Introduction Texas Instruments’ (TI) Integra™ DSP+ARM devices combine a digital signal processor (DSP) and an ARM ® processor, enabling de- velopers to create applications best suited for executing a combination of signal pro- cessing tasks and microprocessor (MPU) tasks. This paper reviews the benefits of combining ARM processing with DSP pro- cessing in a single chip, including increased real-time performance, improved system flexibility and reduced system cost and pow- er. Integra DSP+ARM processors are useful for applications such as power protection systems, industrial control, machine vision and tracking and control. An argument for combining the power of the DSP with the general-purpose ARM processor is present- ed with data gathered from TI’s OMAP-L13x and C6A816x Integra DSP+ARM proces- sors demonstrating the benefit of running signal processing, math and image analysis algorithms on a DSP rather than an ARM processor. Example systems and the poten- tial cost savings that can be achieved with DSP+ARM processors are also presented. Finally, an overview of the tools provided by TI to help ARM developers leverage the processing power of the DSP with minimal alterations to their application is given. Maximizing the Power of ARM ® with DSP Need for Heterogeneous Multi-Core Processors In 2005, Herb Sutter famously predicted that the free lunch of ever-increasing processing performance was over (see http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/ 184405990). Events since that time have confirmed his analysis. While transistor counts in processors have continued ever higher, core clock rates have stagnated and improve- ments in performance per Watt have dropped. The result has been chip architects putting the increasing transistor count to new uses, including larger on-chip memories and caches. More importantly, they have moved to add additional processing elements to their designs. We are now firmly in the era of multi-core computing. Multi-core system-on-chip (SoC) design can be either homogeneous, with two or more of the same cores, or heterogeneous, with two or more different cores. Conceivably, the homo- geneous design should be easier to work with as all cores share the same instruction set. For certain parallel tasks suited to that architecture, this is a good thing. However, more and more often our computing devices are being asked to simultaneously do very different things, many of which a general-purpose processor architecture is not particularly optimized for (hence the term “general purpose”). In these circumstances, the heterogeneous design begins to make sense: the architecture best suited for particular types of computation can be leveraged to most efficiently carry out a task. This should not be surprising, as the history of computing and digital semiconductors show. An example is graphics processing units (GPUs), which were created to handle 2-D and 3-D operations required by graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and games. Once a distinct part of every computer, the functionality of these chips is now moving back onto the silicon of the main CPU of desktop systems (see http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/ amd-demonstrates-2010june02.aspx). Such a move was made some time ago in certain embedded systems (like smartphones), for which space and power are at a premium. In short, programmable heterogeneous multi-core chips are here now and will continue to prolifer- ate far into the future because of one simple fact – there is no “one-size fits all” computing architecture. Daniel Allred, TMS320C6000™ Software Architecture, Texas Instruments Gustavo Martinez, System Applications, Texas Instruments WHITE PAPER
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Transcript
Introduction
Texas Instruments’ (TI) Integra™ DSP+ARM
devices combine a digital signal processor
(DSP) and an ARM® processor, enabling de-
velopers to create applications best suited
for executing a combination of signal pro-
cessing tasks and microprocessor (MPU)
tasks. This paper reviews the benefits of
combining ARM processing with DSP pro-
cessing in a single chip, including increased
real-time performance, improved system
flexibility and reduced system cost and pow-
er. Integra DSP+ARM processors are useful
for applications such as power protection
systems, industrial control, machine vision
and tracking and control. An argument for
combining the power of the DSP with the
general-purpose ARM processor is present-
ed with data gathered from TI’s OMAP-L13x
and C6A816x Integra DSP+ARM proces-
sors demonstrating the benefit of running
signal processing, math and image analysis
algorithms on a DSP rather than an ARM
processor. Example systems and the poten-
tial cost savings that can be achieved with
DSP+ARM processors are also presented.
Finally, an overview of the tools provided
by TI to help ARM developers leverage the
processing power of the DSP with minimal
alterations to their application is given.
Maximizing the Power of ARM ® with DSP
Need for Heterogeneous Multi-Core ProcessorsIn 2005, Herb Sutter famously predicted that the free lunch of ever-increasing processing
performance was over (see http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/
184405990). Events since that time have confirmed his analysis. While transistor counts
in processors have continued ever higher, core clock rates have stagnated and improve-
ments in performance per Watt have dropped. The result has been chip architects putting the
increasing transistor count to new uses, including larger on-chip memories and caches. More
importantly, they have moved to add additional processing elements to their designs. We are
now firmly in the era of multi-core computing.
Multi-core system-on-chip (SoC) design can be either homogeneous, with two or more of
the same cores, or heterogeneous, with two or more different cores. Conceivably, the homo-
geneous design should be easier to work with as all cores share the same instruction set. For
certain parallel tasks suited to that architecture, this is a good thing. However, more and more
often our computing devices are being asked to simultaneously do very different things, many
of which a general-purpose processor architecture is not particularly optimized for (hence the
term “general purpose”).
In these circumstances, the heterogeneous design begins to make sense: the architecture
best suited for particular types of computation can be leveraged to most efficiently carry out
a task. This should not be surprising, as the history of computing and digital semiconductors
show. An example is graphics processing units (GPUs), which were created to handle 2-D
and 3-D operations required by graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and games. Once a distinct
part of every computer, the functionality of these chips is now moving back onto the silicon of
the main CPU of desktop systems (see http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/
amd-demonstrates-2010june02.aspx). Such a move was made some time ago in certain
embedded systems (like smartphones), for which space and power are at a premium. In short,
programmable heterogeneous multi-core chips are here now and will continue to prolifer-
ate far into the future because of one simple fact – there is no “one-size fits all” computing
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