Embedded Processor Watch

Editor: Tom Halfhill

In This Issue:

• Motorola Cellular DSP Does It All
• ADI's First TigerSharc DSP Has Sharp Teeth
• Embedded Processor Forum Moved to June
• Embedded Processor Watch: Explaining Last Week's Echo

Motorola Cellular DSP Does It All

Jet-setters who want to stay in touch won't have to keep packing more cell phones than shoes much longer. Motorola's new DSP56690 is a highly integrated embedded processor that supports all of the most common wireless standards likely to be encountered on a globe-hopping journey.

For the first time, a single chip handles analog cellular as well as a plethora of digital standards: code-division multiple access (CDMA), time-division multiple access (TDMA), global system for mobile communications (GSM), integrated digital enhanced network (iDEN), general packet radio service (GPRS), and even the Iridium satellite network. That covers all of the first-, second-, and so-called 2.5-generation wireless-telephony standards worldwide.

But despite the initial excitement over the dream of a universal wireless phone -- Motorola's announcement received widespread press coverage and the company's stock jumped 5% in one day -- even Motorola doubts there's a large enough market for such a product. The extra memory required to store the software for every standard would inflate the phone's cost, and relatively few people are obsessively connected globetrotters. Instead, Motorola sees the DSP56690 as a malleable platform for a multitude of future cell phones. Motorola can tailor the processor for a single standard or any combination of standards by adding or removing on-chip peripherals.--T.R.H. (The full version of this article appeared in the December 7 issue of Microprocessor Report.)

ADI's First TigerSharc DSP Has Sharp Teeth

In a bid to seize the lead in DSP performance, Analog Devices (ADI) has announced the ADSP-TS001, the first implementation of its much-delayed TigerSharc architecture. It's also the first DSP from any vendor that natively supports 8-, 16-, and 32-bit fixed- and floating-point operations on a single chip. Scheduled for production in 2H00, the TS001 targets high-performance DSP applications, such as network infrastructures for so-called 3G (third-generation) mobile phones.--T.R.H. (The full version of this article appeared in the December 7 issue of Microprocessor Report.)

Embedded Processor Forum Moved to June

Embedded Processor Forum, sponsored by Cahners MicroDesign Resources, will be held June 12-16 instead of in May as previously announced. For more information, please go to http://www.MDRonline.com/epf.

Embedded Processor Watch: Explaining Last Week's Echo

Last week, some subscribers to Embedded Processor Watch received multiple copies of Issue #76 (sent November 30) and/or Issue #75 (sent November 24). The multiple copies were sent by someone who gained unauthorized access to the outside mailing-list service we employ to distribute Embedded Processor Watch and manage the subscriber list.

We have traced the unauthorized access to some possible suspects. We have also worked with the list service to increase the security of our account on the list server. We apologize if you were inconvenienced by receiving multiple copies of Embedded Processor Watch.

Many of the unauthorized copies of Embedded Processor Watch bounced back to our own mail server, and some of the bounced messages had virus or Trojan Horse programs attached as files. We have notified those subscribers and advised them to disinfect their computers. It is possible that the same person who gained unauthorized access to the list server also attached malicious files to the messages -- although in some cases a subscriber's computer was already infected with an email virus that automatically attached itself to outgoing messages, including bounced messages.

If you ever receive an issue of Embedded Processor Watch with an attached file, please delete the entire message without opening the attachment. We never attach files of any kind to Embedded Processor Watch.--T.R.H.