Six-core DSP with low power consumption and competitive price tag

By Loc Truong, Texas Instruments

Multicore processors have earned a reputation for high performance. Many design engineers assume that raising the performance bar also boosts power consumption and price.The TMS320C6472 from Texas Instruments challenges those assumptions by offering remarkable power efficiency for affordable solutions in a range of applications. Powered by six TMS320C64x+ DSP cores, the C6472 consumes only 60 percent of the power and occupies 80 percent less board space than six TMS320C6415 DSPs.

At 3.7 watts per device, it offers even greater power savings compared to general-purpose processors (GPUs) in the same performance range. In addition to its inherent advantage in signal processing, the C6472 can also keep up with GPUs in most generic control-oriented applications. Applications include but are by no means limited to multimedia server blades,voice conferencing, medical imaging, industrial machine vision, military-aerospace, and test and measurement....