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The Texas Instruments TMS320C6xxx

A half-day BDTI seminar

Overview
Course outline
About BDTI
For more information

Overview

Texas Instruments' TMS320C6xxx family is one of the fastest DSP processor families available. Current fixed-point devices execute at 200 MHz, and TI is targeting 250 MHz by mid-1999. The 'C6xxx achieves its performance using a VLIW-based architecture that is completely different from more traditional DSP processor designs. Hence, realistic comparisons of its performance and capabilities to those of other processors is not an easy task.

In this half-day seminar, BDTI shares the insights and experience gained by BDTI's technical staff during their benchmarking and software development efforts on the 'C6xxx. Using BDTI's independent DSP benchmark results, the instructor will provide a realistic assessment of the 'C6xxx's performance compared to that of its competitors, and also reveal some not-so-obvious weaknesses of the processor's architecture.

This class is intended for engineers, engineering managers, and technical marketing professionals involved in deciding whether the 'C6xxx is a good choice for their latest design. It is also useful for processor architects looking for insight into the merits and pitfalls of TI's VLIW-based approach.

Outline

Classes of processors for DSP applications
Overview of the 'C6xxx architecture
Overview of the 'C6201 and 'C6701 devices

Distinctive aspects of the 'C6xxx, and their implications

VLIW-based multi-instruction execution
Pipeline
Software development
- Software optimization
- Tools (including preliminary benchmarks of code-generation tools)
Integration
- On-chip peripherals
- External memory interface
- Interrupt handling
Performance, benchmark results for the 'C6xxx and competitors
- Speed
- Cost-performance
- Energy consumption
- Memory use

Conclusions

Strengths of the 'C6xxx
Weakness of the 'C6xxx

About BDTI

Berkeley Design Technology, Inc (BDTI) is a technical services and software company focused on DSP technology. BDTI is well-known for developing the only vendor-independent set of DSP benchmarks, the BDTI Benchmarks™, which it has implemented on nearly every processor used in DSP today. BDTI provides DSP software development and optimization services, published reports on DSP technology, and DSP technical advisory services.

For more information

For more information about this and other BDTI training classes, including availability of online versions and schedules for public presentations, please register with BDTI.