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TMS320: Bringing ease-of-use and faster time-to-market to DSP designersThe Texas Instruments TMS320 Third Party Program is the most extensive collection of Digital Signal Processing development support in the industry. More than 250 independent companies and consultants provide development boards, operating systems, software algorithms, function libraries and system consulting services around the world. Here are a few newly released products supporting TI DSPs. LAN-based DSP emulation to give developers remote debugging capabilities
Providing flexible connectivity options, the Trek-510 connects via a 10BASE-T or AUI connection to an Ethernet-based local area network (LAN), allowing remote debugging between either PC or Sun™ workstation debug hosts and the target DSP system.
The Trek-510 uses the TCP/IP networking protocol to provide seamless emulation of TI DSPs from a Windows 95™/Windows-NT™ based PC or SunOS 4.1.x based Sun workstation.
Future capabilities will allow Trek-510 users to debug remote DSP targets over the Internet. The Trek-510 consists of:
Priced at U.S. $5,995, the Trek-510 hardware is available now and will be supported by all of the popular DSP software debugger options including GO DSP Corp.'s Code Composer environment and the TI C/assembly source debugger.
Debugger software will be sold separately and priced at about U.S. $3,995. Initial operating system support will be for Sun workstations releases in 1Q98 and will support Windows 95 and Windows NT PCs.
BIOShop developer's kit available for TI's new DSP API
The BIOShop SDK consists of two components: a target-resident embedded kernel that implements the functionality specified in the DSP/BIOS API; and BIOScope, a suite of visual host-based real-time analysis tools that leverage these kernel services.
BIOShop includes a Window-oriented configuration utility that makes it easy to install the DSP/BIOS kernel on custom 'C54x, 'C5x and 'C2xx platforms and establish communications with the BIOScope host tools.
BIOShop's DSP/BIOS kernel provides a standard embedded platform with preemptive multitasking, interrupt processing and streaming I/O facilities that greatly simplify application development.
Programmers access kernel services by making calls to the DSP/BIOS API from their C or assembly language programs. To maximize efficiency, the kernel firmware is packaged as a collection of C-and assembly-callable modules that can be selectively linked with the application. This efficiency and modularity enables the kernel to occupy less than 1K words of memory and consume less than 1 percent of the DSP's MIPS while operating.
BIOShop for the 'C5x, 'C54x and 'C2xx are available now. BIOShop costs U.S. $3,495 per seat. Bundled options are also available. New telephony software developed for 'C2xx DSPs
TI and HotHaus Technologies Inc. are offering designers a DSP solution for applications requiring telecommunications features. HotHaus' HausWare™ telephony software will be distributed by TI for use on TI's TMS320C2xx family of DSPs.
This solution reduces system cost by replacing up to five chips -- a microcontroller, two memory chips, a fax chip and a modem chip -- with two devices, the TI DSP and codec.
Applications include point-of-sale terminals, remote metering and security, feature phones, multi-fax machines and computer telephony soft-PBXs. The TI 'C2xx family of DSPs brings new levels of performance to developers of low-cost systems in many different applications. These 16-bit fixed-point processors provide up to 40 MIPS of performance.
The 'C2xx generation includes the TMS320F206, the industry's first widely available fixed-point DSP with on-chip flash memory.
The combination of performance and system-cost reduction offered by the 'C2xx means that engineers who previously have used microcontrollers can now afford to take advantage of the power of DSP. The base package of software includes all the algorithms necessary to control multiple PSTN lines, v.22bis modem and an ADPCM G.726 vocoder.
Optional additions to this base package for even higher performance include v.32bis modem, T.30 fax and a CELP vocoder.
T
he HausWare Starter Kit, which includes a 'C203-based telephony platform and a variety of algorithms for evaluating HausWare on the 'C2xx, is available now from TI's authorized distributors and HotHaus Technologies Inc. for U.S. $995. Product suite supports TMS320C6x architecture
Spectrum's 'C6x product solutions also include software capabilities that support multi-instance, re-entrant -V.34+ data modems running at 33.6 kbps. This capability establishes new levels of price/performance for high-density modems and redefines the cost per square foot ratio for high-cost environments such as telephony central offices. The high-performance of Spectrum's new 'C6x product family hinges on the Hurricane, a new PCI interface bridge chip.
This chip was exclusively developed by Spectrum to increase I/O dataflow to and from the PCI interface at a sustained transfer rate of 132MB/s, while permitting the design of a compact and efficient line of products.
This performance feature is complemented by extended I/O capa-bilities including industry-standard IndustryPack™ and PMC modules, processor expansion modules (PEM), and DSP~LINK3 (Spectrum's secondary high-speed data path between the DSP board and peripheral I/O boards). These features allow Spectrum's 'C6x solutions to fully optimize the inherent performance and flexibility advantages of the 'C6x architecture. Spectrum's new subsidiary, 3L Limited, is working with Spectrum to develop 'C6x software solutions for real time operating systems. The Monaco board, Daytona board and PMC modules will be available in 1Q98. Volume pricing is available for OEM quantities.
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White Mountain DSP Inc. has unveiled a network-hosted DSP emulator. The Trek-510 Universal Ethernet Emulator provides network-hosted emulation for the TMS320C2xx, 'C3x, 'C4x, 'C5x, 'C54x, 'C8x and the new 'C6x generation of DSPs from TI.
Spectron Microsystems has announced the BIOShop™ Software Developer's Kit. Featuring the first complete, retargetable implementation of TI's DSP/BIOS API, BIOShop provides a standard development and run-time platform for TMS320C5x-, 'C54x- and 'C2xx-based DSP applications. BIOShop also includes a suite of host-based real-time analysis tools that can be used to enhance the capability of traditional DSP debuggers, test and diagnostics tools.
Spectrum Signal Processing has announced a suite of industry-leading solutions supporting TI's TMS320C6x architecture, the world's highest-performance DSP generation. The first products in Spectrum's 'C6x supporting product line consist of the Monaco, a Quad-VME carrier board; the Daytona, a Dual-PCI carrier board; and a variety of PMC mezzanine modules optimized for the 'C6x architecture.