TI Translation Assistant Program simplifies upgrades from ’C5x to high-performance ’C54x

For DSP customers looking to upgrade to the higher performing TMS320C54x, Texas Instruments has developed the Translation Assistant Program (TAP5000). The TAP5000 protects the customer’s existing code investment by allowing them to easily convert their DSP application from a TMS320C5x to a ’C54x.

The TAP5000 is a robust and graphically-oriented tool that enables up to 90 percent automatic translation by obtaining efficient, high-performance code from the existing ’C5x assembly code. For the portions of code not automatically translated, the tool provides a highly interactive environment to assist the user in any manual conversion.

The ’C54x DSPs from TI are optimized to meet the performance, cost and low-power needs of wireless and wireline communication systems. With up to 200-MIPS performance and low power dissipation, the highly efficient ’C54x architecture enables the convergence of voice and data demanded by today’s communications applications, as well as emerging applications like IP phones and portable information appliances. As wireless/wireline applications grow in performance/low power requirements, the ’C54x DSPs are a natural migration from TI’s existing ’C5x devices due to the compatibility between the two generations.

The TAP5000 is available free to our ’C5x clients through a download from our web site.

www.ti.com/sc/docs/dsps/tools/ftools/index.htm

New ’C549/’C5410 application notes on the Web

Introduction to the TMS320VC5410 ( SPRA470)
Introduction to the TMS320LC549/ VC549 ( SPRA469)

These application notes introduce the ’LC549, the ’VC549 and the ’VC5410, high-performance, highly-integrated members of TI’s growing ’C54x product line. The ’VC549 and the ’LC549 were developed to service a variety of end-equipment in the wireless and wireline communications market that require high performance, very low power dissipation, and small physical size.

The ’VC5410 delivers 80- or 100-MIPS performance with a 2.5-V core power supply (I/O voltage remains at 3.3 V). The ’VC5410 devices provide 64K words of on-chip SRAM, 16K words of on-chip ROM, three multi-channel buffered serial ports, a host port interface, timer, and six channels of DMA.
The ’LC549 delivers 66- or 80-MIPS performance with a 3.3-V core power supply.
The ’VC549 offers 80- or 100-MIPS performance with a 2.5-V core power supply (I/O voltage remains at 3.3 V). All the ’C549 devices provide 32K words of on-chip SRAM, 16K words of on-chip ROM, three serial ports, a host port interface, and a timer.

www.ti.com/sc/docs/psheets/app_dsp.htm

Hands-on experience through online training

Texas Instruments is currently offering a comprehensive web-based training course on digital signal processing.

The course, Designing with the ’C54x DSKplus, is the first in a series of planned courses designed to reduce DSP-based product development time.

By accessing our web site students have the opportunity to actually perform digital signal processing on TI’s TMS320C54x, by using a simple tool, the DSP Starter Kit (DSK). Our online training program allows students to progress through the course in a self-paced, self-customized environment, from any computer at any time.

The four-hour introductory course is centered around the ’C54x DSKplus, an innovative kit that allows you to explore the architecture and operation of the ’C54x CPU and its peripherals by loading and running your own software. Besides providing an overview of the theory and future direction of DSP technology, the class will "walk" the user through installing the DSK, utilizing DSKplus to implement a filter algorithm and other DSP-related programs, and implementing code that takes advantage of the ’C54x’s powerful instruction set.

Designing with the ’C54x DSKplus was developed by TI and delivered by DigitalThink, the leader in Web-based training. Cost for the course is $200.