There are many suppliers specialising in real-time DSP. We thought it would be useful
to list some of the majors; note that these are our opinions, formed from years of
experience of dealing with them as partners or competitors. Use these as a guide only!
If you know of changes or additions we should make, let us know - contact our
:
| 3L |
Parallel processing software specialist. Supplier of "Parallel C" and the
"Diamond" OS, as supplied with some of Hunt
Engineering's products. |
| Analog Devices |
A popular supplier of silicon to the DSP market, ADI manufacture the SHARC
processor. This is largely a competitor to the 'C4x. Hunt Engineering do not supply any products based
around the SHARC, having chosen instead to leapfrog to the 'C6701 from Texas Instruments. |
| Ariel |
Ariel are one of the traditional leaders in the DSP hardware market. In recent years
they have re-focused the company on communications, especially on ADSL and modems work.
It's some time since they have appeared active in the DSP industry. |
| Blue Wave Systems |
Blue Wave was created from the merger of Mizar and Loughborough Sound Images in 1998,
creating one of the largest companies in the business. They specialise in catalogue
selling and OEM designs, and are one of the few suppliers who can actually cope with
orders for 10000-off quantities, Spectrum
Signal Processing being the other.supplier at this end of the market. However, both
can be inflexible when it comes to dealing with smaller projects. |
| Control Solutions |
MicroLog Data logging and control hardware/software. Max of 4 channels, 12,16 or 18
bits/channel plus a programmable relay output. The modules do not require external power,
simply plug into the parallel port of a PC. Mathematical and logical operations can be
performed on the data in real time. Sample times are from 1 sample/ms to 1 sample/hour. |
| DSP Design Performance |
A suite of design tools for digital filters, which allow you to specify your filter
and see how it performs online. An incredibly useful resource for anyone building signal
processing systems! |
| DSPguru |
DSP-only reference web site for finding hardware, software, DSP companies, in fact
everything you could want to find out about DSP suppliers. A useful resource that could
save you time searching for what you want. |
| eg3.com |
Online information resource for the embedded, DSP and real-time developer.
Useful source of information - industry / product news and more... |
| Go-DSP |
The developer of the Code Composer debugger, as used on Hunt Engineering's 'C4x and 'C62x / 'C67x
products. Generally rated the best DSP debugger in the world. Go-DSP were privately owned,
but were acquired by Texas Instruments in late
1997. |
| Hunt Engineering |
Leading supplier of modular real-time DSP. Differentiates by working closely with a
relatively small group of customers to ensure the best support and the best match of the
system to the application. |
| Iowegian |
Iowegian supplies DSP tools using the shareware concept - click on the link left to
explore their site. |
| Jovian Systems Inc |
Jovian market software development tools for high performance DSP and parallel
processing applications. Their top tool (Pegasus) is a powerful aid in developing
complex algorithms and multiprocessing systems. |
| Loughborough Sound Images |
Loughborough Sound Images (LSI) was one of the companies merged to form Blue Wave Systems. |
| Mizar |
Mizar was a supplier of ruggedized hardware, and was one of the companies which merged
to create Blue Wave Systems. |
| Pentek |
Manufacturer of DSP hardware in the US. Apparently strong in the secure communications
field. |
| SASL |
Software / Algorithms supplier based near London, UK. Provide many algorithms,
including vocoder, modem and fax for many of Texas Instrument's processors. Speciality is
modems and communications algorithms. |
| Spectron Microsystems |
Software specialist, purchased late 1997 by Texas
Instruments. Developed the SPOX and DSP-BIOS operating systems / kernels, as
distributed with several of Hunt Engineering's
products. Now part of TI's tools group. |
| Spectrum Signal Processing |
The second company that claims to be the world leader. Years ago, Spectrum acted as Loughborough Sound Images distributor.
Now they have their own product range. Like LSI, they tend to sell from a catalogue and
focus on OEMs. The benefit of this approach is that they can handle large volume OEMs; the
downside is that they are less likely to be able to support smaller projects. |
| Texas Instruments |
Manufacturer of DSP processors used by Hunt
Engineering and most other DSP companies. Creator of the TMS320 platform, now a
billion-dollar business. Their major product families include the TMS320C2xxx ('C25, 'C2xx
- focused on control / low power applications), the TMS320C5xxx ('C5x, C54x, focused on
communications) and the TMS320C6xxx |
| Transtech |
Transtech started off as a supplier of TRAM modules. They entered the DSP industry as
a distributor of Hunt Engineering's TIM-40
modules. More recently, they have developed their own product range based round the SHARC processor from Analog Devices. |
| Xilinx Inc |
Manufacturer of FPGA devices used by Hunt
Engineering. They now claim to have over 50% of the PLD market share.
Their innovations include the Virtex-II Pro FPGA with embedded PowerPC.
Xilinx also supply IP, system level tools and design services. |
If there are other companies you feel should be added to this list, please contact our webmaster. We will be glad to correct any
errors or omissions.
