DSP SOLUTIONS

High-Performance Processors Suit Audio Applications

The ADSP-21368 and ADSP-21369 from Analog Devices are third-generation SHARC processors aimed at a variety of audio processing applications. These range from professional mixing consoles and effects processors to telephony, instrumentation and medical devices.



The chips run at clock speeds of up to 400MHz, conferring 2.4GFLOPS peak performance, and feature an enhanced memory configuration of 2Mbit SRAM and 6Mbit customer-definable ROM. They boast audio and application-focused peripherals and a high bandwidth, 32-bit external memory interface supporting glueless connectivity with SDRAM, SRAM and Flash.

As well as its enhanced memory interface, the ADSP-21368 device provides hardware support for the connection of multiple processors to a single, shared external memory array. This allows the construction of powerful multiprocessor systems, a feature particularly useful in professional audio applications such as recording studio mixing consoles. The implementation includes distributed, on-chip arbitration for the shared external bus, fixed and rotating priority bus arbitration, bus timeout logic and bus lock.

The peripheral mix within both devices is optimised for audio applications and includes a Digital Audio Interface (DAI) with all-digital S/PDIF transmitter/receiver, eight high-speed serial ports, four precision clock generators and multiple serial interfaces. In addition, an integrated eight-channel asynchronous sample rate converter significantly reduces the number of external components required in many system designs.



As well as integrated audio-optimised hardware, the ADSP-21368/9 incorporate a full complement of system peripherals including 16 PWM channels and a Digital Peripheral Interface (DPI) containing two UARTs, two SPI ports, an I²C-compliant two-wire interface port and three timers.

The new devices contain two core computational processing elements, each of which includes its own ALU, multiplier, shifter and register file, and supports both 32-bit fixed-point and 32-/40-bit floating point arithmetic formats. The two elements can operate together to form a Single-Instruction MultipleData (SIMD) engine, an extremely efficient architecture for executing mathematically intensive DSP algorithms.


SHARC Processor Road Map

The new processors are source code compatible with previous generation SHARC DSPs such as the ADSP-2126x and ADSP-2116x. Via a user-selectable SISD (Single Instruction Single Data) mode, they can also execute legacy code developed for first generation ADSP-2106x SHARC processors.

Features

• 400MHz SIMD SHARC core, capable of 2.4GFLOPS peak performance
• 2Mbit SRAM; 6Mbit customer-definable ROM
• Glueless interface to SDRAM, SRAM and Flash
• Hardware support for shared external memory (ADSP-21368 only)
• Digital Audio Interface (DAI)
  • Eight serial ports
  • S/PDIF transceiver
  • Eight-channel asynchronous sample rate converter
  • Four precision clock generators
• Digital Peripheral Interface (DPI)
  • Two SPIs
  • Two UARTs
  • Three timers
  • I²C
• 32 zero-overhead DMA channels
• 16 Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) channels
• 1.3V Core Voltage
• 256-ball SBGA package (ADSP-21368)
• 208-lead MQFP and 256-ball SBGA packages (ADSP-21369)
• Commercial and industrial temperature ranges

Applications

• Digital mixing consoles
• Advanced effects processors
• Reverberation units
• Multi-band equalisers
• Compressors/limiters
• Multi-zone audio processors
• Synthesisers
• Medical equipment
• Telephony
• Instrumentation
• Industrial

For further information, including the SHARC Processors ADSP 2136x Family Datasheet, please click here