Three newbie questions about DSP

DSP Newbie

Hi there,
I am a newbie in this field. I have cpuple of questions that I would like to ask.
1. With regard to data throughput of the DSP system, what govern the capacity of the system.
2. Given a typical embedded DSP application, how to estimate the data
throughput requirements of the application as well as the number of MIPS
that the embedded DSP will have to perform.
3. Is power consumption an issue in embedded DSP applications? Why?
Thanks
Patrick

Re: DSP Newbie

Hi,
1) Output depends on the capability of the processor. For a typical audio sampling rate, most of the DSPs can achieve the required rate. External memory access should be considered. Your algorithm has to be fairly decent in speed performance.
2) Calculate the number of instructions executed. This is fairly easy if you jsut give it a try.
3) depends on the application. Critical only for battery operated devices.
Hope it helps
Madhukar B R

Re: DSP Newbie

patrick said:

Hi there,
I am a newbie in this field. I have cpuple of questions that I would like to ask.
1. With regard to data throughput of the DSP system, what govern the capacity of the system.
2. Given a typical embedded DSP application, how to estimate the data
throughput requirements of the application as well as the number of MIPS
that the embedded DSP will have to perform.
3. Is power consumption an issue in embedded DSP applications? Why?
Thanks
Patrick

Click to expand...

1. Capability to access the exernal world: namely DMA (Direct Memory Access). The more troughput you have for getting data in/out the DSP core, the better balanced your system is. Also the more internal busses, the more data thoughput you can achieve, although the more power consumption you'll have.

2. Simulation and/or emulation is a good choice. Start with estimates from your high level simulations used for algorithm validation, then review that when simulating for the DSP of choice. Lastly, playing around with real hardware and an emulator to access it, is usually a good tool.

3. Think of a PDA, Cell Phone, etc... as someone else already said... Power consumption is a paramount parameter for every device which is battery powered. Although that is a general rule... think of a basestation: the less power hungry your computational platform is, the less cooling you'll need, the more efficient you'r system will be, and the smaller, too.

Regards,

JaaC