FFT/iFFT for sizes 128, 256, 512, 1024 or
2048 points at up to 350 million samples
per second
DFT/iDFT for sizes up to 1536 points at
up to 175 million samples per second
• Twomasterbusesfordatatransfers
from/to the system memory at total
throughput up to 50 Gbps
• High-speed,high-bandwidthCLASSfabric
arbitrates between the DSP cores and
other CLASS masters to M2 memory, M3
memory, DDR controllers, MAPLE-B and
the configuration registers
• TwoDDRcontrollerswithupto400MHz
clock (800 MHz data) rate and 32/64-
bit DDR2/3 SDRAM data bus. Supports
SODIMMs and up to 0.5 GB per controller
• 32-channelDMAcontroller
• DualRISCcoreQUICCEnginesubsystem
operating at up to 500 MHz provides
parallel packet processing independent of
the DSP cores
Supports:
Two Gigabit Ethernet controllers
supporting RGMII or SGMII
Serial peripheral interface
• HSSIthatsupportstwo4xSerDesports,
including:
Two Serial RapidIO controllers supporting
1x/4x operation up to 3.125 Gbaud
One PCI Express controller that supports
1x/2x/4x operation
Multiplexing capability for RapidIO,
PCI Express and SGMII signals through
the two SerDes ports
• FourTDMinterfaces
• UARTandI2C interfaces
• Eightsoftwarewatchdogtimers
• 1616-bittimers
• Two32-bitgeneralpurposetimerspercore
for RTOS support
• I/Ointerruptconcentratorandvirtual
interrupt support
• Eighthardwaresemaphores
• 32GPIOportsmultiplexedwithinterface
signals and IRQ inputs
• OptionalSEC(MSC8156E)optimizedto
process all the encryption/decryption
algorithms associated with IPsec, IKE,
WTLS/WAP, SSL/TLS, AES, DES,
RC-4, SNOW-3G and Kasumi for
3G-LTE and 3GPP
• Bootoptions:Ethernet,SerialRapidIO,I2C
and SPI
• ThreeinputclocksandfivePLLs
• JTAGTestAccessPort(TAP)andboundary
scan architecture designed to comply with
IEEE 1149.1™ standard for profiling and
performance monitoring support
• Reducedpowerdissipationwithwait,
stop and power down low-power
standby modes
• Optimizedpowermanagementcircuitry
• Technology:CMOS45nmSOItechnology
in 29 mm, 29 mm, 783 ball, FC-PBGA
package
Development Support
Freescale supplies a complete set of
CodeWarrior DSP development tools for
the MSC8156/MSC8156E device. The
tools provide easier and more robust ways
for designers to develop optimized DSP
systems. Whether the application targets a
3G-LTE, TD-SCDMA or WiMAX system, the
development environment gives designers
everything they need to exploit the advanced
capabilities of the MSC8156/MSC8156E
architecture.
Support tools include:
• Eclipse-basedintegrateddevelopment
environment (IDE)
• CandC++compilerwithin-lineassembly
• Librarian
• Multicoredebugger
• Royalty-freeRTOS
• Softwaresimulator
• Profiler
• High-speedruncontrol
• Hostplatformsupport
• MSC8156ADSdevelopmentboard
• MSC8156EVMevaluationmodule
Contact your local sales office or
representative for availability.
Freescale, the Freescale logo, StarCore, QUICC Engine and CodeWarrior technologies are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.,
Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. QUICC Engine is the trademark of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the
property of their respective owners. © 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
Document Number: MSC8156FS
REV 3