TI Releases New eXpressDSP(TM) Software and Development Tool Features to Improve Performance, Usability and Time to Market


Enhanced Code Composer Studio(TM) Platinum IDE and DSP/BIOS(TM) Software Kernel Help Developers Add Value to Their Systems Efficiently

HOUSTON, Feb. 15 /-- Responding to the need for more robust tools and software for advanced applications, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE:TXN) today announced new features for its Platinum Edition of its Code Composer Studio(TM) Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and DSP/BIOS(TM) real-time kernel that will help make developing digital signal processor (DSP) systems faster and easier. The newly enhanced CCStudio Platinum provides an integrated IDE with support for all TI DSP-based processors, including the recently announced TMS320C64x+(TM) DSPs and DaVinci(TM) processors. The new version of the DSP/BIOS kernel enables easier on-chip power management and DSP-to-DSP communications, as well as providing new security and debugging features for TMS320C64+(TM) processors. These enhancements will help system developers improve the performance of their products while simplifying the development process and saving time to market. For more information about CCStudio Platinum Edition, visit ti.com/expressdspupdate

Tools and Software Make a Big Difference

Recent surveys conducted by market researchers Forward Concepts and Embedded System Design show that development tools and software are top items in designers' concerns when selecting an embedded processor. Even more than hardware performance and price, software tools are what designers look for when they consider building a new programmable system. The new features in CCStudio Platinum and the DSP/BIOS kernel reflect TI's ongoing commitment to address these concerns by supplying robust, easy-to-use development resources.

"TI invests heavily in supplying tools and software that enable system developers to achieve the optimum results from their DSP-based systems easily and quickly," said Lori Vidra, eXpressDSP(TM) Product marketing manager, TI. "Our ongoing improvements in our software and tools will further enable our customers to achieve their design goals quickly and differentiate their products successfully."

CCStudio Platinum Provides Even Greater Support

Initially introduced in 2005, CCStudio Platinum provides a single environment that can be used with all TI processor platforms for complete system coding, debugging and testing. Supporting several platforms at the same cost as a single platform, the CCStudio Platinum saves DSP original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) significant time and expense in the design of multiprocessor, multi-platform applications. In addition to the newly supported C64x+ DSPs and DaVinci processors, the CCStudio IDE supports TI's TMS320C6000(TM) DSP, TMS320C5000(TM) DSP, TMS320C2000(TM) DSP and OMAP(TM) platforms, including the ARM processors integrated in some of these platforms.

A new feature in CCStudio Platinum is the Component Manager, which allows a user to take advantage of new features and bug fixes while locking down on a specific compiler and DSP/BIOS kernel for the life of the program. A developer can easily install and evaluate a new compiler or DSP/BIOS kernel version before committing the project to it. All of these features and others help simplify coding and debugging and speed time to market.

DSP/BIOS Facilitates Power Management, Interprocessor Communication

TI has also improved the DSP/BIOS real-time kernel, which customers use as the operating system foundation for their software on TI DSPs. Among the features newly released in DSP/BIOS kernel is a library of application programming interfaces (APIs) that aids the implementation of power management techniques embedded in the hardware. Using the power management APIs, developers can more easily scale core voltage and frequency, shut down peripherals, idle portions of the chip, and perform other operations that reduce device power consumption. Initially supporting TMS320C55x(TM) DSPs, TI plans to extend the power management library to other platforms as well.

In addition, the new DSP/BIOS kernel includes the message queue (MSGQ) library to facilitate DSP-to-DSP communication. Programs can now use the same APIs to communicate between tasks on separate DSPs as they would on a single DSP, simplifying the software development process and affording the designer greater flexibility in partitioning algorithms.

Support from DSP/BIOS kernel also extends now to a set of special capabilities offered by the C64x+ DSP core. A new memory protection feature enables customers to implement multi-process applications by locking out areas of memory so that they cannot be overwritten by an erroneous program. In addition, an exception handling library enables programmers to manage C++ exceptions without the overhead typically associated with exceptions. Using real-time analysis tools that display exception information, the library allows customers to view data from the DSP during code execution without any impact on performance. All of these and other DSP/BIOS kernel features are directly available to the developer via the CCStudio Platinum IDE, in both a GUI configuration tool as well as a new scripting configuration tool providing high-level control of low-level functions on the DSP.

Pricing and Availability

The CCStudio Platinum Edition IDE integrates everything programmers need for application development, including reference frameworks, project manager, code generation tools, integrated CodeWright editor, fast simulators, DSP/BIOS kernel, debug and analysis tools, drivers and software libraries. The CCStudio Platinum Edition is available for $3,595, including 15 months of update subscription service. The DSP/BIOS kernel is included for free with CCStudio with no royalties. A free 120-day evaluation version is available on CD-ROM at ti.com/expressdspupdate.

Displaying the importance of development resources for DSP design, the new CCStudio Platinum and DSP/BIOS kernel will be exhibited at TI's booth (Hall 12, Stand 422) in Embedded World, February 14-16, 2006 in Nurnberg, Germany.

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's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. 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/.

Source: Texas Instruments Incorporated

CONTACT: Lisa Ferrara of Texas Instruments, +1-281-274-4213, or lferrara@ti.com; or Kellie Potucek of GolinHarris, +1-713-513-9576, or kpotucek@golinharris.com

Web site: http://www.ti.com/
http://ti.com/expressdspupdate

All Topics