2008

ST Offers DSP Software Components for STM32

December 17, 2008 |

Posted in Processors, Software Development

ST Microelectronics recently announced a new library of digital signal processing software components for its low-cost microcontroller family, the STM32. STM32 chips are based on ARM’s Cortex-M3 core, and they target low-cost embedded applications, particularly motor control. The

December 17, 2008 |

Posted in Processors

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In the last few years, there have been a slew of massively parallel chip vendors entering the embedded processor market. The massively parallel approach has become more accepted since Intel commercialized its multi-core PC architecture. It’s still a difficult area in which to build a

December 17, 2008 |

Posted in Benchmarks, Case Studies

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Processor and SoC vendors are always looking for the next “killer app.” To enter a new market, though, vendors face two key challenges. First, they must ensure that their product is competitive; and second, they must convince prospective customers of their product’s

December 17, 2008 |

Posted in Benchmarks, Opinion

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I recently read a license agreement for a suite of software development tools and discovered some interesting fine print: the agreement prohibits licensees from benchmarking the tools. Well, it doesn’t prohibit benchmarking per se, but it prohibits disclosure of any results.

November 19, 2008 |

Posted in Opinion

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A few years back I flew to Boston for a conference. Since I have a well-founded fear of driving in Boston, I rented a car with GPS navigation. I drove out of the airport and checked the GPS system, which was functioning perfectly. A short time later, I headed into a tunnel. Suddenly, there were

November 19, 2008 |

Posted in Processors

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High data rates pose a number of system design challenges. They require lots of I/O and an extremely fast processor or FPGA, they need lots of memory for storage and buffering, and they eat power as data gets shipped all over the system. That’s why, when high-speed data gets to a

November 19, 2008 |

Posted in Case Studies, Tools

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When is the right time to adopt a new way of doing things? It’s a no-brainer that systems designers have to select a new tool or component when the one they’ve been using is obsoleted. But should a company adopt a new design methodology when the one they’re using still

November 19, 2008 |

Posted in Processors

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Earlier this month Freescale announced that it will be offering a new six-core DSP chip, the MSC8156, that targets wireless infrastructure applications. The chip uses a new DSP processor core, the StarCore SC3850, which is similar to the earlier SC3400 but has (among other enhancements)

October 15, 2008 |

Posted in Opinion, Processors

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Last month I wrote about how my colleagues and I believe that embedded processor vendors will need to become more involved in developing or acquiring proprietary algorithms to stay competitive in the coming decade. This month, I’ll discuss another long-term trend that we expect to

October 15, 2008 |

Posted in Benchmarks, Case Studies, Processors

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In an ideal world, chip designers would evaluate their new designs on real applications. But who’s got the time to implement an entire cellular baseband or video codec just to see if their proposed design is efficient? That’s the reason chip designers use benchmarks. But

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2008