Current Articles | Categories | Search

ARM Takes New Direction With Latest Core By BDTI, 10/10/2005 Last week ARM announced its latest processor core, the Cortex-A8.  The Cortex-A8 is the highest-performance ARM processor to date, and it differs in many ways from older ARM cores.  Most notably, the Cortex-A8 is the first processor to use the NEON signal processing extensions, and it is the first superscalar ARM core. (More)

Microchip Announces Speedier DSC Family By BDTI, 10/10/2005 This month, Microchip Technology announced the dsPIC33F family of 16-bit, flash-based “digital signal controllers” or “DSCs.”  The 3.3-volt dsPIC33F uses the same instruction set as its predecessor, the dsPIC30, but the new family will run at a faster clock speed (40 MHz vs. 30 MHz) and add an 8-channel DMA controller. (More)

Multi-Tiered Software Optimization By BDTI, 10/10/2005 While nearly all signal processing applications require some degree of software optimization, some applications require a sophisticated, multi-tiered optimization approach in order to meet their performance goals.  Unfortunately, many signal processing software developers are experienced with only a subset of the many levels of optimizations. (More)

Jeff Bier's Impulse Response – Video Processors: Why the Rush? By Jeff Bier, 10/10/2005 In the last year or so I have noticed an impressive surge in new processors targeting digital video applications. Why is everyone suddenly so eager to market a digital video processor?  And how many of these processors have a chance of long-term success, given that mature applications are typically dominated by only two or three architectures? (More)