FROM EDN EUROPE: DSP family bridges professional and consumer audio
By Graham Prophet -- EDN, January 8, 2004
With a series of four processors, Analog Devices has extended its SHARC DSP product line for consumer-audio-system designers. The processors are all pin- and code-compatible and span 150-MHz/300-MMAC to 300-MHz/600-MMAC performance; memory options are 1 to 3 Mbits of RAM and 3 or 4 Mbits of ROM. The top two processors in the set also have onboard, eight-channel sample-rate converters, using a proven ADI function block, the AD1896, for designs that process audio streams from a range of sources. Input/output relationships can span 7.75:1 to 1:8. The devices use the large amount of onboard ROM to implement the latest versions of all of the standard audio-decoder algorithms. The company says it is the first to fully implement the Windows WMA Pro decoder, with 7.1 channels at 96-kHz sampling. Devices also support Dolby Pro Logic IIx. You can build systems with content protection to the DTPC (digital-transport content-protection) proposal, with the help of an on-chip hardware accelerator, which offloads the task from the main DSP core. The chips will cost $9.95 to $24.95 (10,000), and the first is sampling now.
ADI is also claiming a number of firsts for its fast-throughput, precision SAR ADC, the 7621. It is the only such part to offer 16-bit conversion at 3M samples/sec while maintaining ±1 LSB limits on both integral and differential nonlinearity. You can therefore use it in applications such as instrumentation and medical imaging. The device will use 100 mW from a 5V supply and will cost $29.95 (1000).
Analog Devices, +44 1 932 26 60 00, www.analog.com.
