RTC Magazine

Consistent with Moore’s law, digital signal processors (DSPs) continue to grow in computational performance and functionality while shrinking in size. The pace of this architectural evolution may fluctuate at times, but the rate at which designers are applying these powerful DSPs to an increasingly wider range of applications continues to accelerate. As DSP vendors pack more processing performance into smaller, denser processors, system developers are empowered to add new product features, create new products and enter new markets.

Today’s advanced DSPs are also equipped with a range of innovative logic, fabrication and architectural features that reduce power consumption at both the processor level and the system level, offering significant advantages to designers who are challenged to extend system battery life and/or enable greater system portability. Utilizing a DSP with lower power consumption, designers can allocate the power saved by the processor to other components, use smaller power supplies, and/or use smaller cooling systems.

Naturally, this trend toward smaller, more power-efficient processors has enabled the latest generation of DSPs to be implemented on smaller boards, moving designers further away from the constraints of traditional backplane-oriented board implementations, and allowing them to realize compact system form factors that could not be achieved even just a few years ago. This trend also enables designers to squeeze more components within a system package, making it possible to integrate greater connectivity, communication and ruggedization features without compromising significant board space.

“Small Board” Application Opportunities

While the implications of this form factor shift will be felt across many markets, industrial, instrumentation and machine-based technologies are particularly well positioned to realize great benefits from this trend in the near term, specifically in the areas of sensing, data collection and smart networking. This trend will open up a realm of innovation opportunities for new and existing DSP-driven applications, all of which will benefit from smaller form factors, improved operational agility, enhanced ruggedization, and of course, greater digital signal processing power.

Sensors and Advanced Sensor Networks—Applications of sensor technology are growing at a rapid clip, driven by an increased need for more granular data acquisition and intelligent data collection systems. As sensors and the DSPs that process the incoming sensor data get smaller and more sophisticated, it’s commonly expected that sensors will soon pervade almost every aspect of our environment.

Consider the market for machine-based surveillance applications. Focusing on the video surveillance market as a subset, we’re already seeing deployments of distributed image sensors elevate the state-of-the-art in video analytics. However, while today’s video surveillance systems are optimized for high-performance video processing, compression and streaming, we are still relatively limited in terms of the flexibility and spatial depth of camera views.

The emergence of visual sensor networks powered by distributed smart cameras and high-performance DSPs will enable surveillance systems to “fuse” images from a variety of viewpoints, yielding a dense 3D reconstruction of a scene that can be viewed from any arbitrary vantage point. The impact of this emerging technology on surveillance, tracking and environmental monitoring applications will be staggering.

Smart Meters/Smart Grid—Though in its infancy today, smart grid technology is quickly emerging as a means to more intelligently manage the transmission and consumption of electricity, which promises to yield significant energy savings and reduce associated costs. To this end, smart meters are beginning to be deployed by companies like Siemens to enable advanced monitoring and communication across power sources and power networks, all the way to the home. Siemens Energy Sectors’ Automated Metering and Information System (AMIS) utilizes advanced DSPs embedded in small form factor modules to deliver essential “demand response” energy usage communication between the consumer and the energy provider, facilitating true whole grid energy management (Figure 1).

The Blackfin DSPs within the AMIS smart meters calculate consumer energy usage and perform power line modem functions. So not only are the DSPs functioning as energy metering mechanisms, they are also enabling bi-directional communication across the grid. This capability enables power companies to manage their infrastructure more intelligently, with the flexibility to implement software upgrades over power lines so as to enable new features and/or conform to evolving industry standards.