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Texas Instruments Extends Battery Life in Portable Systems With Industry’s Lowest-Power Programmable DSP

Texas Instruments Incorporated
2006-10-31 17:02 1861

-- New C5506 DSP enables New Markets through USB Connectivity and Generous On-

Chip Memory at an Affordable price

HOUSTON, Oct. 31 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to drive innovation in

low power audio/voice applications, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI)

(NYSE: TXN) announced today the lowest-power addition to its line of ultra

low-power programmable digital signal processors (DSPs). The new TMS320C5506

DSP requires just 0.12 mW of power in standby mode and includes other power-

efficient features that make it the lowest-power processor in its class. A

full 128 KB of on-chip memory makes for greater programming ease, and a full-

speed USB 2.0 interface supplies cost-efficient wired connectivity. Among

the many high-volume applications that can benefit from the C5506 DSP’s low-

power, memory, connectivity and affordability are touch screen controllers,

USB headsets, cordless phones and hands-free car phone kits. For more

information, please visit http://www.ti.com/c5506pr .

In a Forward Concepts survey included in its recent report, "DSP

Strategies: Embedded Chip Trend Continues," the results clearly indicated

that DSP designers named development tools and power consumption as the top

two considerations when selecting the optimal DSP chip for their designs,

such as portable devices. Will Strauss, President of Forward Concepts said,

“TI’s attention to the needs of their customers is certainly reflected in

the new C5506 DSP, which delivers the industry’s lowest standby power

consumption." He went on to say, "With its current comprehensive power

management tools, TI empowers developers to drive down power consumption to

levels that are hard to beat.”

A new option in TI’s low-power programmable DSP portfolio

TI’s new C5506 DSP joins a feature-rich line of extremely low-power

multimedia processors that includes the TMS320C5509A, C5507 and C5503 DSPs.

With the introduction of the C5506 DSP, system developers have a low-voltage,

lower cost option that reduces power consumption even further to minimize the

drain on batteries and prolong time between charges. Attributes of the C5506

that keep power consumption to a minimum include:

-- The industry’s lowest standby power (0.120 mW at 108 MHz

and 1.2 V)

-- Very low core and memory operating power (for example, 58

mW at 108 MHz)

-- Dynamic frequency and voltage scaling

-- Multiple standby modes that turn off individual

peripherals and internal functions

-- 128 KB of SRAM for efficient code fit and minimal

off-chip memory access

-- Power optimization tools to aid in low-power design

Other integrated features that simplify design and help reduce system

costs include a USB 2.0 full-speed port for PC connectivity, three MCBSP

ports, three timers, I2C bus, six-channel DMA, 16-bit EMIF, and 36 GPIO. The

large number of I/O ports aid in peripheral device connectivity. This also

gives a good low power, low cost roadmap to customers migrating from the

TMS320C54x(TM) DSP generation with needs for USB connectivity, higher

performance or SDRAM memory connectivity. The success of the C5000 DSP

platform means that hundreds of off-the-shelf algorithms are available for

TMS320C5506(TM) DSP designers to save valuable time-to-market.

New markets for small multimedia systems

The C5506 DSP is an excellent solution for mass-market applications that

require real-time signal processing performance yet need to keep power

consumption low. Touch screen controllers are moving to DSP-based control

for greater precision, lower cost and greater functionality. PC-connected USB

headsets require plenty of processing for noise reduction, echo cancellation

and audio streaming. Hands-free car phone kits and cordless handsets used in

wireless LANs, VoIP phones, deck phones, and other portable applications need

a modem signal processor with low standby power for extensive ultra low power

idle modes. In each of these cases, the C5506 DSP provides the right

combination of low power consumption, MIPS, memory, connectivity, small form

factor and affordability for the application. The C5506 DSP’s advantages

allow developers of these and other portable systems to create more robust,

less expensive products with enhanced appeal for consumers.

“The C5506 DSP allows TI customers to reduce costs and add features that

can open new markets for their products,” said John Dixon, low power DSP

product marketing manager, Texas Instruments. “This low-cost USB-enabled

device extends the capabilities of TI’s low-power DSP offerings, showing

that TI continues to provide leadership in affordable portable

communications.”

Low-power development support

Developers using the C5506 DSP can rely on the TMS320C55x(TM) Power

Optimization DSP Starter Kit (DSK), a comprehensive set of tools that reduces

the time needed to find power bottlenecks in a design. For more information

on these tools, visit http://www.ti.com/lowpoweroptimizationpr .

With the DSK, developers can accurately plan, analyze, manage and

optimize real-time power consumption. Among its many features, the DSK

includes:

-- Power planning tools that allow developers to easily and

quickly create trial configurations for determining power

consumption for various memory and peripheral

combinations.

-- Power Manager in DSP/BIOS(TM) kernel, a software module

that enables developers to automatically implement power

saving strategies at an operating system level.

-- Power Scaling Library to support dynamic control of

run-time core frequencyand voltage based on application

mode and performance requirements.

-- LabView(TM)-based Power Measurement Tool from National

Instruments, providing visual measurement and analysis

that allows developers to accurately profile power

consumption based on actual application behavior.

Power Management Reference Designs

TI further simplifies power system design in portable applications with

complete power management reference designs optimized to support C55x DSPs,

available at http://www.ti.com/dsppower . Developers can select highly

efficient, small size and feature-rich low-power DC/DC converters, linear

dropout (LDO) regulators and supply voltage supervisors. TI also enables

longer battery run-time and system protection through intelligent battery

management chargers, capacity monitoring and protection ICs.

Availability, packaging and pricing

The TMS320C5506 DSP is now available in volume from TI and TI Authorized

Distributors. The device is packaged in a 12 mm × 12 mm microBGA, with

suggested pricing of $5.75 in quantities of 10,000 units. For more

information, please visit http://www.ti.com/c5506pr . TI also offers a

complete portfolio of power management products that can work with the C5506

DSP.

Abbreviations and acronyms:

BGA: Ball grid array MHz: Megahertz

BIOS: Basic Input/Output System MIPS: Millions of

instructions per second

DMA: Direct Memory Access mm: Millimeter

DSK: DSP Starter Kit mW: Milliwatts

DSP: Digital Signal Processor MCBSP: Multi-Channel

Buffer Serial Port

EMIF: Enhanced Memory Interface SRAM: Static Random

Access Memory

GPIO: General Purpose Input/Output TI: Texas Instruments

Incorporated

I2C: Inter-Integrated Circuit USB: Universal Serial Bus

KB: Kilobytes V: Volt

LAN: Local-Area Network VoIP: Voice over the

Internet Protocol

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog

technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing

requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company includes the

Educational & Productivity Solutions business. TI is headquartered in

Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than

25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the

symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at

http://www.ti.com .

Trademarks

TMS320C54x, TMS320C5000, TMS320C55x and DSP/BIOS are trademarks of Texas

Instruments. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property

of their respective owners.

Source: Texas Instruments Incorporated
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