TI's Embedded Processors
And if you’re looking for the high-end ARM Cortex-A15, we’ve got that too. Take your pick: do
you want one … or up to 4 A15 cores on a single device? And these multi-core devices also pack
the number crunching of TI’s C66x line of DSP cores. When high-end performance processing is
critical to your systems, look no further than TI Multicore.
But as one student asked, “If ARM is so great, why do you make other types of processors?”
While ARM is probably thought of today as the best all-around set of processor cores, there are
areas where it can be improved upon.
Driving to the lowest-power dissipation is one of those areas. In the end, the venerable MSP430
is not to be outdone on the low end. As the MSP430 teams says, Ultra Low-Power (ULP) is “in
our DNA”. You know you’re doing something right when the 10-year shelf-life of the battery ends
up self-dissipating before you run it dry with your MSP430 design. It’s just hard to beat an MCU
designed from the ground up as a low-power CPU. That said, it’s also hard to beat the MSP430’s
simple, inexpensive, high-performance RISC engine.
The C2000 family has set the standard for control applications. Whether it’s digital motor control,
power control or one of the many other control-oriented MCU applications, this CPU really
crunches the data. You might also see a little Red in this column. That’s to indicate that even a
good DSP-based microcontroller can use a little bit of ARM to get a leg-up in the industry. We’ve
coupled an ARM Cortex-M3 along with the C28x core to make a stellar processing duo. Use the
ARM to run your networking and USB stacks – all the while the C28x core is taking care of your
system’s real-time processing needs. Sure, you could buy two chips to implement your systems
(we’ll happily sell you a C28x along with Tiva C), but these devices integrate them both into a
singular device.
Finally, TI is known by many as the center of DSP excellence. While these CPUs often get lost in
all the hoopla surrounding ARM today, when it comes to real-time systems, a good DSP is hard
to beat. Whether you’re implementing a low-power system (look to C5000 DSP’s) or need the
number crunching performance of the C6000, these devices still cannot be bested in the world of
hard real-time, low-latency, highly deterministic applications. As mentioned earlier, the highest
performing C6000 DSP cores have been combined into the awesome performance of Multicore.
You can get up to 8 CPU’s on a single device; make them all C66x DSPs – or match four C66x
CPU’s up with four of ARM’s stunning Cortex-A15’s for a performance knock-out punch.
MSP430 Workshop - Introduction to MSP430 1 - 9
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