MSC8156ESVT1000B - 6-Core SC3850 DSP @ 1GHz | NXP | FCBGA-783
MPN: MSC8156ESVT1000B ✗ End of Life| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $212.97 | $212.97 |
| 10 | $198.5 | $1,985.00 |
| 100 | $175 | $17,500.00 |
| 500 | $155 | $77,500.00 |
| 1,000 | $138 | $138,000.00 |
MSC8156ESVT1000B Overview
A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor whose instruction set, parallel MAC units, and deterministic execution are optimized for numerically intensive real-time workloads such as FIR/IIR filtering, FFT/IFFT, channelization, turbo decoding, and beamforming. Within the compute hierarchy a DSP sits below application processors (CPUs) and above fixed-function accelerators: it offers more algorithmic flexibility than an ASIC while delivering higher throughput per watt than a general-purpose core, making it the standard building block for physical-layer (PHY) processing in 3G/4G/5G baseband, radar, and defense signal chains.
Key features of the MSC8156ESVT1000B include 1 GHz core clock frequency, 2.50 V I/O supply, 1.00 V core supply, and a broad peripheral set covering Ethernet, I2C, PCI, RGMII, Serial RapidIO, SGMII, SPI, and UART/USART. Each SC3850 core includes quad 16-bit MAC units and a hardware security engine, enabling MACsec/IPsec/SSL acceleration without burdening the signal-processing cores.
Architecturally the device pairs six identical SC3850 DSP subsystems around a high-bandwidth on-chip interconnect, with a dedicated queue manager (QE) and a memory controller that supports DDR2/DDR3 with ECC. The FCBGA-783 substrate provides the necessary signal and power-pad density for the 1 GHz parallel operation, and the integrated SEC engine accelerates the cryptographic primitives required in modern backhaul and fronthaul links.
Typical applications include LTE/UMTS/WCDMA baseband processing, channel cards for picocell and micro-cell base stations, defense and intelligence signal intelligence (SIGINT) systems, and wireline backhaul line cards. The multi-core scalability is well matched to carrier-scale PHY pipelines that must process multiple sectors or antenna streams concurrently.
When designing with the MSC8156ESVT1000B, plan the PCB stack-up for the 783-ball FCBGA, allocate sufficient thermal headroom at 1 GHz continuous operation, and verify the memory-controller timing against the chosen DDR3 speed grade; one-time-programmable security keys must be provisioned before deployment.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in alternatives (same-platform MSC8156 variants), and practical design notes not consolidated in the manufacturer datasheet.
Drop-in alternatives for MSC8156ESVT1000B — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with MSC8156ESVT1000B (same form factor and footprint) — differing in Package, Mounting Type, Operating Temperature, Core Architecture, Memory Controller.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
MSC8156SVT1000B
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$124.8 / Unit
View Datasheet →MSC8156HAG1000B
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$198.75 / Unit
View Datasheet →MSC8154SAG1000B
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
MSC8256ESAG1000B
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$198.75 / Unit
View Datasheet →TMS320C6678ACYPA
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$226.49 / Unit
View Datasheet →MSC8156ESVT1000B Specifications
| Manufacturer | NXP Semiconductors (formerly Freescale) |
| Series | StarCore |
| Type | SC3850 Six Core DSP |
| Number of Cores | 6 |
| Core Architecture | StarCore SC3850 |
| Clock Rate | 1 GHz |
| On-Chip RAM | 576 KB |
| Non-Volatile Memory | ROM 96 KB |
| L1 Instruction Cache (per core) | 32 KB |
| L1 Data Cache (per core) | 32 KB |
| Unified L2 Cache | 512 KB |
| Voltage - I/O | 2.50 V |
| Voltage - Core | 1.00 V |
| Interface | Ethernet, I2C, PCI, RGMII, Serial RapidIO, SGMII, SPI, UART/USART |
| Package | 783-BBGA, FCBGA |
| Packaging | Tray |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
MSC8156ESVT1000B 783-bbga, fcbga Pin Configuration Guide
Pin configuration for MSC8156ESVT1000B (783-bbga, fcbga package). Pin numbering, functions, and connection diagrams are defined in the manufacturer datasheet. Refer to it for the exact footprint and soldering guidelines.
No detailed pinout data available for MSC8156ESVT1000B.
Refer to the datasheet for full pin configuration.
Typical Applications
MSC8156ESVT1000B is suitable for 6 applications: LTE/UMTS/WCDMA Baseband Channel Card, Defense SIGINT / Electronic Warfare Processing, Wireline Backhaul Line Card / Edge Router, Radar Front-End Pre-Processing, Industrial Multi-Axis Motor Control Hub, Medical Imaging (Ultrasound Beamformer).
LTE/UMTS/WCDMA Baseband Channel Card
The MSC8156ESVT1000B is widely used as the baseband processing engine in 3G/4G channel cards for picocell, micro-cell, and macro-cell base stations. The six SC3850 cores each deliver quad 16-bit MAC units at 1 GHz, providing the aggregate compute needed for downlink turbo decoding, uplink FFT/IFFT, and channel estimation across multiple antennas simultaneously. A typical design pairs the chip with a DDR3-1600 memory, a SerDes fronthaul to the radio unit (CPRI/OBSAI), and the integrated SEC engine for encrypting the backhaul transport. The 783-ball FCBGA exposes sufficient parallel I/O to drive two or three SGMII links plus a Serial RapidIO fabric without external glue logic, which makes it a compact, low-BOM solution for high-density channel cards.
Recommended
Defense SIGINT / Electronic Warfare Processing
Defense signal-intelligence and electronic-warfare platforms rely on the MSC8156ESVT1000B for wideband digital down-conversion, pulse compression, and direction-finding algorithms. Each of the six 1 GHz SC3850 cores can sustain a wide FFT window while leaving headroom for adaptive beamforming weights, allowing one chip to handle a multi-channel receiver front-end. The unified 512 KB L2 cache and 576 KB on-chip SRAM hold several seconds of overlap-save buffer without external DRAM pressure, which simplifies deterministic timing in EW pipelines. For ruggedized deployments the MSC8156HAG1000B high-reliability variant shares the silicon so existing SIGINT firmware can be reused with minimal re-qualification.
Recommended
Wireline Backhaul Line Card / Edge Router
In wireline backhaul and edge-router line cards, the MSC8156ESVT1000B is used for packet classification, deep-packet inspection, and bulk encryption of metro-ethernet traffic. The integrated SEC engine accelerates IPsec, MACsec, and SSL/TLS at line-rate, freeing the six SC3850 cores for flow lookup and QoS scheduling. The peripheral mix (Ethernet, RGMII, SGMII, Serial RapidIO, PCI) lets the chip sit between a packet processor ASIC and the fronthaul switch fabric, while the 1.0 V core supply keeps power within typical NEBS thermal budgets. This makes it a strong fit for 10G/40G mobile-backhaul line cards where deterministic packet processing matters more than raw ACL throughput.
Recommended
Radar Front-End Pre-Processing
The MSC8156ESVT1000B handles radar front-end pre-processing including matched filtering, moving-target-indication (MTI) filtering, and CFAR detection on raw I/Q data. Six SC3850 cores at 1 GHz can sustain a long coherent processing interval (CPI) while leaving spare cycles for adaptive interference cancellation across antenna elements. Designers typically pair the device with a high-speed ADC front-end feeding through Serial RapidIO, and the chip's deterministic interrupt latency is critical for synchronized phased-array beam steering. The 783-ball FCBGA also provides clean power distribution for the compute-dense DSP blocks, simplifying thermal layout in a sealed radar enclosure.
Recommended
Industrial Multi-Axis Motor Control Hub
In multi-axis industrial motion controllers, the MSC8156ESVT1000B can run field-oriented control (FOC) loops on up to six axes simultaneously thanks to its six 1 GHz SC3850 cores each equipped with deterministic interrupt pipelines. The on-chip SEC engine is leveraged to secure fieldbus protocols like EtherCAT or PROFINET over the integrated Ethernet/SGMII ports, while the SPI and UART/USART interfaces drive per-axis gate-driver telemetry. The 576 KB on-chip RAM holds one full PID cycle for all six axes, allowing control loops to run without external DRAM round-trips and tightening the deterministic timing required by high-dynamic servo systems.
Recommended
Medical Imaging (Ultrasound Beamformer)
Diagnostic ultrasound beamformers leverage the MSC8156ESVT1000B's six SC3850 cores to compute delay-and-sum beamforming across 64 to 128 channels in real time. Each SC3850 sustains a 16-bit complex MAC budget suitable for sample-rate interpolation, while the shared 512 KB L2 cache holds per-channel apodization tables and demodulation coefficients. The integrated SEC engine protects patient-data streams on the way to the back-end image-processing host, and the 783-ball FCBGA package keeps the analog front-end close to the ADC taps for best signal integrity. Designers porting to a newer platform should evaluate the B4860 or LS1046A, but existing ultrasound product lines are well served by the MSC8156ESVT1000B.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for MSC8156ESVT1000B — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | MSC8156SVT1000B | MSC8156HAG1000B | MSC8154SAG1000B | MSC8256ESAG1000B | TMS320C6678ACYP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | NXP Semiconductors | Texas Instruments |
| Package | 783-BBGA, FCBGA | 783-BBGA, FCBGA (pin-compatible) | 783-BBGA, FCBGA (high-reliability variant) | 783-BBGA, FCBGA (pin-compatible family) | 783-BBGA, FCBGA (pin-compatible family) | 841-BGA (system-level pin-compatible only) |
| Number of Cores | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Core Architecture | StarCore SC3850 | StarCore SC3850 | StarCore SC3850 | StarCore SC3850 | StarCore SC3850 | C66x (different ISA) |
| Clock Rate | 1.0 GHz | 1.0 GHz | 1.0 GHz | 1.0 GHz | 1.0 GHz | 1.0 to 1.25 GHz |
| Unified L2 Cache | 512 KB | 512 KB | 512 KB | 256 KB | 512 KB | Up to 4 MB shared |
| Integrated SEC Engine | Yes (MACsec/IPsec/SSL) | No (removed for cost reduction) | Yes (high-reliability screening) | Yes | Yes | Yes (NetCP/Packet Accelerator) |
| Status | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Obsolete | Active (limited) |
Key Differentiators
- Most secure variant in the MSC8156 family (vs MSC8156SVT1000B)
- Highest core count in the FCBGA-783 footprint family (vs MSC8154SAG1000B)
- Compared to TI C6678 the StarCore ISA preserves legacy firmware (vs TMS320C6678ACYP)
Design Notes
Estimated: At 1 GHz continuous operation with all six SC3850 cores active, the MSC8156ESVT1000B can dissipate up to 8-10 W on a 1.0 V core and 2.5 V I/O supply (input values from the Freescale datasheet power tables; the manufacturer datasheet's junction-temperature curve should be consulted for the production design). The 783-ball FCBGA package requires a multi-layer PCB with at least 4 layers of solid ground/power planes beneath the die, plus continuous thermal vias into the inner planes; a heatsink is recommended for any design sustained at > 5 W. Add a thermistor pad near the package center so the system firmware can throttle the cores before the silicon hits its 100 C junction-temperature shutdown.
The 783-ball FCBGA on the MSC8156ESVT1000B requires a microvia-stack PCB stack-up with 0.4 mm or finer ball pitch escape routing and a matched-length SerDes layout for Serial RapidIO and SGMII. Use a 50 ohm controlled-impedance stack-up across the inner stripline layers for the high-speed serial links, and add a stitching via fence around the perimeter of the BGA land area to control crosstalk and EMI. Power-plane decoupling must be placed within 5 mm of each supply pin pair and use a mix of 100 nF X7R bypass and 10 uF bulk ceramic on the 1.0 V core rail.
Three common pitfalls when bringing up the MSC8156ESVT1000B: (1) do not skip the boot-ROM configuration - the 96 KB on-chip ROM expects a specific RCW (reset configuration word) on the I2C/Parallel port, and a wrong RCW silently stalls all six cores; (2) the integrated SEC engine requires a one-time fuse-programming step before any IPsec/MACsec key material is usable, so plan provisioning into manufacturing test; (3) the 2.50 V I/O and 1.00 V core supplies must come up in the sequence specified in the datasheet (core first, then I/O) to avoid CMOS latch-up during board-level hot-plug events.
Compliance Information
Compliance data not present in the verified web data; treat all compliance fields as 'unknown' until confirmed against the manufacturer datasheet. AEC-Q100 is not applicable - this is a multicore DSP for base-station/industrial/defense, not an automotive MCU.
