Trends of communication processors

Abstract

Processors have been playing important roles in both communication infrastructure systems and terminals. In this paper, both application specific and general purpose processors for communications are discussed including the roles, the history, the current situations, and the trends. One trend is that ASIPs (Application Specific Instruction-set Processors) are taking over ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) because of the increasing needs both on performance and compatibility of multi-modes. The trend opened opportunities for researchers crossing the boundary between communications and computer architecture. Another trend is the serverlization, i.e., more infrastructure equipments are replaced by servers. The trend opened opportunities for researchers working towards high performance computing for communication, such as research on communication algorithm kernels and real time programming methods on servers.