TI cDSP Core Brings Uniprocessor Solution

TI cDSP™ Core Brings Uniprocessor Solution to Mainstream HDD Market

On-Chip Flash Reduces Cost, Increases Performance in New Seagate® Offering

HOUSTON (Aug. 19, 1996) -- A customizable digital signal processor (cDSP) core from Texas Instruments will serve as the sole processing element in a new product offering from one of the world's largest hard disk drive (HDD) manufacturers, Seagate Technology, Inc. (Scotts Valley, CA). The 2.5 gigabyte ST52520A drive, aimed squarely at high-volume, graphics-oriented Windows™ application markets, is the first mainstream 3.5-inch HDD to adopt a uniprocessor DSP design, integrating logic, flash memory and a DSP core into a single unit. This highly-integrated TI cDSP solution enabled Seagate to establish high-performance, cost effective HDD units by improving system performance, reducing power consumption and decreasing chip count.

"TI DSPs already provide the core processing muscle for many of our high end drives," said Edward Caragliano, vice president of VLSI Development Engineering at Seagate. "However, it is TI's ability to quickly and easily customize around a DSP core that lets us create precisely the collective solution we need to respond to our customers demands for cost-effective higher capacities."

TI engineers worked closely with the Seagate team to develop a semiconductor solution that meets the technical specifications as well as the marketing goals for the new HDD product. The T320C2xLP TI cDSP replaces five discrete devices, achieving cost savings compared to previous solutions. TI is the world's leading DSP solutions provider.

On-Chip Flash Memory Reduces Cost and Risk, Boosts Access Time and Flexibility

As optimized number crunchers, the DSPs are ideal for executing the complex positioning algorithms that quickly and accurately move an HDD's read/write head to the appropriate data track for data storage or retrieval. In the application at Seagate, the T320C2xLP DSP core not only performs the servo function, but also executes all host-interface software in less time, and with much better overall performance than the microcontrollers that were used in past designs. In the past, two processors were used, one to perform each of these tasks.

The program code to perform this servo control function is typically stored in a non-volatile memory device such as ROM (read-only memory) or flash memory. Flash memory blends the non-volatile permanence and low cost of ROM with the risk-reduced flexibility of RAM to facilitate end-product features such as periodic code updates or user-specific and application-specific reprogrammability. Such updates can occur at any point throughout the life of the drive and can include factory or field revisions to code, correcting mechanical, media or other hardware variations.

"Integrating flash right on the DSP is a major breakthrough," said John Schanzenbach, TI's cDSP marketing manager. "Flash gives Seagate an easy reprogrammability path for periodic code upgrades and hardware reuse across their product line." TI's cDSP is the first such core technology available to integrate a DSP processing engine with flash memory for high-volume production. In addition to reducing cost, on-chip flash provides zero-wait-state access speeds that match the speed of the DSP core. Off-chip flash would have caused the Seagate design to incur performance-degrading wait states.

Real-Time Emulation Tools Drive Time-to-Market

TI's real-time emulation tools set, provided for cDSP development, allowed HDD interface code to be developed and debugged without stopping or hampering normal disk drive operation. The capability played a critical role in the development program at Seagate, making it possible to develop the uniprocessor architecture in time to meet a narrowly-defined market opportunity window.

The real-time emulation tools, provided by TI, solved difficult debug problems in hours or days, instead of weeks, in contrast to previous designs. These tools allowed developers to debug controller-task software while maintaining servo-lock and perform seeks virtually transparently to the user doing debugging. The cDSP's JTAG interface, non-stop mode debug operation and internal visibility emulator furnished critical test elements for comprehensive troubleshooting both during development and production, providing the highest level of manufacturing quality and reliability.

Software, Device-Evolution Provide Long-Term DSP Solutions

The digital signal processing provided by the cDSP offers long-term benefits to Seagate through highly-flexible reprogrammability and a TI TMS320 DSP core roadmap that promises continual evolution toward higher-performance, lower-cost and smaller-size devices. Engineers at Seagate found that the flexible DSP instruction set, and superior software development tools provided for the cDSP allowed them to write more optimized and easily debugged code. By incorporating an increasing number of functions in software, Seagate has ensured that future designs can quickly and easily take advantage of new TI TMS320 DSP technology to continue to drive down the all-important $/Mbyte HDD metric.

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Seagate Technology, Inc. is a data technology company that provides products for storing, managing and accessing digital information on the world's computer and data communications systems. Seagate is the largest independent disc drive and related components company in the world.

Seagate's home page address on the World Wide Web is http://www.seagate.com.

Trademarks:
cDSP is a trademark of Texas Instruments Incorporated.
Seagate is a registered trademark of Seagate Technology, Inc.
Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

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