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Digital Signal Processing Solutions
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Texas Instruments Announces Four New Embedded DSPs for Digital Control System ApplicationsHOUSTON (Dec. 8, 1997) -- New digital signal processors (DSPs) announced by Texas Instruments (TI) will soon make electric motors even more productive, quiet and energy efficient in applications ranging from home appliances to industrial automation systems. Complementing the TMS320F240/C240 series, these four new devices are designed for digital control systems (DCS), as well as power conversion and motion control systems, including inexpensive alternate current (AC) induction motors and direct current (DC) brushless motors. In each case, a single high-performance DSP controller reduces overall system cost with features like on-chip flash memory, control area networking (CAN) and a rich set of peripherals. A Breakthrough in Price/Performance for Digital Motor Control Applications "The combination of TI's powerful DSP processors and comprehensive digital motor control peripherals creates the industry's most integrated and versatile DSP controller solutions for closed-loop motor control applications," says Pradeep Bardia, product marketing manager for this device family. "By using these DSP control solutions, there is a substantial reduction in overall system cost along with increased performance." The new DSP controller devices are based on TI's industry-leading DSP cores and on-chip peripherals, providing flexibility, improved system price/performance ratios and an affordable, easy-to-use alternative to traditional microcontrollers (MCUs). TI is the undisputed leader in the DSP solutions market in terms of both market share and technology. The TMS320F241 and TMS320F243 are the only DSP controllers that offer industrial motor designers 8K of reprogrammable flash memory and control area networking (CAN). The TMS320C241 offers 8K of read only memory (ROM) and CAN. Complex machines like industrial book binders that use multiple electric motors of various sizes can be interconnected using the CAN bus to link the DSP controllers within each motor for smoother, more accurate motor driver control. Other applications include motion control systems, robotics, transmission/hydraulic systems, power supply inverters, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines and automotive systems. The TMS320C242 offers 4K of ROM, a serial communication interface (SCI), dual 10-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converters, the needed pulse width modulations (PWMs) for controlling a power inverter and is ideally suited for use in consumer goods like heating ventilation and air conditioners (HVAC) and home appliances. Using a smaller DSP-based AC motor, in which the DSP controller has reduced or eliminated mechanical linkage and counterweight components, results in lighter, quieter products. The selection of peripherals and software on the 'C242 gives motor control system designers a way to optimize the power factor and to minimize motor drive harmonics and noise with plenty of performance bandwidth to spare. DSP Core and Robust Peripherals the Secret All four new DSP controllers feature a fixed-point, 20 million instruction per second (MIPS) DSP core with a 50ns single-cycle instruction execution time, enabling 1-cycle multiplication and addition operations. On-chip peripherals include:
The devices will also support an easy-to-program instruction set and be mounted in space-saving quad flat pack (QFP) and plastic leaded chip carrier (PLCC) packages and will be available in consumer and industrial temperature ranges. The 'F241, 'C241 and 'C242 will be pin-to-pin compatible in 68-pin PLCC and 64-pin plastic quad flat pack (PQFP). The 'F243 will be available in a 144-pin thin quad flat pack (TQFP) package. Tools and Support TI's product development tools for these new devices provide the support needed to take advantage of the DSP performance and yet get to market faster. Design tools include TI's optimized DSP compiler, IEEE 1149.1 JTAG-based emulation tools and evaluation module (EVM) boards. TI also offers high-level language programming options and flash-based utility programs such as a serial boot loader, as well as source compatibility with other TMS320 fixed-point DSP devices. TI's third party network offers emulation tools, motion control kit/application support packages and a real-time DSP operating system/kernel library for this new family of DSP controllers. Pricing and Availability The new 'F241 and 'F243 DSP controllers are scheduled to begin sampling in 2Q98 and the 'C241 and 'C242 in 3Q98. Volume pricing (100k units) is expected to range from $10.00 - $12.00 for the 'F241 and 'F243 flash units to approximately $7.00 for the 'C241 and sub-$5.00 for the 'C242 ROM versions.
For more information about TI's new digital control system devices, visit
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