Delivering more than 5x the performance of any DSP in the market, Texas Instruments' new TMS320C66x multicore DSPs set a new standard in innovation and performance

New generation of multicore devices boast industry's first 10-GHz DSP with combined fixed- and floating-point capabilities, significantly reducing customer development time

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Texas Instruments Incorporated

Nov 09, 2010, 03:00 ET

MUNICH, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ELECTRONICA -- Reinforcing its commitment to innovations in the high-performance embedded processing space, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today unveiled its newest digital signal processors (DSPs), the TMS320C66x generation of devices, including four new scalable C66x processors, delivering the industry's highest performing multicore DSPs. Ideal for applications that demand high-performance and low power, these new C66x DSPs are built with multiple 1.25 GHz DSP cores and deliver the industry's first 10-GHz DSP with 320 GMACs and 160 GFLOPs of combined fixed- and floating-point performance on a single device. TI's new C66x DSP core surpasses the performance of any other DSP in the industry, as seen in the independent BDTI benchmarks, and is the first DSP to achieve the highest scores on both fixed- and floating-point performance.

Using TI's C66x multicore DSPs, infrastructure developers can now more easily design integrated, software upgradeable, power and cost-efficient platforms in markets such as mission critical, including public safety and defense, medical and high-end imaging, test and automation, high-performance computing and core networking. The C66x DSPs are based on TI's KeyStone multicore architecture, designed to maximize the throughput of on-chip data flows and eliminate the possibility of bottlenecks, so that developers can fully utilize the vast processing power of the DSP cores. The C66x DSPs include three pin-compatible multicore DSPs in two, four and eight core versions, the TMS320C6672, TMS320C6674 and TMS320C6678 respectively, as well as a four-core communications System-on-Chip (SoC), the TMS320C6670.

With TI's free multicore software developer's kit (MC-SDK) and comprehensive suite of multicore tools, as well as a rich ecosystem of software and hardware partners, the power of TI's KeyStone multicore silicon architecture is open to customers, empowering them to develop innovative products for advanced infrastructure applications. The new C66x multicore DSPs are also software compatible with TI's existing TMS320C6000™ DSPs, enabling vendors to reuse their existing software and preserve their investment in TI embedded processors.

For manufacturers, no other devices in the market, including FPGAs, GPUs or other DSPs, can support all of the key features needed for the development of compute-intensive products in one device:

Industry's highest performance (in terms of total GHz, GMACs, GFLOPs)
Integration of floating point capabilities
Real-time signal processing
Low power
Simplified multicore development

"Our new power-efficient C66x multicore devices are an aggressive game changer, providing developers with a cost effective solution and unprecedented levels of performance to match the needs of the industry and our customers," said Brian Glinsman, general manager of TI's communications infrastructure business. "At the same time, our easy to program KeyStone multicore architecture, code compatible C66x DSP core and software development kit allows developers to shorten their development time and design future-proof, software upgradeable products."

Robust third-party ecosystem

TI's third party network features a worldwide community of respected and well established companies offering products and services that support TI DSPs. Companies offering supporting solutions to the C66x generation of multicore devices include:

Software Partners: 3L, Azcom Technologies, Critical Blue, ENEA, MimoOn, Nash Technologies, Polycore Software and Tata Elxsi;
Hardware Partners: Advantech, Blackhawk and CommAgility.

Key features and benefits:

Feature	Customer Benefit
Performance: Multiple high-performance DSPs operating at up to 1.25 GHz, providing 32 MAC per cycle of fixed-point performance and 16 FLOP per cycle of floating-point performance	Allows users to consolidate multiple DSPs to save board space and cost, as well as reduce the overall power requirement
Integration: Integrated fixed- and floating-point processing within each DSP core	Improves performance of compute-intensive algorithms and significantly reduces, from months to days, the time it takes to develop software on separate fixed and floating point devices
Power: Low power across all applications, taking advantage of TI's groundbreaking low-power SmartReflex™ technology, as well as the ability to dynamically adjust supply voltages in response to environmental conditions	Enables design of more power-efficient systems and allows for more processing elements within a given power budget
Multicore Entitlement: New KeyStone architecture include features such as Multicore Navigator, enabling direct communication between cores and memory access and unleashing multicore performance, enhanced memory architecture, Hyperlink interface, PCI Express Gen 2, Serial RapidIO and additional peripherals	Allows designers to fully utilize the capability of the DSP core, peripherals and coprocessors, so that fewer DSPs are required for a given application, thereby reducing cost
Tools & Software: Complete hardware and software support including the Linux operating system, BIOS, multicore platform software, open GCC tools, Code Composer Studio™ software, free multicore software development kit (MC-SDK), with a C compiler, application-specific software libraries and demos	Facilitates shorter design cycles and easier development efforts
Scalability: Pin compatible across family of multicore devices and software compatible with TI's existing C6000 DSPs	Enables development on a single product platform that can scale across multiple products and supports customer reuse of existing software running on TI DSPs

Availability

Development and evaluation of the new C66x multicore devices is made easy with comprehensive low cost evaluation modules (EVM) available from TI. Designers can begin development on the TMS320C6670 or TMS320C6678 processor with the TMDXEVM6670L or TMDXEVM6678L for $399 each. Both EVMs include a free MC-SDK, Code Composer Studio software and suite of application/demo codes to allow programmers to quickly come up to speed on the new platform. Order entry is open today for both EVMs with shipment expected to begin in 1Q11. Pricing for the new C66x DSPs starts at $99 for 1Ku and are also available for order today with shipment in 1Q11.

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go to www.ti.com.

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SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated