Theme: Expression of signals by time and degree Plan: The Digital Signal Processing

8.4 Advantages of DSP Processors

There are processors that are made for DSP applications and there other processors that are made for computers or microcontroller and other applications. DSP processors, unlike other processors, are designed to be able to process signals in real time. In order to achieve 8.5 Selection of DSP Processors 197 this there are certain features that are unique to DSP processors only. For instance DSP processors have the ability to multiply and accumulate (MAC) in one instruction cycle. This is achieved by embedding the MAC instruction in hardware in the main data path. Other processors take several instruction cycles to achieve the same operation. Another feature is that DSP processors have the ability to complete several accesses to memory in a single instruction cycle. For instance, a processor can fetch an instruction while simultaneously storing results of the previous instruction. Some DSP processors provide special support for repetitive computations, which are typical in DSP computations. A special loop or repeat instruction is provided. Such features make DSP processors more suitable for real-time digital signal processing even when faster processors are available in the market. Some DSP processors have dedicated address generation units which work in the background and allow the arithmetic processing to proceed with maximum speed. Once the address register is configured it will generate the address required for accessing the operand in parallel with the execution of the arithmetic instruction. Most DSP processors have one or more serial or parallel input and output (I/O) interface and specialized I/O handling mechanisms such as the direct memory access (DMA). The purpose of these peripherals and interface is to allow a cost effective high performance input and output.

Conclusion

I learnt essentional information about Digital Signal Processing and it’s architechture. At first, I knew What is a Signal? What is a Processing? And I learnt the advantage of DSP processors.

References:

1. 
   Digital signal processor fundamentals and system design M.E. Angoletta CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
   
2. 
   An Instruction to Digital Signal Processing: A Focus on Implementetion Stanley. H. Mneyney