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dspZONE Products for the week of June 29, 2009
Texas Instruments Says…
Four new processors Provide Unmatched Connectivity Options And Power-Efficiency For Smarter, Greener Industrial and Communications Products
TMS320C674x and OMAP-L138 feature SATA and universal parallel port (uPP) for high-capacity storage and high-speed data transfer
Connected, energy-efficient designs require high levels of peripheral integration, lower heat dissipation and longer battery life. To address this, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced four new processors (TMS320C6742, TMS320C6746, TMS320C6748 and OMAP-L138) with unmatched connectivity options and fixed- and floating-point capabilities that are also the industry’s lowest power floating-point digital signal processors (DSPs).
Packed with a unique combination of application-tuned features and peripherals, these devices reduce overall system cost for a wide spectrum of products including industrial, communications, medical diagnostics and audio. For instance, power protection systems benefit from the OMAP-L138 device’s fixed/floating-point DSP, ARM9, Ethernet MAC (EMAC) and LCD controller for up to $14 cost reduction compared to current solutions. For applications that need high-speed data transfer and high-capacity storage, such as test and measurement, public safety radios, music effects and intelligent occupancy sensors, the processors feature a universal parallel port (uPP) and are also the first TI devices with an integrated Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA).
With performance levels up to 300 MHz, these products offer the ability to manage on-chip power through dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) and multiple power down modes. When coupled with TI power management software and complementary analog solutions, developers can optimize their system for performance and power without having to be an energy expert. To ease and reduce development time, the new offerings are pin-for-pin compatible, code compatible with all TMS320C6000 devices and complemented by a low-cost experimenter board and full-featured evaluation module (EVM).
C6742, C6746 and C6748 DSP key features and benefits:
- Lowest-cost and lowest-power C6000 processors and industry’s lowest-power floating-point DSPs with 420mW total power and 7mW @1.0V standby power in use case scenarios
- Standby power up to nine times lower than existing floating-point DSP solutions on market
- First TI processor with an integrated SATA for high-capacity data storage
- A uPP enables high-speed connection to data converters, FPGAs or other C6742/C6746/C6748/ OMAP-L138 processors
- EMAC, multimedia card/secure digital (MMC/SD) and high-speed USB 2.0/1.1 for desktop, network or portable connectivity or storage
- Video port interface provides the ability to input/output raw video while a LCD controller allows developers to easily connect video graphics array (VGA) resolution displays
- Multiple operating points facilitated through DVFS, powering off unused peripherals and selectable I/O voltages enable portability and reduce heat dissipation in products
- Complementary TI TPS65070 power management device implements all sequence and default options as well as supports the devices’ power modes
- C674x core up to 300 MHz provides floating-point operations for high-precision and wide dynamic range as well as fixed-point operations for higher performance
- Pin-for-pin compatibility (C6742, C6746, C6748 and OMAP-L138) enables customer to expand their entire product portfolio using the same hardware and software platform
- 128 KB to 448 KB on-chip memory to reduce external memory access and power usage
OMAP-L138 processor features and benefits:
- Dual-core processor that builds on the C6748 DSP with a 300 MHz ARM9 gives developers the flexibility to add intuitive human machine interfaces, touch screens or networking capability to their applications
- ARM9 allows developers to implement high-level operating systems, such as Linux
- Windows Embedded CE and Integrity support is expected in 4Q09
- Low power usage with 440mW total power and 15mW in standby mode in use case scenarios
Development tools for varying levels of expertise:
- A community-supported $149 experimenter board is available from Logic, the designer and manufacturer. The board features the OMAP-L138 system-on-module (SOM), 64 MB mDDR, open source Linux, DSP/BIOS drivers and can be used to develop on any of the four devices.
- An OMAP-L138/C6748 EVM from TI is available for those that need full peripheral access and TI support. The EVM builds on the experimenter board with an extra C6748 SOM, double the memory (128 MB mDDR) and full support for connectivity peripherals.
- An OMAP-L138 (SOM) is a production-ready solution with 128 MB mDDR, power management and Ethernet PHY. It is available for less than $99 @ 10k EAU from Logic.
EN-Genius Says…
TI’s connectivity-rich C674x DSP family adds several innovative twists to what we’ve come to expect from embedded signal processors. The networking interfaces and enhanced I/O they offer should help accelerate the acceptance of signal processors in nearly any embedded applications where computers must touch the so-called real world. TI’s done an especially nice job with the low-cost development kits and software tools that complement these processors – including a set of open source Linux, DSP/BIOS drivers.
 All three DSPs and the dual-core DSP/RISC processor are based on TI’s C674x fixed/floating point core but have different application-specific mixes of I/O, memory, and specialized hardware accelerators. Bundling higher levels of functionality along with the main processor to cut BOM costs and board space requirements is a trend we’ve seen for some time in the regular embedded processor market but relatively new for DSPs.
Remarkably, all four devices are pin-compatible (even the dual-core processor) so that a single design can be created which is easily upgraded or used for a different application by simply swapping out the DSP. Many applications can be handled quite well by the entry-level C6742 which features a 200 MHz clock speed, 128 k of on-chip RAM, and a single-channel PWM controller. It also has a multi-channel audio serial port (McASP) which TI says is helping it find lots of uses in audio processing applications. Although it’s not shown in the figure the C6742 also sports a general-purpose multi-channel buffered serial port (TI calls it a McBSP)which is handy for autonomously interacting with serial I/O channels without very much processor intervention.
 The C6746 is a super-set of the C6742 but has more memory, bumps the processor speed to 300 MHz, and adds an Ethernet MAC, a USB 2.0 port, a memory card interface, a high-speed parallel port (good for fast ADCs, and FPGAs) and a BT656 video interface. TI says that its video processing capability makes applications like intelligent occupancy sensing possible as well as the usual bar code readers, image recognition, and inspection applications. The top-of-the-line C6748 takes the C6746 and adds a second USB controller, an LCD controller, and a SATA storage controller.
 TI’s OMAP L138 adds an ARM9 apps processor and even more I/O to the mix, making it a great little device for handheld instrumentation, portable medical diagnostic systems, or other portable devices which require both a lot of signal processing and a relatively powerful applications processor. Of course the built-in LCD display and significantly-reduced power consumption (it’s even lower than the C7643 low-power floating point processors we reviewed back in April 2009).
All four processors are sampling and are priced at TMX320C6742 for $6.70, TMX320C6746 for $13.50, TMX320C6748 for $15.20 and OMAP-L138 for $18.60 (all in 1000 piece lots).
C6742 Product Page
C6746 Product Page
C6748 Product Page
OMAP-L138 Product Page
OMAP-L138 Data Sheet
C674x Data Sheet
Development Tools
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