TI announces growing software and development tool ecosystem

Tag : Electronics Tool Kit
Incorporating compelling userinterfaces can require distinct video, imaging, speech andmultimedia components that must be perfectly integrated togetherbefore any application can operate successfully. To ease arduoussoftware integration and development for video, industrial, medicaland automotive developers, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI)(NYSE: TXN) today announced the OMAP35x Digital Video SoftwareDevelopment Kit (DVSDK), several open source development tools andthe availability of the next three OMAP35x devices, the OMAP3515,OMAP3525 and OMAP3530 applications processors based on the ARM(R)Cortex(TM)-A8. The laptop-like performance and low powerconsumption levels provided by the superscalar processors aim tomotivate developers to increase the productivity and multimediaexperience through advanced intuitive user interfaces, 3D graphics,no compromise browsing capabilities and vast connectivity options.To make it even easier and faster, TI’s OMAP35x DVSDK andgrowing ecosystem of open source development tools simplify andshave months off design time. Demonstrations of these tools can beseen in TI booth #1232 at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco from August 4-7, 2008.
A complete development environment is provided with the firstOMAP35x DVSDK for the OMAP35x Evaluation Module (EVM), which allowsdevelopers to jump start the design of performance-hungry,power-sipping devices with multimedia features and get theirproducts to market months ahead of their competition. The DVSDKincludes basic audio and video codecs to simplify and acceleratethe integration and subsequent optimization into a finely-tunedsystem. Making integration even easier, customers no longer have todirectly manage codecs since TI’s DaVinci(TM) technologymakes multimedia possible via ARM-based application programminginterface (API) libraries, which communicate with the digitalsignal processor (DSP) and video accelerators. Additionally, theDVSDK integrates TI’s codec engine multimedia framework thatworks on the Linux 2.6.22 kernel today and will also supportWindows(R) Embedded CE 6.0 in the near future. Since the processorsare completely scalable, current OMAP35x EVM users can download theOMAP35x DVSDK to continue development on the OMAP3530 devicewithout losing any design time.
Development tools to fit several designing needs
After only a few months since the introduction of the breakthroughprocessors, a wide breadth of OMAP35x development tools from TI andthird parties are available to help developers accelerate theirdesign efforts, whether they are looking for a low-cost, fanlessboard to implement creative ideas, a complete turn-key referencedesign or a production-ready system on a module (SOM), such as theone used in Logic’s Zoom(TM) Medical OMAP35x Development Kit.
For a look at some of the latest demonstrations at the upcomingLinuxWorld Conference, visit the TI booth located in the LinuxGarage:
"Cogent’s highly integrated CSB740 SODIMM SOM takesadvantage of TI’s powerful OMAP3530 device and allows us todesign an ultra-small development platform that supports low power,embedded control systems. In addition to the GPIO and peripheralsavailable on the board, the CSB740 SOM is an ideal tool formultimedia and video streaming applications including 3D graphicsand HD capabilities," said Michael Kelly, vice president ofmarketing, Cogent Computer Systems.
Three new OMAP35x devices deliver laptop-like performance and HDcontent
Based on the first broad offering of the Cortex-A8, the OMAP35xdevices are the industry’s highest performance, generallyavailable ARM-based system-on-chip (SoC). With up to 1200 Dhrystonemillion instructions per second (MIPS), developers are inspired andchallenged to invent a wide breadth of next-generationapplications, such as robotics and mobile vehicle monitoringproducts with advanced graphical user interfaces (GUIs), real-timevideo encode and decode up to high-definition (HD) video levels.The low power levels of the OMAP35x devices not only addressbattery-powered and portable devices in which days of battery lifeare needed, but also products driven to be more ecologicallyfriendly.
"The performance, power efficiency and multimedia capabilitiesprovided by the OMAP35x processors make it a clear choice for thenext generation of Gumstix(TM) products, overo(TM), which willdebut in Q4 2008," said Dr. W. Gordon Kruberg, president andCEO, Gumstix, Inc. "The combination of experience, designskills and technologies from Gumstix and TI will provide opensource innovators a leading Gumstix development environment andvolume deployment solution."
The three newly available OMAP35x devices feature combinations ofOpenGL(R) ES 2.0 graphics engine, video accelerators andTMS320C64x+(TM) DSP core to fit a customer’s portfolio ofproducts. The OMAP3515 device features Imagination’sPowerVR(TM) SGX graphics engine enabling developers to integrateenhanced smart user interfaces with photo-realistic graphics onembedded gaming or simple portable navigation devices. The OMAP3525device featuring DaVinci technology has a C64x+ DSP andvideo-centric peripherals for HD video in multimedia drivenproducts. For sleeker and light devices, the OMAP3530 devicecombines the ARM, DSP, graphics engine and peripherals to enableperformance-hungry, power-efficient designs with gaming-qualitygraphics.