DSP system board uses TI chip to cut cost by 75%

RadiSys, DSP Div. (Wellesley, MA), a vendor of board-level integrated
DSP systems, is planning a line of boards–called the Spirit-6000 series–and
software development tools to optimize the just-announced Texas Instruments
TMS320C6x 1,600-MIPS DSP chip (see Electronic Products , April, p.
53). Single C6x DSP systems are expected to replace architectures that
in the past required several DSP processors and associated memory and logic.

The Spirit-6000 series boards will feature an optimized memory interface
that will feed the DSP chip with internal and external memory, as well
as multiple I/O options to prevent bottlenecks. The company expects that
the interface may reduce overall system cost by 75% when compared to earlier
DSP chips and RISC-based systems.

RadiSys plans on concurrent releases of products that provide a package
for prototyping, development, and customized solutions. Plans for software
tools include a telecommunications library specifically designed for multichannel
telecom applications. The library will feature a telecom operating system
kernel and support for voice compression, echo cancellation, and fax/ tone-detection
algorithms.

“In addition to the more traditional uses of earlier DSPs, we are
now looking at a growing range of applications including wireless networking,
datacom and telecommunications, and very-high-performance machine vision
and imaging,” says Yogendra Jain, DSP applications manager.

The first available product will be the VCE-6000, a subsystem for compressing
voice data from 64 to 8 kbits/s using the industry-standard G.729 compression
algorithm. The subsystem consists of a motherboard and DSP modules with
up to six codec TMS320C62x chips.

Compressed and PCM speech data I/O on the motherboard occur over the
MVIP/SCSA/T1 interface. At the heart of the motherboard is the compressed/uncompressed
data manager, which is responsible for the switching of speech among the
codec DSP chips, and the logical channels over the interface. The motherboard
also features a control DSP chip that performs general operations and maintenance
tasks.

The board's codec module is designed to accommodate 60 full-duplex speech
channels, in increments of 10 to 12 channels. For more information, contact
Tricia Fallon of RadiSys DSP Div.at 617-235-6824, send e-mail to ,
visit the company's Web site at , or circle 491.