Analog Devices Inc has introduced three new general purpose digital signal processors in its 16-bit ADSP- 218x product line, and drawn out a roadmap for the next generation ADSP-219x family. The new parts are code and pin-compatible with previous versions of the 12 year-old 218x family, for which ADI claims over 10,000 OEM design wins and 30,000 developers.
The three new chips are all .25 micron, 75 MIPS and 75MHz parts, manufactured for ADI by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. In production immediately is the ADSP-2189M, which has 1.5Mbits of on-chip SRAM. Sampling in May and in production by September, the 2188M supports 2Mbits of SRAM on-chip. The 2185M part with 0.66Mbits memory, designed to offer lower system costs, is due to sample in July with production in October. ADI says the 2185M will compete with Texas Instruments Inc’s VC5402, widely advertised as a $5, 100 MIPS part. While the 2185M is expected to cost around $7.50 in quantities of 25,000, ADI says the cost of the TI part goes up to $10 once the necessary external memory is added. According to ADI, TI’s part is also slower because the memory is not on-chip, and harder to debug.
The follow-on 219x family, due to start sampling some time before the end of the year, will be the first to include a reusable core that will also be used acroos other ADI business units. It will be code compatible with previous parts, and is expected to provide a two times performance boost over the 218x chips at the same clock speed, the company said. Performance will be in the range between 150 and 300 MIPS.
ADI sells DSPs into three markets: custom mixed signal applications, with customers such as 3Com Corp, and white goods manufacturers such as Electrolux and Emerson Inc; embedded DSP systems for secure data, ADSL modems and motor controls; and general purpose programmable DSPs. ADI claims that only Texas Instruments Inc has a similar reach, and that Motorola Inc and Lucent Technologies Inc are only interested in the communications segment. They have only a small number of products and a limited number of third parties developing for them. The products include 16 and 32-bit ADSP-21xx series parts, and 8, 16 and 32-bit TigerSHARC processors.
