March 22, 2011 -- This article unveils how the analog functions that are built into an analog IP multimedia subsystem should be carefully selected to address the particular application requirements while guaranteeing the smallest silicon area and the lowest power consumption, a two-fold challenge that is commonly faced today by both system-on-chip (SOC) integrators and IP providers.

Some of the new analog features and performance levels available in today's analog IP are paramount to meet the high quality requirements of the most demanding multimedia SOCs, so they cannot be eliminated from the circuits as a way to reduce costs through area savings without jeopardizing performance. To better illustrate this point, examples of video AFE and video digital-to-analog converter (DAC) key features are presented to show the impact of the end result. Also, some of the new analog functions should not be substituted by digital functions as it runs the risk of compromising quality and sometimes functionality despite the fact that it would appear to be another way to gain area savings. This concept will be supported by examples of audio features that, when implemented, generate either advantages or issues depending on whether they are implemented in the analog or in the digital domain.

By Navraj Nandra. (Nandra is Senior Director of Marketing, DesignWare Analog and Mixed-Signal IP, Synopsys, Inc.)