Analog Devices Debuts Highest Performance SHARC DSP

<%=company1%> has begun general sampling of the world's fastest SHARC DSP, the ADSP-21160. In addition, the company announced an MP-ready tool chain and 15 board-level solutions from ADI's DSP Collaborative partners. According to a company spokesperson, availability of the processor, tools and third- party products should simplify multiprocessing system design. Multiprocessing systems require multiple processors working in concert to solve very complex computational tasks such as radio antenna processing in cellular base stations or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in medical equipment.

The ADSP-21160 DSP is code compatible with ADI's popular ADSP-2106x SHARC DSPs, preserving current SHARC DSP users' investments in code development and third-party products. The chip integrates 4 Mbits of SRAM, 14 channels of DMA, six link ports, two TDM serial ports, and a 64-bit external bus. The DSP is supported by ADI's VisualDSP integrated software development environment, allowing for fast and easy development, debug and deployment. The newest release of VisualDSP, Release 4.1, includes MP features such as the ability to debug multiple processors simultaneously and synchronously run, step and halt each DSP in the system. In addition, Analog Devices and Ixthos, Inc. of Leesburg, Virginia have jointly developed an extensive software library of more than 50 ready-to-run DSP and math algorithms. Multiprocessing emulation is available through the Apex-ICE+, Summit-ICE+ and Trek-ICE+ products for USB, PCI and Ethernet, respectively.

The ADSP-21160 SHARC DSP is optimized for multiprocessing systems. Integrated on-chip link ports enable high speed chip-to-chip and board-to-board communications using patented technology. Other important multiprocessing features include glueless connection of up to six DSPs in a cluster, distributed bus arbitration, and a unified memory space. The cluster bus and link ports can be used separately or in combination to create limitless multiprocessing topologies. More than 70 multiprocessing tools are available from ADI and DSP Collaborative partners. Platforms include PCI, 3U and 6U CompactPCI, PC/104 Plus, PMC and VME busses and stand-alone operation.

Edited by Bruce A. Bennett