InsideDSP — In-depth analysis and opinion

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—The Internet of Things That See

The term “the Internet of things” refers to a vision of the future where many objects—automobiles, appliances, sensors—will be connected to the Internet. I hadn’t given this idea much thought until I attended the recent SDR ’10 Technical Conference, hosted by the Wireless Innovation Forum.  This is an excellent conference, and the keynote talks I attended were well worth my time.  What caught my attention at this year’s conference was that three keynote speakers—from Verizon, Huawei, and ST Read more...

Case Study: Chip Vendors, Walk a Mile in Your Customers’ Shoes

Let’s face it: Applications are getting more complicated.  Chips are getting more complicated.  And engineering teams are generally getting smaller, not larger.  As a result, it’s incumbent on chip vendors to provide robust, easy-to-use development kits.  Design engineers rely on these kits to quickly evaluate chips and prototype key portions of their systems. Clearly chip manufacturers recognize that development kits are important, and there are hundreds available.  But the quality of Read more...

TI Supports Floating-Point in New High-Performance DSPs

In early 2010, Texas Instruments (TI) announced a new multi-core DSP SoC architecture. This month, TI announced the first chips based on this architecture. This latest announcement includes details of TI’s new TMS320C66x (C66x) DSP processor core, which offers both state-of-the-art fixed-point performance and strong floating-point support. The multi-core architecture and C66x core underlie a family of new general-purpose DSPs, as well as two chips for wireless infrastructure applications, one Read more...

CEVA Launches Two New DSP Cores with Support for Porting TI Software

DSP processor core licensor CEVA has added to its portfolio with the new CEVA-X1643 and CEVA-XC323 DSP cores. The cores are the next-generation successors to the CEVA-X1641 and CEVA-XC321, respectively. The new cores roughly double the clock frequency of the prior offerings to 1 GHz and are targeted for 40 nm implementation.  Both cores rely on a VLIW architecture combined with SIMD capabilities, and the XC323 adds a vector computation unit. The X1643 targets a broad range of applications Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—Wireless Leads the Way—Again

Considering how ubiquitous and indispensible they are today, it’s amazing to think that digital cellular phones were a novelty 15 years ago.  In the mid-1990s, digital cellular handsets were just beginning to be deployed in large volumes.  At that time, these handsets were becoming the “killer app” for digital signal processors.  Chip suppliers such as Texas Instruments (TI) and AT&T Microelectronics ramped up their DSP processor development efforts to compete for design wins in this Read more...

Analog Devices Lowers Entry Point for DSP-Enabled Processors

Analog Devices (ADI) has expanded its Blackfin family of DSP-centric embedded processors with a new low-cost family member, the ADSP-BF592. The processor delivers a respectable 800 MMACS (million multiply accumulate cycles per second) for around $3.  The trend is clear:  ever-tinier processors can take on demanding DSP applications in segments ranging from consumer electronics to medical to automotive. To enable its low price, ADI has trimmed the features of the BF592 compared to other Read more...

ARM Unveils High-End Cortex-A15 Core Targeting Applications beyond Handsets

In September, ARM announced its latest high-performance processor core–the long-rumored Cortex-A15, code-named Eagle.  The announcement contained few details, but did set out some aggressive performance targets, and also made it clear that ARM’s ambitions extend beyond hand-held devices to cellular base-stations, networking equipment, servers, and other performance-hungry infrastructure applications. One clue to ARM’s ambitions is the relatively short but significant list of new features Read more...

Jeff Bier’s Impulse Response—The Floating-Point Future

Back in the early days of embedded digital signal processing software, floating-point processors were expensive.  As a result, they were reserved for a few lucky engineers doing prototyping work and developing equipment for low-volume, price-insensitive applications.  Everyone else used fixed-point processors.  In addition to being cheaper, fixed-point processors were faster and more energy-efficient.  But fixed-point processors also require more work:  Algorithm developers usually write Read more...

Case Study: Choosing the Right Benchmarks for the Job

As embedded processors and applications become increasingly complex, good benchmarks are more important than ever.  System designers need good benchmarks to judge whether a processor will meet the needs of their applications, and to make accurate comparisons among processors.  Processor developers need good benchmarks to assess how their processors stack up against the competition—and to prove their processors’ capabilities to customers. But what exactly comprises a good benchmark? One Read more...

MimoOn Fields LTE Software for Multiple Processor Vendors

With the growth in mobile data traffic, there is increasing interest in fourth-generation (4G) cellular technologies, especially the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) – the successor to GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSxPA technologies.  LTE has gained a decided momentum advantage over WiMax and is expected to be the most important 4G technology.  BDTI recently spoke with mimoOn, a company headquartered in Duisburg, Germany that licenses LTE software for both Read more...