New Blackfin DSPs deliver high performance at low power

Rich Pell

October 27, 2008

Rich Pell

Analog Devices has introduced the low-power Blackfin BF51x series, designed to surpass heterogenous MCU+DSP approaches in reducing part-count, system cost, board space, and power consumption. The new processors feature high clock rates and low power dissipation per unit of processing (MMACs/mW) like traditional DSPs, but are OS and compiler-friendly like traditional MCUs.

All four of the 16/32-bit BF51x devices - the BF512, BF514, BF516 and BF518 - are available at clock speeds up to 400 MHz (800 MMACS) and include 116 kBytes of RAM plus an optional 4 Mbits of serial (SPI) flash memory. Each device integrates Lockbox security for code and content protection, support for sixteen stereo I²S digital-audio channels, twelve peripheral DMA channels, and an advanced memory controller for glueless connection to multiple banks of external SDRAM, SRAM, Flash, or ROM.

Each processor includes two dual-channel synchronous serial communication ports, a high-speed parallel peripheral interface, an I²C compatible two-wire interface, dual PC-compatible UARTs, and two SPI-compatible serial peripheral interface ports. All of the new devices deliver 8.5 MMACs/mW (100 MHz) and include dynamic power management functionality that lets developers match the processor's power consumption to processing requirements during program execution.

The BF514, BF516, and BF518 include on-chip removable-storage interfaces, Secure Digital Input Output (SDIO), a power-optimized CE-ATA storage interface, and an embedded multimedia card interface. The BF516 adds an Ethernet 10/100 MAC with Media Independent Interface and Reduced Media Independent Interface.

Pricing is from $4.95 (BF512) to $11.85 (BF518) each in 25,000-unit quantities. The processors are sampling immediately.

Analog Devices, 800-262-5643, www.analog.com

Related links:
ADSP-BF512 information page
ADSP-BF514 information page
ADSP-BF516 information page
ADSP-BF518 information page