Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Texas Instruments (April 2006-) | Subject: TAS3108
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 29 June 2006
DSP takes full control of audio
processing
The TAS3108 audio DSP has enough processing power to provide home audio developers with full control of audio processing, including matrix decoding and a variety of surround sound schemes.
Bringing higher fidelity to car audio while providing cost-effective audio processing for home systems, Texas Instruments has announced the TAS3108 audio digital signal processor (DSP) The eight-channel TAS3108 audio DSP brings high-performance audio processing capabilities to enable up to 7.1-channel processing in digital TVs, home theatre-in-a-box systems, and automotive head units and external amplifiers
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 4 Apr 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The TAS3108 DSP is the latest from TI's broad offering of digital and analogue products for audio applications, including Class-D amplifiers, audio convertors, processors and switch mode power management.
The TAS3108 DSP has a variety of audio processing features to address a wide range of applications, including the rigorous demands of the automotive market, as well as the cost effective needs of home theatre applications.
The TAS3108 audio DSP can perform five simultaneous instructions per clock cycle and operates at 135MHz, providing a maximum of 675MIPS.
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When combined with its 48bit data path (enabling superior bass management processing), and single-cycle 76bit (48x28) multiply-accumulate, the TAS3108 DSP offers an unparalleled amount of processing at its price point with 135MMACS.
The TAS3108 DSP comes with a comprehensive set of tools that is optimised for audio processing, enabling the efficient implementation of proprietary algorithms and standard features such as equalisation, tone and volume control.
The tools are composed of two essential parts, the graphical development environment (GDE) and the integrated development environment (IDE).
The GDE is a graphical drag-and-drop environment that allows users to take pre-optimised components and drop them into place.
They can then program and control each component in real-time, as well as publish their own components with proprietary algorithms.
The IDE is a traditional tool consisting of an editor and simulator/debugger tools.
The editor will show the customer context sensitive colouring and help guide them on what to input, enabling quicker programming and fewer errors.
The simulator/debugger provides a PC-based environment, allowing customers to debug their code by testing it, while watching memory and setting breakpoints.
Built specifically to meet the meticulous high reliability and functional requirements of the automotive market, TI's new processor underwent thorough simulation, exhaustive analysis and stress testing to ensure that the device can meet the defective parts per million (DPPM) requirements of automotive manufacturers.
Automotive audio applications benefiting from this device include audio head units and external amplifiers.
With support for sample rates from 32 to 192kHz across 15 stereo/TDM data formats, developers can target a broad range of markets with a single design.
An automotive version of the solution, TI's TAS3108AI, is AEC Q100 qualified, which is one of the highest standards of quality for components in the automotive market.
"The TAS3108 processor provides us with the performance we need to differentiate our product lines with superior sound quality", says Masahiro Kishigami, Designing Section Manager at Pioneer.
"With TI, we can offer customers an exceptional sound system that meets the numerous requirements of the automotive market for quality and reliability".
The TAS3108 audio DSP has enough processing power to provide home audio developers with full control of audio processing, including matrix decoding and a variety of surround sound schemes.
Leveraging the flexibility of the TAS3108 DSP and TI's development software, developers can quickly add custom algorithms, equalisation, dynamic range compression for TVs, home theatres in a box and mini-component systems.
The availability of extensive performance headroom enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to differentiate their products through enhanced features and exceptional sound quality.
Comprehensive support from leading innovators in audio quality, such as SRS and BBE, is expected to be available in the third quarter of 2006, giving developers confidence that they will always have timely access to optimised implementations of the latest standards.
The TAS3108 DSP complements other TI digital and analogue products that support audio applications, such as Class D amplifiers, audio convertors, processors and switch mode power management.
Currently in production, the TAS3108DCP, targeting the home, is $4.36 each and the TAS3108AIDCP, optimised for the car, is $4.91 each, both in 10,000 quantities or more.
Evaluation modules (EVM) and code development tools are also available.
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