The implementation of a modem based on quadrature amplitude modulation using the TMS320C6201 DSP

Texas Instruments (TI) produces families of fixed, floating point, and multiprocessor DSPs under the TMS320Cxx heading. In February 1997 a new family, the 'C6x, was announced, the first device being the TMS320C6201 fixed-point DSP. The device boasts a maximum of 1600 MIPS at a clock speed of 200 MHz, which is said to be more than a magnitude faster than any other fixed-point DSP. The applications for this new device are likely to be wide and varied. For example, mobile base stations may be able to implement the modems for several voice channels on one or two 'C6201 DSPs, as opposed to the 40 or so DSPs needed at present. Cable modems allowing 36 Mbps transmission rates could be implemented using only a handful of electronics. The aim of the work described in this paper was to investigate the various attributes of the 'C6201, identifying its strengths and weaknesses by implementing the core transmitter and receiver functions based loosely on the V.32 ITU-T recommendation for telephone modems. From the results of the work, an indication of the potential performance of the device was hoped to be attained.