Individual Assignment – 8th January 2005
The TigerSHARC processor is especially designed for telecommunications and other fields that
require high speed and high performance computing power. There is no way we can cover all the
material in detail during a single course. Instead we will take a look, in more general terms, over
the capability of the processor through student reports and talks.
Expectations
o Describe the feature
o Explain why it is needed, how it would be used
o Provide a non-trivial, non-difficult example, preferably as an extension of something we
have tackled in class
Individual assignment – 7%. Students will prepare a short report (around 4 pages single spaced
+ cover sheet) (3%) and give a short in-class presentation (8 to 10 minutes + 2 minutes for
questions, 10 slides + title slide) (4%) on an agreed-upon DSP processor related topic. A list of
topics will be provided by the instructor. Students can provide the instructor with suggestions for
alternate topics. Presentation times will be throughout the term, starting in February. Depending
on the topic chosen, two students may be able to collaborate on a longer presentation. Content of
each individual assignment must be agreed to by the instructor.
Places to start for ideas
BDTI
Analog Devices
Texas Instruments
-- http://www.bdti.com/index.php
-- http://www.analog.com/dsp
-- http://dspvillage.ti.com/
Everybody needs to have settled on a topic by Valentines Day – 14th February 2005
Available talks – please provide additional topics – This will be updated as people indicate
the topic they want to undertake
1) Jeremy H. Complex arithmetic capability – TigerSHARC can do operations of the form
A * B and also (A + jB) * (C + jD) – complex arithmetic
Communications Logic Unit – There is enough here for two or three students to provide
individual talks or join together
NOTE: If you check the Analog Devices Program Files (C-Drive) for the TigerSHARC
there are many example programs that might help you in this area
The CLU is a specialized unit for things such as
2)
3)
4)
5)
Turbo decoding
Patrick -- Trellis function
Despreading
Trevor Cross-correlation functions (GPS capability)
Can the software radio be improved using these techniques?
6) Mark S. Bench Marks – What are bench marks? What are the latest concepts in bench
marks? Why do bench marks change? How does the TigerSHARC TS201 perform?
Note: A good starting point is the BDTI web site
7) Latest processor trends – TigerSHARC is a pretty high performance device – however
what is coming down the pipeline and why? – how, why – demonstrate the technique and
advantages using the software radio example used in the laboratory?
8) Mark O. Other current DSP processors. Analog Devices are not the only manufacturer
that provides VLIW or other high speed performance processors. Compare and contrast
those processors with the TigerSHARC using bench-marks and provide programming
examples.
9) Steve Multi-processor operations. The evaluation board has two processors. Describe
and demonstrate how you would use them. How do you write and test programs for
them?
Note: This particular presentation will be of interest to somebody who wants to get their
presentation completed early (Late February) as Dr. Leon will be coming in to give a
week of lectures 14th March to 18th March on multi-processor operations.
NOTE: If you check the Analog Devices Program Files (C-Drive) for the TigerSHARC
there are many example programs that might help you in this area
– how, why – demonstrate the technique and advantages using the software radio
example used in the laboratory?
10) Pauvel Real time operating systems for DSP processors. Why do you need them? How
do you use them? VisualDSP has VDK which is a real-time operating system.
NOTE: If you took Dr. Nygren’s RTOS classes using the VDK on the Blackfin
processor last year, then use your experience to go a little further – multi-processor
operations perhaps (combine with somebody doing topic 6).
NOTE: Since we may be tackling VDK in Laboratory 4, this talk will have to be given a
couple of weeks before then.
11) Tamarra -- Couple of local firms in Calgary are using the TigerSHARC –
announcements in the press, go to Analog site and enter Calgary. What are local uses of
the TigerSHARC?
NOTE: This topic would have to be tackled early because I am trying to get the local
firms to come in and give presentations about what they are doing and the job
opportunities. Bring your CV?
12) Jeremy F. DSP chips and FPGA – the ability to design your own custom instructions for
high speed operations of that certain something – starting point
http://www.fpgajournal.com/ .
NOTE: This may be tied into topic 12
13) Andrew Direct memory assess on TigerSHARC – Material such as prefilling the cache
as a background task -- May have to be tackled early as, if time permits, I may make this
part of Laboratory 4 and lecture notes.
14) Program Global Optimization – PGO – Somehow you profile your code, and this
information gets used to change the predicted branch characteristics – how, why –
demonstrate the technique and advantages using the software radio example used in the
laboratory?
15) Peter – What is “software defined radio” what are the key features to support this on
TigerSHARC and other processors
16) Other suggested topics – Please provide suggestions