Complementing ARM with easy DSP
development for TI's community
platforms
Daniel Allred
Senior Applications Engineer
3/23/2016
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Find the right ARM® Solution for you
32-bit ARM
MCU for
Safety-Critical
Applications
32-bit ARM
Cortex™-M3
MCUs
ARM
Cortex-A8 &
ARM9™ MPUs
TMS570
Stellaris®
Sitara™
ARM
Cortex-R4™
ARM Cortex-M3
Up to 250 DMIPS/
160 MHz
Up to
80 MHz
375MHz to
>1GHz
2 MB Flash,
160 KB RAM
Flash
8 KB to 256 KB
USB, ENET
MAC+PHY CAN,
ADC, PWM, SPI
Connectivity,Security,
Motion Control, HMI,
Industrial Automation
Cache,
RAM, ROM
300MHz to >1Ghz
+Accelerator
Cache
RAM, ROM
USB, CAN, SATA,
SPI, PCIe, EMAC
USB, ENET,
PCIe, SATA, SPI
Industrial automation,
POS & portable
data terminals
$1.00 to $8.00
$5.00 to $25.00
Floating/Fixed Point
Video, Audio, Voice,
Security, Conferencing
$5.00 to $200.00
ARM Cortex-A8
& ARM9
DSP
ARM+DSP
C6000™
Integra™
DaVinci™
Digital Media processors
FPU, ECC, Timer/PWM
Co-Proc, 12bit ADCs, CAN,
EMIF, LIN, SPI, Flexray
Transportation, Motor
Control, Certified for use in
safety critical (SIL3) systems
$7.00 to $18.00
Development tools
Software support
Comprehensive developer ecosystem
Responsive design support
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Fast, low power, flexible
expansion Rev C
OMAP3530 Processor
 720MHz Cortex-A8
 NEON+VFPv3
 16KB/16KB L1$
 256KB L2$
 430MHz C64x+ DSP
 32K/32K L1$
 48K L1D
 32K L2
 PowerVR SGX GPU
 64K on-chip RAM
POP Memory
 256MB LPDDR RAM
 256MB NAND flash
$149
3.1”
Peripheral I/O
 DVI-D video out
 SD/MMC
 S-Video out
 USB 2.0 HS OTG
 I2C, I2S, SPI,
MMC/SD
 JTAG
 Stereo in/out
 Alternate power
 RS-232 serial
USB Powered
 2W maximum consumption
 OMAP is small % of that
 Many adapter options
 Car, wall, battery, solar, …
BeagleBoard-xM details
Laptop-like performance
3.35”**
DM3730 processor
(AM37x-compatibile)
 1GHz superscaler
ARM® Cortex ™-A8
 More than 2,000
Dhrystone MIPS
 Up to 20 Million
polygons per sec
graphics
 512KB L2$
 512MB LPDDR RAM
 HD video capable
C64x+™ DSP core
DM3730
Desktop-style USB
peripherals and embedded
style expansion
 LCD Expansion
 I2C, I2S, SPI, MMC/SD
Expansion
 DVI-D
 Camera Header
 S-Video
 JTAG
 4-port USB 2.0 Hub
 Stereo Out
 Stereo In
 10/100 Ethernet
 USB 2.0 HS OTG
 Alternate Power
 RS-232 Serial
 microSD Slot
Agenda
• Motivation for ARM+DSP heterogeneous processors
• Importance of Software Development
• C6000 DSP Ease of Use Initiatives
– C6Accel
– C6Run
• Conclusion
• Demo
• Q&A
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Why ARM+DSP?
• Lets start with an example system
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Networked Audio System (before)
Connectivity System
Audio System
HDMI
SPDIF
ADC
LCD
Controller
Internet
Radio
Ethernet
MAC
USB Host
Controller
ARM9
I2S/
I2C
DAC
DAC
DAC
Audio
DSP
SD/MMC
Controller
Problem - Adding connectivity to an
audio system adds:
• Cost
• Components/Size
• Development complexity
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C674x
TI Information - Selective Disclosure
SDRAM FLASH
SDRAM FLASH
7
Networked Audio System (after)
Buttons/
Knobs
EQEP/
ECAP
Internet
Radio
HDMI
LCD
Controller
SPDIF
ADC
OMAP-L137
Audio System on a Chip
Ethernet
MAC
USB Host
Controller
ARM9
450MHz
Software Link
C674x DSP
450MHz
Serial
Ports
DAC
DAC
DAC
SD/MMC
Controller
I2C/SPI/
UART
PWM
3 Mbit
RAM
8 Mbit
ROM
SDRAM FLASH
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What can an ARM developer do with the
DSP?
• Run math intensive algorithms
• Leverage some DSP features, like floating-point computations
• Free up ARM MIPS for additional system features
• Save money by not moving to a more powerful & expensive ARM!
• Get true real-time response via DSP without sacrificing features of a
high-level OS like Linux
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Agenda
• Motivation for ARM+DSP heterogeneous processors
• Importance of Software Development
• C6000 DSP Ease of Use Initiatives
– C6Accel
– C6Run
• Conclusion
• Demo
• Q&A
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Importance of software in embedded
development
14
HW Engrs
SW Engrs
12
14
10
Companies are dedicating
more resources to software
Average embedded
team size
8
9
6
4
2
4
5
0
2009
Purchase decisions are
driven by software
Most important
embedded processor
selection criteria
Source: US EE Times/ESD annual embedded developer survey (Jan/Feb ‘10)
2010
Changing face of TI DSP developers
• ARM+DSP devices provide an opportunity for TI and our
customers
• Example: Beagleboard
– Greater than 10000 sold, each one containing a C64x+ DSP
– How do we connect with those developers?
Agenda
• Motivation for ARM+DSP heterogeneous processors
• Importance of Software Development
• C6000 DSP Ease of Use Initiatives
– C6Accel
– C6Run
• Conclusion
• Demo
• Q&A
3/23/2016
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Universe of embedded developers –
leveraging the DSP
Embedded Developers
Tool
Customer Needs
More ready-to-use DSP
functionality with audio,
video and voice codecs
C6Accel
ARM® developer
Leverage the DSP without
specialized knowledge
C6Run
Advanced User/Developer
Optimized libraries, real-time Libraries,
DSP RTOS,
OS and development tools
IPC
System developer
\
Codec Engine
C6Accel
API
VISA
API
ARM® processor
Codec Engine
ARM
Application
Experience with C6Accel!
C6Accel
DSPLIB IMGLIB
MATHLIB
Audio, Video
Codecs
DSP
hC6accel = C6accel_create( engName, NULL, algName, NULL);
………………..
Status = C6accel_DSPfunction(hC6accel, parameters);
……………………
C6accel_delete(hC6accel);
• Above converts C code creates a C6Accel handle with the codec server
• Passes function ID for DSP kernel, manages cache and contiguous memory required to pass
input parameters, makes iUniversal process call to the codec engine and returns error status.
• Closes the C6Accel instance
C6Run overview
• Open Source Project, hosted on gforge.ti.com
• Intends to provide an abstracted mechanism for getting
code running on the DSP
• Project Goals
– Introduce DSP Development to ARM/Linux developer
– Simplify simple application/function offloading to the DSP
– Start getting Linux and open-source community using the DSP
• C6RunLib: Partition an application between the ARM and
DSP
• C6RunApp: Run an entire application on the DSP
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C6RunLib
• Goal is to automate
building an ARM-side
library from user’s C code
of critical functions
• User can call into that
library in their app, and
calls will be executed on
the DSP
ARM
DSP
ARM
Application
Extract Critical Fxns as a
library using
C6RunLib
C6RunLib
Framework
Critical
Stub
Library
Fxns
• Consists of automating
creation of RPC framework,
hiding DSPLink and other
TI specific bits as possible
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module1.c
module2.c
main.c
critical.c
GCC
Toolchain
ARM
Executable
ARM-only Development
module1.c
module2.c
main.c
GCC
Toolchain
critical.c
c6runlib
tools
critcal.lib
ARM+DSP Development with c6runlib
ARM
Executable
Embedded
DSP
Executable
Example C6RunLib usage
$ c6runlib-cc -c -O2 –o dummy.o dummy.c
• Above converts C code containing critical functions to C6000 object file
• Also analyzes global C functions and generates ARM-side remote
procedure call stubs
$ c6runlib-ar rcs dummy_dsp.lib dummy.o
• Add object file to library dummy_dsp.lib
• Underneath, the dummy.o object file is linked to a DSP executable and compiled into the
framework
• Framework object file and stubs object file is archived into the lib
• ARM-side stubs resolve symbols for ARM application when built against the library
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C6RunApp
• Consists of two parts
– Backend library builds
– Front end user interface
• Backend libraries collate
DSPLink, CMEM, DSP/BIOS,
and custom code
• Front end interface is a
command-line cross compiler
script (acts like GCC)
• Entire application retargets to
DSP, but with C I/O access to
ARM/Linux
ARM
DSP
C6RunApp Framework
Recompile using
DSP C6RunApp
C
Loader and
Application
CIO Server
• Ready now (support for
OMAPL1, OMAP3, including
hawkboard, beagleboard)
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module1.c
module2.c
main.c
GCC
Toolchain
ARM
Executable
ARM-only Development
module1.c
module2.c
main.c
c6runapp
tool
ARM
Executable
Embedded
DSP
Executable
DSP Development using c6runapp
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Example C6RunApp usage
$ c6runapp-cc -o hello_world hello_world.c
• Compiles hello_world.c to C6000 object file, which is then linked into a
DSP executable
• Executable is compiled into the ARM side framework, which is used to
build an ARM-side executable called hello_world
• Notes on the c6runapp-cc cross-compiler tool:
• Front end script wraps the TI C6000 Codegen tools (specifically cl6x)
• Supports many GCC options and translates them to appropriate cl6x
options
• Many GCC optimization/warning options are silently ignored
• Unknown options passed directly to cl6x command-line
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Complex FFT performance
Total Execution Time (s)
For 100 FFT Iterations



FFT Size
FFT runs ~10x faster on
DSP than on ARM.
Small FFT size, overhead
dominates, running on
DSP does not provide
advantage.
Larger FFT size,
overhead absorbed,
running on DSP provides
advantage.
SoC: ARM9 + Floating-Point DSP
CPU Frequency: 300MHz
Code & Data Location: External
DDR2 Memory
Instruction and Data Cache:
Enabled
Single-precision floating-point
data buffers.
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Agenda
• Motivation for ARM+DSP heterogeneous processors
• Importance of Software Development
• C6000 DSP Ease of Use Initiatives
– C6Accel
– C6Run
• Conclusion
• Demo
• Q&A
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Status and availability
• Documentation available on TI’s Embedded Processor Wiki
– http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/C6Run
– http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/C6Accel
• Latest package is available at TI’s website
– http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/c6run-dsparmtool.html
– http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/c6accel-dsplibs.html
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Conclusion
• TI believes ARM+DSP devices can offer our customers an advantage
in system integration and design
• TI is committed to helping our customers leverage the power of the
DSP by offering easy to use software development solutions
• C6Accel and C6Run are quick ways for the ARM developer to gain
access the capabilities of the DSP using the ARM/Linux operating
system
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Demo
• Building Code with C6Run
• Running C6Run/C6Accel Applications
• Questions
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