By BDTI, 2/18/2005
Last month Texas Instruments went on an announcement blitz, introducing new
products for a variety of applications. In two of its most important announcements,
TI revealed new processors for cellular applications. The first of these processors,
the TCI6482, will target 3G cellular base stations. The TCI6482 will include
a number of advancements over its predecessors. Most notably, the TCI6482 will
include 28 new instructions, including instructions to accelerate the rake,
RACH, search, and spread operations used in CDMA baseband processing. According
to TI, these new instructions will greatly improve the processor’s performance
in wireless infrastructure applications. However, TI has not released the details
of these new instructions, so the extent of their benefits is unclear.
The TCI6482 will also include upgraded Viterbi and turbo decoding coprocessors.
According to TI, the new Viterbi coprocessor will be about 1.3 times faster
than the Viterbi coprocessor found in the 1 GHz ‘C6416. Due to architectural
differences, it is more difficult to compare the new turbo decoder to it predecessor.
However, TI states that the new turbo coprocessor will also give the TCI6482
a performance advantage over existing devices.
The TCI6482 will also include a number of other new features, including a larger
amount of on-chip memory and new peripherals. TI doubled the L1 instruction
and data caches to 32 Kbytes each, and doubled the L2 cache to 2 Mbytes. Major
new peripherals will include a serial RapidIO port, a gigabit Ethernet port,
and a DDR2 memory interface. These peripherals are particularly notable because
few if any currently available DSPs include any of these interfaces.
TI’s other new processor, the OMAPV1030, targets cellular handset applications.
Like previous OMAP offerings, the OMAPV1030 includes an ARM core, a ‘C55x
core, and a variety of handset-oriented peripherals. Although the hardware is
largely unremarkable, the OMAPV1030 is unusual from a software perspective.
In general, high-end handsets contain a baseband processor incorporating an
ARM core and a DSP core, and a separate application processor for functions
such as video playback. For example, TI’s high-end handset chipset includes
a baseband processor with an ARM core and a ‘C55x core, and a separate
application processor with its own ARM core and ‘C55x core.
In contrast, the OMAPV1030 uses the same processor for baseband and application
functions. The ARM core and C55x core in the OMAPV1030 each handle baseband
processing tasks as well as application processing tasks. Few other chips use
the same cores to perform both types of functions.
Interestingly, Freescale has taken essentially the opposite approach in its
MXC processor. Like the OMAPV1030, the MXC contains just one ARM core and one
DSP core. However, the DSP core in the MXC only handles baseband tasks, and
the ARM core only handles application tasks.
The TCI6482 is expected to begin sampling to key customers in the first half
of 2005; full production is expected by early 2006. The OMAPV1030 is currently
sampling, with full production expected in the third quarter of 2005. TI has
not provided pricing for either part.
|