Why advanced DSPs running RTOSs are an ideal match for the IoT

By Ori Leibovich, CEVA
embedded.com (May 24, 2022)

Some technologies get leveraged increasingly with growth in new markets and accompanying technical requirements. One such technology is digital signal processing (DSP), either in the form of a chip or as an IP core ready for system-on-chip (SoC) integration. While DSPs have been around for a long time, newer generations of DSPs support features that are important for addressing certain markets. One such market is the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to the nature of many IoT devices, they benefit from running a real time operating system (RTOS). This article looks at how DSPs and the RT-Thread RTOS are used together for IoT applications.

Evolution of DSP Technologies

The purpose of a DSP is to convert and manipulate real-world analog signals which are continuously valued by nature. The manipulation is performed through signal processing algorithms. As a technology that has been around since the 1980s, DSPs have evolved a lot in terms of hardware features and software development tools and infrastructure. During the earlier years, algorithms were programmed onto the DSP in assembly language. As the markets for DSP expanded and the algorithms got more complex, the architectures evolved to facilitate development of high-level-language compilers.

A chip with an embedded DSP core includes on-chip memory that is often enough to contain the complete program necessary to perform the dedicated tasks. Modern day DSP applications range from audio/speech processing, image processing, telecom signal processing, sensor data processing and control systems. Then there is the IoT market, which covers a combination of these applications in a multitude of use cases. Industry analyst firm Markets and Markets projects that the global IoT technology will grow to $566.4 billion by 2027.

Why is DSP a Good Match for IoT Devices?

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