Hunt Engineering Ltd. (UK), a specialist in DSP based real-time signal and image processing, has announced support for using its DSP modules under Linux. Hunt Engineering manufactures a modular line DSP and I/O subsystems for use in real time applications.

Hunt Engineering technical director Pete Warnes says “the Linux support is for all of our DSP systems, details and examples of which can be seen on our web site.” “In summary, they are modular DSP and I/O hardware systems intended for real time applications. We also provide development tools to allow the user to program the DSP elements to perform their own specific system function. These systems can be hosted by a number of different host bus formats, including desktop PCI, CompactPCI, ISA, and PC/104.”

“Linux is often chosen for its stability in robust applications” says Warnes. “Many of these applications require DSP performance; yet Linux has largely been ignored by general-purpose DSP boards vendors. This is remedied with Hunt Engineering's release of Linux support, which we believe is the first time Linux has had general purpose DSP capability” adds Warnes.

A typical Hunt Engineering DSP module is the HERON1-C6201 Processing Node (photo), which is based on a TI 320C6201 DSP.

“This support has been added due to customer demand to be able to use our systems in Host machines running Linux” says Warnes. “We already have several customers using our systems under Linux, including projects in radio astronomy and SONAR.” Warnes expects his company's new Linux support to result in extensive additional deployment of Linux-hosted DSP systems.

The Linux DSP support is specific to Hunt Engineering's DSP modules and boards that are based on the TMS320C6000 and the older TMS320C4x based processors along with a full range of data acquisition and I/O. The support is a free upgrade for all users, and may be downloaded from the Hunt Engineering's website. Source code is not freely distributed, but source to the DSP API will be made available to users who require it, according to Warnes.

 
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