Tools

Catalytic Acquires Celoxica’s C-to-FPGA Tools

Earlier this month, Catalytic announced that it had acquired Celoxica’s electronic system level (ESL) business. Catalytic is a start-up company that sells a MATLAB-to-C translation tool used to accelerate simulation and implementation of signal processing algorithms. Celoxica, on the other hand, developed a C-to-FPGA translation tool for creating hardware implementations of computationally demanding algorithms.  Put the two tools together, and what do you get? Potentially, you get seamless Read more...

Case Study: Multi-Tiered Software Optimization

To obtain the most efficient code, DSP software must be optimized at four distinct levels. First, the software architecture and data flow must be designed to take maximum advantage of the processor’s resources. Second, the appropriate data types must be selected—too big and you’re wasting resources, too small and your system may not work. Third, the software must be optimized at the algorithm level—perhaps by combining multiple algorithms into a single processing step, or by substituting one Read more...

Microchip Switches to MIPS Core for PIC32

Last month, Microchip announced a new 32-bit microcontroller chip family, the PIC32. With this family, Microchip—a long-time player in 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers—is going after the 32-bit microcontroller market, and making a big change in architecture.   Unlike Microchip’s earlier chips, which were based on the company’s proprietary processor architecture, the new family is based on the MIPS M4K core.  PIC32 chips, which are currently sampling, will operate at up to 72 MHz, with pricing Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Embedded Processor Wars

For a while there, it seemed as though DSP processors and general-purpose processors (GPPs) were morphing into one another. In an effort to provide better DSP performance, general-purpose processors (GPPs) were incorporating increasingly powerful DSP-oriented features. Meanwhile, as digital signal processing applications got more complex, DSP processors were becoming more CPU-like to enable efficient compilers and support more elaborate operating systems. It was getting hard to tell the DSPs Read more...

Evaluating the DSP Capabilities of the Cortex-R4

In 2004, ARM announced its newest generation of licensable cores, called the “Cortex” family.  Cortex cores span a wide range of performance levels, with Cortex M-series cores at the low end, Cortex R-series cores providing mid-range performance, and the Cortex A-series applications processors offering the highest performance.  The first Cortex core to be announced was the Cortex-M3, and since then ARM has announced several others, including the Cortex-A8 and A9, the Cortex-M1, and the Cortex- Read more...

MATLAB-to-C: Are Embedded Programmers Now Obsolete?

Earlier this month The Mathworks announced embedded C code generation capability for its popular MATLAB tool, which is widely used for digital signal processing algorithm design. According to The Mathworks, the new Embedded MATLAB capability is intended to enable MATLAB users to generate efficient C code directly from MATLAB source code files for use in embedded applications. Embedded MATLAB supports a subset of the MATLAB M language. It also supports a subset of the mathematical functions Read more...

Case Study: How Can You Prove You’ve Got the Best Multimedia Solution?

As multimedia systems grow in complexity, system and SoC developers are increasingly relying on vendors to provide “solutions”—combinations of hardware and software that implement complete multimedia functions such as audio and video compression and decompression.  Vendors have responded by offering a growing number of such solutions. This has created a new challenge for system and SoC developers: vendors’ claims regarding the functionality and performance of their solutions are difficult Read more...

Massively Parallel Processors for DSP: Development Tools

The number of vendors offering massively parallel processors for digital signal processing is growing.  As independent technology analysis company BDTI explained in its earlier article, there are a wide range of architectural approaches, each with unique pros and cons. Regardless of the approach taken, these chips are all highly complex, and they all face a similar challenge: making it easier for users to get their applications up and running. In this article BDTI will discuss some of the new Read more...

Atmel Announces CAP Customizable Microcontrollers

In June Atmel announced the Customizable Atmel Processor (CAP), a family of customizable microcontrollers, and two initial devices. Customization in the CAP is achieved via a gate array block in which users can implement functions ranging from processor cores and peripherals to algorithm accelerators. Atmel intends the CAP devices to be used in industrial, consumer, medical, and automotive applications, as replacements for the microcontroller-FPGA combinations often used in these applications Read more...

Case Study: Custom Benchmark Analysis—Making the Numbers Work For You

Processor designers, marketers, and users with a sophisticated understanding of benchmarks know that raw benchmark results rarely give the most accurate picture of processor performance for a specific application scenario.  While useful for providing a general impression of processor capabilities, raw benchmark results must be adapted to give a clear sense of how processors will perform in a particular application. For example, one large manufacturer of wireless equipment relies on BDTI Read more...