Bullet2 Cardbus

Our Bullet2 is the second generation of the industry's only 3.3V Cardbus that offers high-quality stereo audio with the processing power of a floating-point DSP in the thin type-2 PCMCIA package. Thanks to TI's new TMS320VC33 processor, we have been able to double performance and at the same time reduce power consumption and cost.

Program Memory

For cost-sensitive consumer markets, the 1M bit of internal RAM eliminates the necessity for additional static RAM. For high performance professional applications, the Bullet2 can be ordered with 1M byte of SRAM.

Data Memory

8M bytes of SDRAM is standard on the Bullet2. When accessed sequentially, this memory appears to have only (TBD) wait-states. Random memory access results in (TBD) wait-states.

Flash Memory

The 2M byte of flash memory may contain the user's application software which the 'C33 copies into its on-chip memory and executes upon power-up. This feature enables the Bullet2 to operate without the aid of a host computer.

Audio Channels

The LM4548 stereo multimedia codec from National Instruments provides single-ended line-in, line-out and mic-in channels. This AC97 Rev2 architecture uses 18-bit sigma-delta modulation, 64x over-sampling, and auto-tracking anti-aliasing/reconstruction filters. The sampling rate (1 Hz granularity), gain and attenuation are software selectable. Data communications between the DSP and the codec are performed as DMA transfers. The source code for user-callable functions to manipulate these buffers is provided.

LM4548 Data Sheet

Power Consumption

The Bullet2 consumes (TBD)W while performing continuous FFTs on 48kHz audio and (TBD)W when idle. The card can programmatically be shut down so that it only consumes (TBD)W. A software controlled clock can slow the DSP down for lower-performance, power critical applications.

External Receptacle

A 15-pin connector provides access to the Bullet2's stereo headphone output, stereo line-level input, and phantom powered electret microphone (2.1V 1mA, 2.2k ohm input impedance), the DSP's serial port, and 60mA unfiltered Vpp (either 5V or 12V, software selectable). Either a PCB dongle (part#DGL201) or a cable (part#CBL2P4) are available for interfacing to this external connector.

Serial Port

In addition to accessing the DSP's audio port, the 15-pin receptacle provides a direct interface to the C33's serial port control signals: CLKX0, DX0, FSX0, CLKR0, DR0 and FSR0. These signals are EMI filtered but not buffered. The Bullet2's serial data can be transmitted at a rate of 10Mbps over an 18" cable.

Programming Interface

CAC provides development support software consisting of device drivers, API's, demos, diagnostics, C-compiler, assembler, and debugger. Third party tools, such as National Instruments' LabView and Hyperception's RIDE, are available.

The device driver interfaces with the host operating system to provide low-level access to the DSP hardware. Currently, MSDOS, Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, 98, and NT operating systems are supported.

The demos include audio, fft, interrupt, and other examples which serve as a starting point for many applications. The diagnostic utilities help reveal problems in hardware and software installation.

TMS320C33 Tools

The TIC33-CDS-MSDOS software development package (our part#UT3210) includes TI's C3x C-compiler, assembler, our Bullet2 Interface Library and sample programs. The TIC33-DS-MSDOS (our part#UT3110) is a similar package without the C-compiler.

The TMS320VC33 DSP is object code compatible with 'C30, 'C31 and 'C32 processors.

Ordering Information

The part number for the standard Bullet2 without the optional SRAM is PB2080. With 1MB SRAM in addition to the SDRAM, its part number is PB2180

Specifications