TI rolls fourth-generation DSP-based Internet audio device

TI rolls fourth-generation DSP-based Internet audio device
By Margaret Quan, EE Times
October 2, 2000 (3:59 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001002S0040

NEW YORK - Texas Instruments Inc. has introduced its fourth-generation chip set for Internet audio applications, featuring higher integration, greater performance and lower power consumption than earlier versions to help OEMs reduce end system costs and time-to-market, the company said.

The programmable DSP-based TMS320DA250 chip features TI's patented power management circuitry, and can enable up to 70 hours of audio playtime on on a digital audio player powered by two AA batteries. The chip also integrates USB 1.1, Sony Memory Stick and Secure Digital Memory Card interfaces to eliminate the need for additional chips and reduce costs, the company said.

The chip will sample in January and be available to OEMs for use in devices for the Christmas 2001 shopping season.

TI has established a position in the Internet audio market with its earlier chip sets, which have earned 60 design-ins, the company said. TI expects to ship over 2 million DSPs to this market by the end of 2000.

The new chip set is based on TI's TMS320C55X core and will be produced in a 0.15-micron process in early 2001, moving to a 0.13-micron process in late 2001, which will reduce its power consumption another 50 percent.

With advanced process technology and voltage scaling, TI has reduced the power consumption of the DA250 to 17 milliwatts, which will enable Internet audio devices with total power requirements of 50 mW. That's a significant reduction from the current-generation DA150, which consumes 38 mW and enables systems with a total power consumption of 150 mW, the company said.

The DA250 also represents a few firsts for the Internet audio market, in the form of a dual multiply and accumulate (MAC), its integrated USB 1.1 and on-chip memory storage interfaces, the company said. The dual MAC architecture on the DSP creates a high-performance, efficient design, the company said.

The new chip supports a wide range of memory storage technologies, audio compres sion formats and Digital Rights Management algorithms. The DA250 is SDMI-compliant (Secure Digital Music Initiative), and also possesses a 64-bit secure device ID. Each chip has a unique laser burned-in value that binds music to it if there is no external flash memory. With this feature, music from one Internet audio player cannot be played on another, TI said.

The DA250 also has 128 kilobytes of on-chip memory, so audio players can be developed without any external memory.

Future generations

TI said the C55X DSP core still has a lot of headroom to support additional capabilities, such as JPEG and MPEG-4 video. Engineers at TI are now working on a fifth-generation Internet audio solution based on the C55X for release in 2002. That solution will operate at 400 MHz - twice the clock speed of the initial DA250 - and provide 800 million instructions per second (Mips) performance. The future chip set will consume 10 mW and enable systems with overall power consumption of 25 mW. This fifth-g eneration part will be initially produced in a 0.13-micron process and feature an integrated amplifier, D/A converter, and several interfaces, according to Randy Cole, chief technologist of TI's Internet Audio Business.

Cole said TI is also working on an ultra-low-power Internet audio chip based on the C55X that will be produced in a 0.05-micron process and operate on less than 1 volt to deliver approximately 140 Mips. No time schedule has been set for the release of this chip, Cole said.

Samples of the DA250 will be available in January, and volume shipments expected in the second quarter of 2001. The initial version of the DA250, produced in 0.15-micron process, will have a clock speed of 160 MHz and deliver 320 Mips, while the version delivered in late 2001 will run at 200 MHz and deliver 400 Mips.

The DA250 will be available in 12 x 12-mm or 10 x 10-mm package sizes, and will cost $10 each in quantities of 250,000.

Development software for the DA250 is available now. Evaluation module dev elopment boards will be available in January.