In this Issue New DSPs invigorate digital set-top boxes TI delivers customizable digital wireless baseband platform Third Parties pilot DSP Solutions into the mainstream New x2 modem chip sets speed OEM production Chip set supports FLEX messaging New link-layer added to 1394 product family PCI bus-to-cardbus controller complies with PC97 guidelines TI announces family of Universal Serial Bus interface chips |
New x2 modem chip sets speed OEM production
Based on existing modem chip-set architectures, the chip sets are compliant with 56 kilobits-per-second (kbps) x2™technology from U.S. Robotics Corp. (USR, Chicago, Illinois) and implemented with a software-programmable digital signal processor from Texas Instruments. The new 56 kbps x2 technology uses traditional telephone lines to allow Internet and on-line services users to download text, image and video data at twice the speed of today 's 28.8 kbps modems. Advanced, DSP-based handshaking techniques allow TI-based modems to connect over a highly unpredictable assortment of line conditions throughout the worldwide telecom infrastructure. "Any kind of 56 kbps connectivity requires identical protocols both in the user 's modem and at the Internet service providers [ISPs] where reprogrammable USR modems are already widely installed," said Mike Hames, vice president Semiconductor Group and worldwide manager of DSP at TI. "This alone will make x2 an automatic de facto standard for Internet access equipment." Any modem product designed using the TI chip sets, including PC modem cards, external PC modems, and Internet access equipment, will be backwardly compatible to current standards including: V.34 (33.6Kbps) data, V.17 (14.4Kps) fax and all of the fall backs. TI 's operating-system-independent and Windows$#153;-based modem chip sets are built around one of the company 's TMS320 DSP cores. This allows designers to upgrade end equipment with new technology through software reprogrammability both at the host level and at the DSP level, protecting end users against hardware obsolescence. "USR has long depended on programmable TI DSP solutions to give our modems significant performance advantages, and we are pleased to be working with Texas Instruments to bring this new technology to market," Casey Cowell, chairman, CEO, and president of U.S. Robotics. "Based on TI 's leading DSP technology, we will be able to upgrade many of our existing modem architectures without any hardware changes. This flexibility is key in bringing x2 to market quickly." TI 's OS-independent and Windows-based modem chip sets are now available directly from Texas Instruments. Pricing is $75 for 10K unit quantities.
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