TI updates DSP emulator to support video rates

TI updates DSP emulator to support video rates
By Patrick Mannion, EE Times
May 22, 2002 (7:02 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020521S0034

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Heeding the demands of some wireless- and video-focused DSP customers, Texas Instruments Inc. has updated its aged JTAG emulator platform with a new version that features a 2-Mbyte/second data link and supports code-download rates of 0.5 Mbytes/s.

The real-time data exchange link of the new XDS560 platform represents almost a 100x improvement over the 15-kbyte/s link of the earlier XDS510 platform, while the code-download speed of the XDS560 represents an 8x improvement. Other enhancements include an advanced event trigger function, 5-volt to 0.5-volt operation, and a flexible 1.5-meter cable that eases connectivity compared to the shorter,thicker cable of the XDS510.

"We've found that as our customers' applications have grown larger and larger, the time spent downloading code has greatly increased," said Bill Novak, product manager for TI's emulation technology. "We expect [the XDS560] to greatly reduce applicat ion development time, and frustration," he said.

Up to a third of a development team's time is spent in simulation, testing and debug, Novak estimated, quoting a CMP Embedded study.

Machiel Ten Brinke, a developer of advanced imaging applications at Polaroid's facility in Enschede, Netherlands, and an evaluator of the XDS560 platform, affirmed that estimate. "It used to take me 40 minutes just to download the code; the XDS560 allows me to do it in a matter of minutes," Brinke said. "Also, the old [XDS510] cable was very, very hard to work with. It was too hard to bend around objects on the bench." Brinke said the XDS560's cable lets him connect the target application to the host rapidly and with ease.

The PCI-based XDS560 uses a 'C6202 DSP and a credit-card-sized pod. The system is backward compatible with the XDS510 and with TI's Code Composer Studio debug/emulation software.

The new emulator is available now, priced for a limited time at $3,995.