Sundance Launches Development Platform for Software Defined Radio Powered by TI DSPs

GARDEN GROVE, Calif., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the Software Defined Radio (SDR) Technical Conference and Product Exposition, Sundance announced the availability of its new SDR development platform to facilitate the design and development of two-way communication radios. Based on Texas Instruments Incorporated's (NYSE: TXN) (TI) TMS320C6416T digital signal processor (DSP), Sundance's SMT8096 platform offers developers the flexibility to produce a broad range of radio and waveform applications including wireless base stations, military and public safety radios and high-speed data acquisition systems. Capitalizing on TI's DSP performance, low power and compatibility with industry standard hardware and software, Sundance's SMT8096 serves as a rapid-prototyping solution package that empowers software developers to produce a broader range of wireless communication applications at reduced time to market and development costs. For more information, see http://www.ti.com/sundancesdr .

"The demand for software defined radio continues to rapidly grow as operators become aware of its great advantages over traditional hardware radios," said Ram Sathappan, DSP Solutions Marketing Manager for TI. "Sundance's new development platform will enable more rapid development of software defined radio systems, enabling the manufacture of radio products that are easily upgradeable and reconfigurable to adjust to varying protocols."

Sundance greatly improves the possibilities of software defined radio by leveraging the programmable nature of the DSP and its ability to handle multiple software standards on a single hardware platform, providing greater flexibility, speed and accuracy.

"By leveraging TI's high-performance DSP and analog chips, we were able to produce a flexible, powerful and fast hardware architecture that complements several software environments, making a development platform that is attractive to developers with or without traditional coding experience," said Dr. Nory Nakhaee C.E.O. of Sundance DSP.

Sundance's development platform uses TI's TMS320C6416T fixed-point DSP to enable high-performance data pre-processing. Beyond the sheer performance of its 1GHz clock speed and 64-bit external bus, TI's C6416T is tailored for wireless infrastructure applications, making it an ideal component in Sundance's SMT8096 platform. The SMT350 module in the platform uses two TI ADS5500 14-bit, 25MSPS analog-to-digital converters, designed for applications demanding low power consumption, the highest speed and highest dynamic performance in a very small space. The TI analog-to-digital converters are then complemented by a Xilinx FPGA and a TI DAC5686 dual 16-bit, 500MSPS digital-to-analog converter, which provides three modes of operation: dual-channel, single-sideband and quadrature modulation.

At the software level, developers can custom code their systems to reconfigure the flexible hardware. The system's SMT310Q PCI carrier was specifically developed to provide access to a TI Module over the PCI bus running at 33 MHz with a 32-bit data bus. Because of the onboard XDS510 compatible JTAG controller, developers can use TI's Code Composer Studio(TM) integrated development environment and 3L Diamond software development environments to easily complete code generation, debugging and uploading. For more demanding SDR applications, the SMT145 carrier with 64 bits data and 66 MHz PCI interface could be used, while a carrier like the SMT148 can be chosen in support of an embedded system. With the modular approach adopted by Sundance, multi-DSP power could be easily harnessed to provide greater number crunching capability when needed, and Sundance provides software to demonstrate these potential capabilities. Traditional system software development "coding" can be circumvented through the use of MathWorks Simulink, which is fully compatible with the SMT8096. The kit supports Windows(R), QNX and Linux environments.

"This sophisticated SDR development platform, based on MathWorks MATLAB and Simulink for Model-Based Design and a powerful TI-based DSP chip by Sundance, is an exciting development that MathWorks encourages in the market place," said Amnon Gai, partner marketing manager at the MathWorks. Pricing and Availability

The SMT8096 is available now at the single unit price of $8395 (US dollars). Delivery time is between two and four weeks from the purchase order. For purchasing please write to sales@sundance.com or phone (775) 827-3103. About Sundance

Sundance designs, develops, manufactures and markets high performance signal processing and reconfigurable systems for original equipment manufacturers in the wireless and signal processing markets. Leveraging its multiprocessor expertise and experience, Sundance provides OEMs with modular DSP and FPGA-based systems as well as data acquisition, I/O, communication and interconnectivity products that are essential to multiprocessor systems where scalability and performance are vital. With over fifty different modules and carriers for PCI, cPCI VME and stand-alone platforms, Sundance is a solution provider to semiconductor, pharmaceutical and factory automation industries. The company was founded in 1989 by the current directors, is a member of the TI Third Party Network, Xilinx Xperts and MathWorks' Connection programs. For more information visit: http://www.sundance.com . About Texas Instruments, Inc

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real-world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductors, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com . Trademarks

Code Composer Studio is a trademark of Texas Instruments. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.