Analog announces its new SHARC processor

BANGALORE: Analog Devices, Inc. today announced its latest SHARC floating-point processor delivers almost a three-fold increase in megaflops per dollar over the nearest VLIW DSP competitor.

The ADSP-21375, starting at $5, will allow engineers to utilize the precision of floating point processors in even the most cost-sensitive application areas.

Offering breakthrough levels of 319 megaflops per dollar, the new SHARC is ideal for a wide variety of applications such as mass market audio/video, industrial, and medical products.

The ADSP-21375 floating-point processor combines the SHARC family's high-performance digital signal processing core operating at 266 MHz with on-chip memory in an economical 208-pin QFP (quad flat pack) or BGA (ball grid array) package.

It also has 2 Mb of Mask ROM and 0.5 Mb of internal RAM with direct execution from memory. The ADSP-21375 is pin-compatible with other third-generation SHARC Processors, enabling “scalable performance” — customers gain the ability to spread development costs across multiple products based on a single platform design — reducing development time and maximizing return on investment.

In addition, ADI supplies a range of development tools for SHARC Processors to assist developers in getting their products to market faster. Available tools include the CROSSCORE family, which encompasses the VisualDSP++ integrated software development environment and EZ-KIT Lite evaluation systems and emulators for rapid on-chip debugging.