IBM’s multicore Cell processor has garnered a lot of media attention over the last couple of years, as the multicore approach itself has become something of a juggernaut. BDTI recently investigated the current state of Cell products, and whether the architecture is likely to get significant traction in embedded applications.

Developing a new signal processing engine is expensive and risky, particularly for a small start-up or for an established company moving into an unfamiliar market.  There are good reasons to take that risk: signal processing has become ubiquitous in a wide range of application areas, and offers the potential for high revenues. The flip side is that the market is already densely populated with all kinds of signal processing engines: single-core chips, multi-core chips, massively parallel processors, DSP-enhanced FPGAs, SoCs, etc.

As the president of a small company that frequently works with big companies, I am often frustrated by how long it takes to get from a handshake agreement to a signed contract. The process can be absurdly slow and painful, and that’s bad for business on both sides.

Digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms are increasingly important in embedded systems. For example, compute-intensive multimedia functions are finding their way into applications ranging from toys to appliances to telephones. But in many of these systems, cost constraints dictate a processor with very minimal horsepower and limited—or no—signal-processing-specific features. 

I spent some time at the Mobile World Congress in Spain last month, where pretty much everyone involved in wireless technologies showed up. I am happy to report that there were some very cool new technologies demonstrated there, like Texas Instruments’ miniature video projector that may one day be incorporated into cell phones. People were also chattering about fourth-generation (“4G”) cellular networks, which are (of course) supposed to yield cell networks that are faster and better than today’s 3G.

I spent some time at the Mobile World Congress in Spain last month, where pretty much everyone involved in wireless technologies showed up. I am happy to report that there were some very cool new technologies demonstrated there, like Texas Instruments’ miniature video projector that may one day be incorporated into cell phones.  People were also chattering about fourth-generation (“4G”) cellular networks, which are (of course) supposed to yield cell networks that are faster and better than today’s 3G.

Texas Instruments yesterday introduced four new members of its OMAP3 family of high-end application processors, and announced that these chips will be offered broadly as part of TI’s “catalog” product line.