Building upon its DSP and ARM products, Texas Instruments yesterday announced the C6A816x Integra DSP + ARM generation of processors. The processors offer what TI claims is the industry's fastest single-core floating- and fixed-point DSP performance (up to 1.5 GHz) and also integrates what they say is the industry's fastest single-core ARM Cortex-A8 core with performance up to 1.5 GHz.
The Integra DSP + ARM architecture can handle signal processing, complex math processing needs and image processing algorithms using the DSP, while the ARM core is available for graphical user interfaces, network connectivity, system control and application processing. Multiple operating systems are supported, including Linux, Windows Embedded Compact 7 and Android.
The first two devices are the C6A8168 and C6A8167. These parts integrate a TMS320C674x floating and fixed point dsp and a Cortex-A8 processor on one chip, along with peripherals such as PCIExpress Gen2, SATA 2.0, dual Gigabit Ethernet and dual DDR2/DDR3 interfaces that offer various network connectivity selections and storage options. This integration can reduce bill of materials (BOM) costs by as much as 50 percent, according to TI, through reduced chip count, including discrete memory costs, and printed circuit board (PCB) space.
The C6A8168 and C6A8167 have an on chip display engine, allowing for output of two different streams of content for dual, simultaneous high-resolution displays, while the C6A8168 integrates a 3d graphics accelerator.