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The number
of companies, devices, cores, and offerings in the directory continues to evolve
and grow. A few companies have dropped out due to the closing of business or
spin-offs, but the company roster and table of devices are always expanding.
This steady growth are a testament not only to the variety of available
processing options, but also to the tremendous variation among requirements,
features, and applications for which designers use these devices and cores.
Last year, we proposed the term DSC (digital-signal controller) to describe the growing number of hybrid or unified architectures that consist of a microcontroller core with DSP-architecture features and structures. This year, we'd like to highlight this growing segment of the digital-signal-processing universe. DSCs differ from pure DSPs and microcontrollers in that they combine essential features of each type of processor into a single architecture, instruction flow, and device. They support more frequent and faster context switching by including a richer set of on-chip peripherals and interrupt controls than you find on pure DSPs. They also incorporate a richer bus structure and set of arithmetic-execution units for minimizing the chance of computational stalls that a pure microcontroller could suffer when processing a continuous stream of data, such as while processing context switches.
DSCs are making a range of new applications feasible as optimized devices with the right mix of peripherals and data processing integrated into application-specific devices. An early application target for these devices has been the power-supply controller. The balance between the dual nature of DSCs suits them for applications that need to be able to perform complex control functions and perform signal processing at the edges of a system or in small- or portable-system applications. Expect to see more application-specific DSCs for smart-building (automation) applications and portable devices—especially for portable home-medical equipment.
The directory continues to aim to provide designers and system architects enough visibility into processor options to quickly narrow the list of candidate processors for each project. This print version offers a quick and high-level overview of the digital-signal-processing industry by identifying what is new at each company and what applications each company's product lines target.
The "Where did they go?" section (below) helps you find companies that we no longer list because they are out of business, other companies have acquired them, or they've failed to supply us with the updated information we needed for this year's directory. The section also includes data from previous years to make tracking this type of data easier without having to locate earlier versions of the directory.
If you cannot find a company in the directory or if a company did not participate in the update, please let the company and EDN know that you missed reading about it in the
directory. Likewise, if this directory helps you find or choose a device or
core, please let the vendor know how you found its part. Help us continue to
make the directory better by
visiting us or by sending your comments
and feedback.
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