Developing Embedded Software using DaVinci and OMAP Technology (Synthesis Lectures on Digital Circuits and Systems, 21)
This book discusses how to develop embedded products using DaVinci & OMAP Technology from Texas Instruments Incorporated. It presents a single software platform for diverse hardware platforms. DaVinci & OMAP Technology refers to the family of processors, development tools, software products, and support. While DaVinci Technology is driven by the needs of consumer video products such as IP network cameras, networked projectors, digital signage and portable media players, OMAP Technology is driven by the needs of wireless products such as smart phones. Texas Instruments offers a wide variety of processing devices to meet our users’ price and performance needs. These vary from single digital signal processing devices to complex, system-onchip (SoC) devices with multiple processors and peripherals. As a software developer you question: Do I need to become an expert in signal processing and learn the details of these complex devices before I can use them in my application? As a senior executive you wonder: How can I reduce my engineering development cost? How can I move from one processor to another from Texas Instruments without incurring a significant development cost? This book addresses these questions with sample code and gives an insight into the software architecture and associated component software products that make up this software platform. As an example, we show how we develop an IP network camera. Using this software platform, you can choose to focus on the application and quickly create a product without having to learn the details of the underlying hardware or signal processing algorithms. Alternatively, you can choose to differentiate at both the application as well as the signal processing layer by developing and adding your algorithms using the xDAIS for Digital Media, xDM, guidelines for component software. Finally, you may use one code base across different hardware platforms.
Why Read This Book
You will get hands‑on, platform-specific guidance for bringing up, developing, and optimizing embedded multimedia and communications products on TI's DaVinci and OMAP families. The book walks you through BSP/boot, kernel/drivers, DSP–ARM interaction and the vendor tools you need to deliver a working product rather than only theory.
Who Will Benefit
Embedded software and firmware engineers building video/audio/networked consumer or wireless products on TI SoCs who need practical bring-up, BSP, driver and multimedia pipeline guidance.
Level: Intermediate — Prerequisites: Working C programming skills; familiarity with embedded Linux or an RTOS; basic knowledge of ARM and DSP processor concepts and cross‑compilation/build systems.
Key Takeaways
- Build and configure a BSP and boot sequence for DaVinci/OMAP devices.
- Port and tune an embedded Linux or RTOS image for TI SoC-based hardware.
- Implement and debug device drivers and peripheral interfaces (camera, video CODEC, networks).
- Integrate and coordinate ARM host code with on‑chip DSP cores (GPP–DSP IPC patterns).
- Use TI development tools (Code Composer Studio, TI SDKs, JTAG/GDB) to profile and optimize multimedia workloads.
- Leverage hardware accelerators and multimedia pipelines to improve throughput and power efficiency.
Topics Covered
- Introduction to DaVinci and OMAP technology
- System architecture: ARM + DSP + accelerators
- Development environment and TI toolchain
- Board bring‑up and boot loader basics
- Building the BSP and kernel configuration
- Device drivers and peripheral integration
- Embedded Linux / RTOS on OMAP/DaVinci
- DSP/ARM interaction and IPC mechanisms
- Multimedia pipelines: video and audio processing
- Codecs, hardware accelerators and IVA subsystems
- Performance profiling and optimization
- Debugging with JTAG, CCS and GDB
- Example projects: IP cameras, portable media players, smartphone use cases
- Deployment, testing and productization
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
Comparable to embedded Linux/SoC bring‑up guides (e.g., Embedded Linux Primer or ARM System Developer's Guide) but is more narrowly focused on TI's DaVinci/OMAP multimedia processors and their vendor tools.
