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TI Introduces DSP/BIOS Standard API for TMS320 DSP ArchitecturesAPI Enhances Ease of Use, Increases Functionality and Reduces Development Cycle TimeHOUSTON (March 17, 1997) -- A standard software application program interface (API) that makes TMS320 digital signal processors (DSPs) easier to program, monitor and debug was introduced today by Texas Instruments. The DSP/BIOS defines a tight set of functions that allows the system developer 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 upon technology originally developed by Spectron Microsystems, a division of Dialogic Corporation of Parsippany, New Jersey. The DSP/BIOS standard, which is currently supported by a network of third parties, will allow developers and third parties to build interoperable software tool suites designed to provide increased functionality such as real-time program analysis. Companies presently endorsing DSP/BIOS include leading DSP software and hardware developers DSP Research, DSP Software Engineering, GO DSP, HotHaus and White Mountain DSP, as well as Spectron and TI. By using DSP/BIOS standard-based tools with their TMS320 designs, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will be able to bypass much of the low-level DSP software development required today in order to focus on value-added application features to save time-to-market. Through the elimination of low-level DSP software development and with the addition of real-time software analysis, DSP/BIOS allows DSP designers to get their products to market more quickly with design time being cut by 25 percent. TI also plans to support a development environment in the future that will depend on the capabilities provided by DSP/BIOS. "TI is the first DSP vendor to introduce a standard BIOS API for its DSP products," said Ron Wages, DSP marketing manager for Texas Instruments Semiconductor Group. "In keeping with TI's strategy to provide DSP solutions, DSP/BIOS will help system developers concentrate on solving the software challenges of increased complexity, space/time constraints, software reuse and non-standardized third party products." An example of a product based upon the DSP/BIOS API is BIOStation, a software evaluation kit supplied by Spectron. This product includes a small kernel that implements the DSP/BIOS API and provides basic multitasking and input/output (I/O) services that must be developed in nearly all real-time DSP systems. Requiring less than 1K words of code space, the kernel is scaled to meet the requirements of mainstream applications. The BIOStation kernel is also fully instrumented and drives a set of hosted utilities that offers real-time software analysis. "The availability of a standard software BIOS API that enables shorter development cycles, thus faster time-to-market, will make the TMS320 DSPs even more popular with both software developers and system integrators," said Bob Frankel, Spectron's vice president and co-founder. The embedded systems market for DSPs is growing quickly in areas ranging from communications to industrial control to graphics and beyond. Will Strauss of Forward Concepts, an industry research firm, has estimated that the DSP market will grow to $9 billion by the year 2000. With its TMS320 family of DSP products, TI is the industry's leading provider of DSPs and DSP solutions. "As one of the leading suppliers of telecommunications frameworks, we regard DSP/BIOS as an important addition to the wide range of existing development products that support TMS320 DSPs," said Ross Mitchell, president of HotHaus Technologies. "TMS320 DSPs are already established as a mass-market powerhouse. The more applications system designers find for TMS320 DSPs, the more they need the standardization offered by DSP/BIOS and HausWare." The BIOStation kernel will initially 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.  BIOStation is expected to be available in the second quarter of 1997 from Spectron through TI and its authorized distributors. Customers and software developers who are interested in more product information and wish to receive current technical specifications may register at the DSP/BIOS web site: http://www.dspbios.com. # # #
Spectron Microsystems, a division of Dialogic Corporation, develops and markets advanced system software for use in digital signal processing applications. Spectron supplies a complete real-time development environment for Texas Instruments DSPs. Spectron also offers a similar real-time development environment under Windows 95Ò . For more information on Spectron products, visit our web site at http://www.spectron.com or Dialogic Corporation is the leading manufacturer of high performance, standards-based computer telephony (CT) components. Computer telephony systems built with Dialogic products manage more than one third of all telephone, facsimile, and multimedia calls answered by computers over wireless and wired networks worldwide. The company is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, with regional headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Brussels, Belgium, and has offices worldwide. For more information about Dialogic products, call 1-800-755-4444 or visit Dialogic's World Wide Web site at Windows 95 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. |