Last month Texas Instruments went on an announcement blitz, introducing new products for a variety of applications. In two of its most important announcements, TI revealed new processors for cellular applications. The first of these processors, the TCI6482, will target 3G cellular base stations. The TCI6482 will include a number of advancements over its predecessors. Most notably, the TCI6482 will include 28 new instructions, including instructions to accelerate the rake, RACH, search, and spread operations used in CDMA baseband processing. According to TI, these new instructions will greatly improve the processor’s performance in wireless infrastructure applications. However, TI has not released the details of these new instructions, so the extent of their benefits is unclear.
The TCI6482 will also include upgraded Viterbi and turbo decoding coprocessors. According to TI, the new Viterbi coprocessor will be about 1.3 times faster than the Viterbi coprocessor found in the 1 GHz ‘C6416. Due to architectural differences, it is more difficult to compare the new turbo decoder to it predecessor. However, TI states that the new turbo coprocessor will also give the TCI6482 a performance advantage over existing devices.
The TCI6482 will also include a number of other new features, including a larger amount of on-chip memory and new peripherals. TI doubled the L1 instruction and data caches to 32 Kbytes each, and doubled the L2 cache to 2 Mbytes. Major new peripherals will include a serial RapidIO port, a gigabit Ethernet port, and a DDR2 memory interface. These peripherals are particularly notable because few if any currently available DSPs include any of these interfaces.
TI’s other new processor, the OMAPV1030, targets cellular handset applications. Like previous OMAP offerings, the OMAPV1030 includes an ARM core, a ‘C55x core, and a variety of handset-oriented peripherals. Although the hardware is largely unremarkable, the OMAPV1030 is unusual from a software perspective. In general, high-end handsets contain a baseband processor incorporating an ARM core and a DSP core, and a separate application processor for functions such as video playback. For example, TI’s high-end handset chipset includes a baseband processor with an ARM core and a ‘C55x core, and a separate application processor with its own ARM core and ‘C55x core.
In contrast, the OMAPV1030 uses the same processor for baseband and application functions. The ARM core and C55x core in the OMAPV1030 each handle baseband processing tasks as well as application processing tasks. Few other chips use the same cores to perform both types of functions.
Interestingly, Freescale has taken essentially the opposite approach in its MXC processor. Like the OMAPV1030, the MXC contains just one ARM core and one DSP core. However, the DSP core in the MXC only handles baseband tasks, and the ARM core only handles application tasks.
The TCI6482 is expected to begin sampling to key customers in the first half of 2005; full production is expected by early 2006. The OMAPV1030 is currently sampling, with full production expected in the third quarter of 2005. TI has not provided pricing for either part.
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