Video DSPs double performance, reduce system-BOM cost
By Robert Cravotta, Technical Editor -- EDN, June 20, 2007
Texas Instruments’ new TMS320DM647 and TMS320DM648 DaVinci technology-based DSPs deliver twice the processing performance of the previous-generation DSP and reduces system-BOM cost for multichannel-video-security and infrastructure applications. The increase in these devices’ processing performance is the result of using the C64X+ core, which improves cycle performance over the C64x core by 20%; an integrated VICP (video-and-imaging co-processor); EDMA (enhanced-direct-memory-access) 3.0 support that provides a 400% increase in bandwidth, and the ability to perform twice as many 16-bit MMAC (million multiply/accumulate) operations per cycle than predecessor devices, such as the DM642. These devices are 100% code-compatible with the C64x core.
To reduce system BOM costs, the DM648 includes two extra video ports to remove the need for a video multiplexer, an integrated SGMII (serial-gigabit-media-independent-interface) port with a switch that supports as many as four devices without the need for a PCI bridge, and the VICP that eliminates the need for an FPGA to perform video preprocessing, such as color-space conversion; resizing; and deinterlacing. The instruction-based VICP for front-end preprocessing works in parallel to the main DSP core; the VICP functional library supports color-space conversion, image resizing, and deinterlacing. The library will be available with the release of the beta DM648 DVDP (digital-video-development platform) in the third quarter of this year. The DVDP also includes TI’s TVP5154 video decoder.
The new processors support dual streaming that allows both a monitoring and a recording stream for every video channel. The DM648, with 512 kbytes of L2 cache and two switched Ethernet MACs (media-access controllers) targets security-digital-video recording and network-video-server applications. The DM647, with 256 kbytes of L2 cache and a single Ethernet MAC port targets machine-vision and high-performance-imaging applications. The devices include five 16-bit, dual-channel video ports, a McASP (multichannel audio serial Port), I2C, SPI, and two 64-bit timers. The 720-MHz version of the $39.95 DM647 and the $49.95 DM648 (10000) is available for sampling now, and production quantities will become available in the fourth quarter of this year.
TI and members of its DSP Third Party Network offer support for video analytics, such as object recognition and tracking, as well as offer support for customizing codecs to implement security-specific modifications, such as adjusting bit rate and quality or providing codec information for security identification. Ittiam Systems offers codecs and a video-security-media system with multichannel, high-resolution, and low-latency features.
