High-performance DSP Offers Affordable, Proven Migration Path for High-End Systems

The C6454 DSP provides developers with twice the memory and I/O bandwidth of
the popular TMS320C641x DSPs, as well as other advanced features and specialization that are needed to create next-generation systems requiring high processing performance and sufficient memory at an
affordable price. Currently, over 10 million C641x DSPs have been sold to over 400 customers, making it the most deployed high-performance DSP generation. TI also announced that the TMS320C6455 DSP is in production, making it the only DSP with Serial RapidIOT (sRIO) in production.

The C6454 DSP provides an ideal migration path for the many TI customers who are currently using C641x DSPs by offering full code compatibility and boosted performance without requiring additional investment in software engineering. The C6454 DSP achieves 8000 MMAC (million
multiply accumulate cycles per second) and four times the EDMA (enhanced direct memory access) throughput of the core used in the earlier devices. For new designers looking for a high-performing DSP in their tailored, flagship infrastructure applications, including machine vision, medical imaging and digital video products, the C6454 DSP is the optimal choice. It provides additional features, such as 1 MB L2 memory, gigabit Ethernet, C64x+ core and increased DDR2 external memory and
cache, and is similarly priced to C641x devices. For customers who are using the closely related TMS320C6455 DSP, which is TI's first mass market product using the C64x+ core and the industry's first DSP with a sRIO bus interface to support the interprocessing requirements of
bandwidth-intensive applications, the cost-efficient C6454 DSP offers C64x+ peak performance at an affordable price. Designers can immediately begin code development for tomorrow's C6454 DSP products using the C6455 evaluation module (EVM) and DSP Starter Kit (DSK).

The C6454 DSP is an important enabler for a universal multimedia port in next-generation mobile networks that require exceptional voice and video services, said Gennady Sirota, Vice President of product management and marketing, Starent Networks. TI's commitment to this
product contributes to Starent's delivery of superior multimedia performance with unrivaled flexibility and performance. Our ST16 Intelligent Mobile Gateway enhances the subscriber experience with
advanced voice, data, and multimedia applications while lowering our customers' operational expenditures.

The C6454 DSP is a natural migration path for C641x DSP developers who want richer, sophisticated peripherals but for a similar price. High-speed peripherals include a Gigabit Ethernet MAC and a 66-MHz
peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface to allow video infrastructure, telecom and video-imaging customers to meet high-bandwidth interconnections. The C6454 DSP doubles L1 data and L1
instruction cache and provides a twofold increase in DDR2 external memory at 533 MHz to provide balanced memory I/O and processor performance. Since the C6454 DSP is code compatible and is based on the C64x+ core, customers also profit from a 4x increase in EDMA bandwidth and twice the number of 16-bit MMACs.

The closely related C6454 DSP is a lower cost alternative to the C6455 DSP that allows customers to reap a $60 saving due to the reduction in on-chip L2 memory to 1MB and the removal of peripherals, including UTOPIA and sRIO, the Viterbi coprocessor (VCP2) and Turbo coprocessor (TCP2), which are not always required in certain designs. For programmers that demand the highest-performing C64x DSP platform but not necessarily the multi-chip interconnect capabilities, the C6454 DSP
without the sRIO bus is an affordable, more economical alternative. Developers presently using the C6455 DSP who will benefit by transitioning to the C6454 DSP will have minimal hardware redesign since
the two devices are completely pin-compatible.

The C6454 DSP is an attractive option for designers who are ready to upgrade from C641x DSPs to a higher performing DSP, but do not necessarily want all the advanced features of the C6455 DSP, said Danny Petkevich, DSP platforms marketing manager, Texas Instruments. The new C6454 DSP device balances the right amount of performance and affordability for a wider range of high-end applications.

Designers can immediately begin system development on the C6454 DSP with the use of the C6455 EVM and DSK. These robust tools provide a complete modular development platform for both hardware and software. Announced in early 2006 and now in volume production, the EVM and DSK include TI's award-winning Code Composer StudioT Platinum integrated development platform (IDE) and DSP/BIOST kernel, allowing customers to start development at a higher level of abstraction, which leads to easier software portability and faster time-to-market. Developers can also rely on the industry's largest DSP third party network for algorithms and additional tools to produce sleeker applications cheaper and faster.