Compact DSP Delivers 800 MMACs

Analog Devices Blackfin BF592 architecture

BF592 is the low end of the Blackfin famliy line

BF592 EZ Kit Lite development kit is $199

USB-based Blackfin JTAG debugger

Analog Devices's has released its latest 90nm Blackfin DSP, the BF592. It can deliver 800 MMACs of performance while being priced at only $3. This tiny chip comes in a 9mm by 9 mm 64-pin QFN package. It draws as little as 88mW of power when active and has a 300 µA static leakage.

The BF592 (Fig. 1) is built around a 400 MHz core with a dual MAC architecture. It fits at the low end of the family (Fig. 2). It has 36 Kbytes of data SRAM, 32 Kbytes of instruction SRAM and a 64 Kbyte instruction ROM There is also a 4 Kbyte boot ROM. Peripherals include a 16-bit PPI (ITU-R 656), I²C (TWI), 2 SPORTs, 2 SPI ports, and a UART mapped over 32 GPIO’s. There are 3 32-bit timers plus a core and watchdog timer.

The BF592 targets a range of applications including health card an automotive driver assistance systems. The operating temperature range is -40°to +85°C.

The BF592 EZ KIT Lite (Fig. 3) is priced at $199. It comes with an evaluation suite of the VisualDSP++ development environment with the C/C++ compiler, assembler, and linker. The $150 JTAG Emulator (Fig. 4) is also available. It uses a 5-MHz JTAG clock and supports ADI Blackfin processors. It has a USB interface with download speeds of up to 255 Kbytes/sec.

• Analog Devices
• Analog Devices BF592