Texas Instruments Incorporated (Texas Instruments), a semiconductor manufacturer, has introduced a new TMS320C6457 digital signal processor (DSP) available at speeds of 1.2 GHz and 1 GHz. The improved performance by new processor benefits developers of data-intensive signal processing applications. The new C6457 delivers up to 30% more performance at one-third less the cost of current single core DSP processors from the company.
The performance lift is due to several memory and cache enhancements, while the cost reduction is achieved through a smaller process node. These improvements provide system savings, greater efficiency and increased design flexibility for networking, military, imaging and industrial markets, in applications such as medical imaging, radar, industrial vision systems and test equipment.
C6457 key features and benefits:
Based on Texas Instruments’ new 1.2 GHz TMS320C64x+TM DSP core, the C6457 delivers 9,600 (16-bit) MMACS of peak performance for a cycle for cycle performance improvement of up to 30%;
Performance improvements enabled by 2 MB of on-chip L2 memory (up to 1 MB cacheable), faster 32-bit DDR2 EMIF (667 MHz) and memory, cache and bus architecture enhancements. This gives customers the flexibility to add more channels to their designs as well as increased headroom for additional application features;
High-speed interconnect available with Serial RapidIO (SRIO) and Gigabit Ethernet MAC serializer/deserializer (SERDES) interfaces for efficient inter-processor communications;
On-chip acceleration for telecommunications applications with two Turbo-Decoder Coprocessors (TCP2) and one Viterbi Coprocessor (VCP2). This increases channel decoding operations to offload the DSP core, allowing more channels on a single processor for system cost savings;
Backwards code compatible with other high performance C64x DSPs to enable legacy code reuse for a significantly shorter development cycle and increased design flexibility.
Pricing, availability, tools and support:
TMX320C6457 samples are available from Texas Instruments and its authorized distributors in a 23 x 23 mm BGA package. Pricing for the 1.2 GHz version is $146 and the 1 GHz version is $112 (both in 1K unit volume).
Developers can get started with the C6457 Evaluation Module (EVM). This easy-to-use development tool includes two on-board C6457 processors, high-speed DSP interconnect with Gigabit Ethernet MAC and Serial RapidIO SERDES interfaces, embedded JTAG emulation with an XDS560T trace pod header and a board-specific Code Composer Studio Integrated Development Environment. It also includes several the companies’ analog power management devices and a clock driver to improve system performance. Order entry is open for the TMDXEVM6457 at $1995.