DSP platforms for beginners - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 08:11:35 pm
content: hey guys,I am looking for a dsp platform for beginners any suggestions ? my budget is around 80 -100 pounds.UPDATE: I want to learn DSP and my idea is to simulate in Matlab (filetrs and other things) and then implement in hardware. My goal is to implement different types of modulation on DSP like ASK, FSK, BPSK, QAM.

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 08:33:44 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on November 13, 2016, 08:18:11 pmI was also thinking about the ADSP-BF706 but yeah the ide licence thing is a problem. Thanks anyway.

author: Kalvin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 08:41:51 pm
content: Texas Instruments has a line of inexpensive 32-bit fixed-point and floating-point single-core and dual-core dsp microcontrollers. The Launchpad evalkits starts from $20 and upwards.http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontrollers_16-bit_32-bit/c2000_performance/real-time_control/f2833x_f2837x/tools_software.page#padhttp://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontrollers_16-bit_32-bit/c2000_performance/real-time_control/f2802x_f2803x_f2806x/tools_software.page#padThe downloadable Code Composer Studio IDE provides free C/C++ compilers and extensive examples and libraries. The tools may have some limitations on code size, so please check the specific tool support before you purchase the evalkit:http://www.ti.com/tool/ccstudio-C2000TI has also a range of more powerful DSP processors in the C6000-series, but the evalkits will be more expensive.XMOShttp://www.xmos.com/has a range of multi-core 32-bit xCore microcontrollers that are suitable for the DSP applications. The XMOS startKit starts from $15. The development tools are freely available.

author: Kalvin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 09:00:55 pm
content: Some of the general purpose microcontrollers have DSP-extensions making them also suitable for some DSP-applications. For example the STM32F4 and newer processor cores have quite powerful DSP capabilities. The evalkits start from $20 and the C/C++ development tools are freely available.

author: Kalvin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 09:07:58 pm
content: You can use your PC and the GCC to implement and evaluate your algorithms. It is very typical to first prototype using Matlab/Octave, and then implement the algorithms in the PC using C/C++. When the algorithms are working properly in the PC environment (non-real time, reading and writing the data (samples) from the disk files), the algorithms will be implemented and verified in the actual hardware.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 09:16:40 pm
content: I agree. I modern ARM controller is more than capable of doing digital signal processing tasks and a PC is a good starting point for developing algorithms.

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:08:34 pm
content: I have a few BlackFin mini boards for salein case, contact me in PM.edit: FeaturesQuote

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:10:27 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 13, 2016, 09:16:40 pmmay be also ColdFire v2I see a lot of MAC accelerationin the ISA & user manualbut not yet experimented

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:16:58 pm
content: mc56002 book Amazonvery jurassic technologybut personally I like Motorola mc56002I have the development boardshown in the book's covergot for 40 USD, including postageawesome technologywell not modernanyhow didactic

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:20:50 pm
content: Why bother with the old stuff?

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:23:10 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on November 13, 2016, 10:20:50 pmmain reason: a good book (see above)good lectures, and here there are someuniversity courses with laboratories

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:27:57 pm
content: I had forgotten: dsPIC33 (by Microchip) may be interesting!

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:43:23 pm
content: Quote from: legacy on November 13, 2016, 10:27:57 pmWhat do you think about this one ?http://uk.farnell.com/microchip/dm330011/dspic-debugger-mplab-starter-kit/dp/1621788

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 13, 2016, 10:52:08 pm
content: As said, I am interested in types of modulation used in communication systems. I know that the platforms in this budget will not provide the speeds needed for comms, but I was thinking to use lower frequencies just to write the algorithm of modulation.

author: alin_im
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 12:20:59 am
content: What about a Teensy 3.6 ?

author: KE5FX
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 01:39:02 am
content: Look into GNU Radio. Dedicated DSP chips are antiques that belong in the museum next to buggy whips and Western Electric triodes.

author: asgard20032
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 03:43:43 am
content: I am also looking at doing some DSP stuff. At this stage (beginner level), I would not worry about mcu/dsp selection (as long as its not 8 bit, it should be fine : some arm cortex, pic32 (altought, beware, some subfamily are bugged), dspic33, even pic24 got enough power to crunch some DSP. Later on, when you will not just implement some DSP for "testing and fun purpose", but start looking at real application with realtime 192khz audio, then yes, choose your mcu wisely. But at beginner level, its not the performance that matter, but the algorithm / math implementation / comprehension.Does anyone know some good resource about learning implementing some DSP on mcu?

author: hamster_nz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 04:26:23 am
content: Quote from: alin_im on November 13, 2016, 08:11:35 pmYou can learn quite a lot playing on a PC with uncompressed audio formats such as WAV files or even samples direct from the sound card.As a bonus you can subjectively evaluate your results with your ears, one of the better pieces of frequency domain test equipment around - however shame about the modest bandwidth they have!

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 14, 2016, 06:30:20 am
content: The three most popular platforms for DSP are now ARM, x86_64 and FPGAs. All the traditional DSP chip makers, like Freescale/NXP, TI and Analog Devices, have massively scaled back their investments in pure DSP chips.