First Floating Point Digital Signal Controllers From TI Enable Greener Industrial Applications

First Floating Point Digital Signal Controllers From TI Enable Greener Industrial Applications

June 05, 2007

TMS320F2833x DSCs Boost Performance 50 Percent and Simplify
Software Development for Solar Power and Other Applications



    HOUSTON, June 5 /xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Helping
industrial control designers increase energy efficiency and
system performance, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI)
(NYSE: TXN) today announced the industry's first floating
point digital signal controllers (DSCs). The new
TMS320F2833x devices provide 300 million floating point
instructions per second (MFLOPS) performance at 150 MHz
while providing the lower costs typically associated with
fixed point processors.  Simplified software development
common to floating-point processors and the performance
boost allows solar power inverters to more efficiently
convert energy from photovoltaic (PV) panels, offers better
power efficiency and performance to variable speed
alternating current (AC) drives and provides greater
performance for automotive radar applications. For more
information on the new floating point F2833x controllers,
see http://www.ti.com/f2833x .

    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com.cn/xprn/sa/20061107170439-20.jpg )

    Motor Control, Alternative Energy Look for Greater
Efficiency and Performance

    According to the European Photovoltaic Industry
Association (EPIA), solar capacity will grow 397 percent to
5550 Megawatts from 2005 to 2010.  The world's leading solar
inverter manufacturers - the majority of which use TI DSCs -
maximize their systems to peak efficiency through Maximum
Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms and dynamic
algorithm adjustments during various load conditions,
including cloudy and low light days.  F2833x controllers
have the performance headroom to maximize these MPPT
algorithms and dynamic adjustments while also integrating
additional system features like data logging, power line
communications (PLC) or inverter synchronization to the
utility grid.

    With the high integration and performance enabled by
floating point F2833x controllers, robotics and computer
numerical control (CNC) machines using AC induction motors
will see both finer control and increased dynamic range. 
Systems designers using AC servo motors can now specify
smaller, more energy efficient motors which, along with AC
induction motors, IMS Research states, will drive an
approximately eight percent yearly revenue growth for the
industrial drive market.  IMS Research also states that
drives used in the AC induction motor segment are growing
largely due to their ability to significantly lower the
energy costs associated with running the motor. Demand for
servo drives is linked to growth in precision applications
such as machine tools, packaging machinery and
semiconductor machinery, where the need for faster
production cycles is leading to increased use of servo
systems at the expense of mechanical ones.

    New Controllers Increase Performance by an Average 50
Percent
	
    The new F2833x floating point controllers will increase
performance by an average of 50 percent over TI's previous
leading digital signal controllers while operating at the
same 150 MHz clock rate.  Some algorithms, such as a Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) used for complex calculations, will
see a 200 percent improvement over an equivalent 32-bit
fixed-point implementation.  Overall system bandwidth is
also increased with the addition of a six-channel direct
memory access (DMA) controller that offloads the central
processing unit (CPU) from servicing the ultra-fast,
on-chip analog-to-digital converter (ADC) along with
user-configurable 16- or 32-bit external memory interface
and high-speed serial ports.

    Simplified Development and Complete System Integration

    Software developers typically begin creating algorithms
in a floating-point environment for validation, and then
convert the code to run on fixed-point devices.  Now,
however, developers can eliminate the weeks - and often
months - of time spent contending with scaling, saturation
and adjustment of numerical resolution required in
fixed-point implementations. 

    All F2833x controllers offer exceptional system
integration for single-chip control applications from
signal input to high-resolution control output. The on-chip
12-bit, 16-channel ADC operates at 12.5 mega-samples per
second - the fastest on-chip ADC operation of any digital
signal controller in the industry today.  The F2833x
controller series features up to 18 pulse width modulation
(PWM) channels, six of which include TI's unique
high-resolution PWM (HRPWM) technology with 150
pico-seconds (ps) resolution. Communication interfaces
include CAN, I2C, UART, SPI and TI's Multi-channel Buffered
Serial Ports (McBSP). 

    Floating Point Controller Specifications

    TMS320 MHz Flash KB RAMKB PWM/   CAP/   SCI    Sampling
  Suggested Resale 
                              HRPWM  QEP         
Availability Price (1Ku)
    F28335 150  512  68  18/6  6/2    3   September    07  
     $19.95
    F28334 150  256  68  16/6  4/2    3   September    07  
     $17.65
    F28332 100  128  52  16/4  4/2    2   September    07  
     $13.30

    Silicon and Tools Availability

    F2833x controllers are fully software compatible with
all previous TMS320C28x(TM) controllers. Samples of the
F28335, F28334, and F28332 devices will be available in
September 2007 and will be fully AEC Q-100 qualified for
automotive applications. Hardware and software development
tools, including the Code Composer Studio(TM) Integrated
Development Environment will be available with F2833x
controllers. Developers can start programming today using
any available F28x based eZdsp development tool and IQ
Math, TI's `virtual' floating point software library.
Software written with IQ Math will automatically run on the
F2833x controllers. 
	
    The F2833x devices will also be supported by TI's
TMS320C2000(TM) Digital Motor Control and Digital Power
Supply software libraries. This free, fully documented
software provides aides developers in quickly prototyping a
motor control or digital power system using C2000(TM)
controllers and can be downloaded at
http://www.ti.com/c2000appsw . 

    About TI

    Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP
and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world
signal processing requirements. In addition to
Semiconductor, the company includes the Education
Technology business. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas,
and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more
than 25 countries.Texas Instruments is traded on the New
York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information
is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com . 

    TRADEMARKS

    Code Composer Studio, TMS320C28x, TMS320C2000 and C2000
are trademarks of Texas Instruments. ARM7 is a trademark of
ARM Ltd. All other registered trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.


    For more information, please contact:

     Stephan Beek			
     Tel:   [phone]		
     Email: [e-mail]

     Lindsey James			
     Tel:   [phone]		
     Email: [e-mail]