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Re: [Xylo-SDR] Firewire, DSP and FPGA on one module

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ramakrishnan Muthukrishnan" <vu3rdd@gmail.com> 
To: "Xylo-SDR Discussion" <xylo-sdr@lists.ae5k.us>
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2005 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Xylo-SDR] Firewire, DSP and FPGA on one module



On 12/18/05, Robert McGwier <rwmcgwier@comcast.net> wrote:


The 16 bit fixed point DSP chip could be an issue which is dependent on
how it is used.  Dealing with fixed point is an art few can master.  I
..
..
This has 50K.  So that is a win plus it has the 18x18 multipliers.  All
positives.  It is my personal opinion that we are better served at this
time by mostly avoiding the use of DSP chips, especially fixed point
ones and to rely on our ability to speedily process data on our modern
desktops.  The SDR-1000 DSP core,  written by AB2KT and I,  recently was


Bob,

Everything agreed. But for those folks who are interested to see a
radio as a radio - packaged in a small box - DSP seem to be the only
way out as of now. Also there are some nice TI DSPs out there which
draws very less power, like the C55x for instance. If there were a
free toolchain available for them, I would have definitely choosen
them for a DSP-based SDR instead of the PIC-A-STAR that I am building
right now. There are very very powerful devices. If we have the luxury
of a powerful development environment like GNU/Linux and a free
toolchain which has a community behind it, nothing to beat it.
Cost of the tools is a problem with both TI and ADI, $5,000 (IIRC) or so is a bit excessive. I prefer ADI DSPs, they have a much more coherent architecture across the whole range, and I used their chips where I used to work. Their tools are actually very good, as is support.
Leon 
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