 In This Issue
Universal Serial Bus
DSP Solutions
Get ready for the 1997 DSP Solutions Challenge
Packard Bell to offer high-speed x2 modems
From the mouths of babes an industry was born
TI discounts DSP development tools
Mixed Signal
Product Update |
DSP/BIOS simplifies DSP programming Getting TMS320 DSP-based systems to market will soon become easier with the introduction of a standard software application program interface (API).
Named the DSP/BIOS, the API greatly simplifies programming, monitoring and debugging for TMS320 DSPs. It defines a tight set of functions that allow system developers to address function calls during code development and enables real-time collection of information during application execution. The DSP/BIOS open API standard is based on technology originally developed by Spectron Microsystems. An industry first, the DSP/BIOS and related products provide a standardized pre-built, low-level software foundation that ensures interoperability and eases the difficult task of system integration. This new capability also allows real-time analysis in real-time monitor and debug capabilities. The DSP/BIOS Open API extends TI's industry leadership in delivering easy-to-use, software-driven DSP Solutions (DSPS). Companies presently endorsing DSP/BIOS in addition to TI and Spectron include leading DSP software and hardware third-parties DSP Research, DSP Software Engineering, GO DSP, HotHaus, Spectrum Signal Processing and White Mountain DSP. The DSP/BIOS is designed to dramatically increase functionality and flexibility while using few system requirements of its own. The small, stand-alone firmware kernel, either resident within on-chip ROM or off-chip RAM, is composed of software code requiring no more than 1K words of target program memory. This provides basic run-time support services to embedded programs that will execute on target processors and is compatible with TI's real-time functionality. The DSP/BIOS API is an interface specification for target processors. It includes the names of the API target function call, parameters tables for each target function call and a concise description of the functionality of each target function call. By using DSP/BIOS standards-based tools with TMS320 designs, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can bypass much of the low-level DSP software development required with competitive products, allowing them to focus on value-added application features. Through the elimination of low-level DSP software development and the addition of real-time software analysis, DSP/BIOS allows designers to get their products to market more quickly by slashing design time up to 25 percent. Expected in the second quarter of 1997, the DSP/BIOS capabilities initially will be available in Spectron's BIOStation, a software evaluation kit. The kernel first will be distributed as a RAM-based module that can be downloaded to the processor at run time. Later, the software will be embedded in ROM for many TMS320 products. |