On the hardware implementation of a multi-processor environment for several DSP applications

A laboratory for the multi-processor environment is described herein where more than one DSP application can be implemented at different times by hardware reconfiguration through host software commands. This environment has evolved from the development of several real-time applications on our research signal processors. The applications involve from one to five processors, a host, a bulk storage display device, and also analog hardware for analog signal interaction. All applications are loadable from the host, with host control required for the loading of programs and the initialization of data. However, no host intervention is usually required during the operation of most real-time applications. Examples of one-processor to five-processor applications in several DSP areas (speech, image processing, spectral analysis, and modems) are presented with emphasis on the flexibility of the hardware configuration.