Latest and Greatest Offerings in the Engineering Marketplace 28984

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Chip shopping? Try an OMAP

So you're picking a processor. Do you need the real-time performance of a DSP, or the interface efficiency of a RISC chip?

Texas Instruments (Houston, TX) thinks you can have the best of both worlds, and they're launching the OMAP5910 to prove it. The dual-core, embedded processor includes both a DSP (digital signal processor) and a RISC (reduced instruction set computer) onboard.

Until now, a RISC processor commanded to do both control tasks and number-crunching would have poor performance in each. Typically, a DSP is best for number-crunching like real time signal processing, and a RISC is best for command and control, or human-control interface. Try to run the wrong job on either chip, and both performance and power efficiency suffer. Your only other option was to link them, which demands dedicated memory channels or buses.

TI had offered OMAPs previously for high-end vertical applications only, such as 2.5 and 3G handsets from Ericsson, Nokia, Sendo, and Sony. But the new 5910 is designed to satisfy 90% of a much larger market, without incurring the cost of designing a custom ASIC. It's aimed at designers of next-generation apps like digital media, biometrics, location-based services, enhanced gaming, and telematics. (The origin of the acronym is "open multimedia application platform," though the full name is no longer used.)

Now a developer can work in his own API, then partition certain tasks between the DSP and ARM sides of the processor, says Greg Mar, worldwide marketing manager. Larger companies often employ system partitioners, and smaller firms can hire TI to do it for them. "Developers said 'Give us the integration; don't make us do it'," Mar says. " 'Don't say ARM or DSP is better. Give me the best solution for each task, so my IP can shine with the fewest changes'."

Pilot applications include Phat Noise, which provides digital media storage for your car. Samples are available Aug. 5, with volume production expected by Q1, 2003. Check www.omap.com for more details. Texas Instruments, www.ti.com. Enter 599

Design software

Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire offers users such capabilities as point-cloud reverse engineering, interactive surface design, real-time photo rendering, and warp global modeling. Tools include integrated mechanism dynamics, improved structural and thermal studies, and behavioral modeling. The software provides seamless access to the company's Windchill suite and live-data peer-to-peer connectivity to other Pro/ENGINEER users, all in a new ergonomic interface. PTC, www.ptc.com. Enter 600

3D animation

trueSpace6 is the latest version of the company's 3D modeling and animation program, providing more than two dozen new modeling, design, and functionality features. The new offerings include layers, chamfers and fillets, array tools, deformation tools, a scene editor, unwrapper and UV editor, and NURBS modeling improvements. Caligari Corp., www.caligari.com. Enter 601

Data sharing access

Alibre Connect gives most CAD users access to Alibre Design's collaboration and data sharing features. The tool creates a new menu bar in the program, with the following options: schedule a Team De-sign session; open an Alibre Design model; save current design in a repository; invite a contact; start a chat session. Alibre Inc., www.alibre.com. Enter 602