A digital signal controller (DSC) is a hybrid of

microcontrollers A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs ( processor cores) along with memory and programmab ...

and

digital signal processors A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor chip, with its architecture optimized for the operational needs of digital signal processing. DSPs are fabricated on MOS integrated circuit chips. They are widely used in audio sig ...

(DSPs). Like microcontrollers, DSCs have fast

interrupt In digital computers, an interrupt (sometimes referred to as a trap) is a request for the processor to ''interrupt'' currently executing code (when permitted), so that the event can be processed in a timely manner. If the request is accepted ...

responses, offer control-oriented

peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by th ...

s like PWMs and

watchdog timer A watchdog timer (sometimes called a ''computer operating properly'' or ''COP'' timer, or simply a ''watchdog'') is an electronic or software timer that is used to detect and recover from computer malfunctions. Watchdog timers are widely used in ...

s, and are usually programmed using the

C programming language ''The C Programming Language'' (sometimes termed ''K&R'', after its authors' initials) is a computer programming book written by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie, the latter of whom originally designed and implemented the language, as well as ...

, although they can be programmed using the device's native assembly language. On the DSP side, they incorporate features found on most DSPs such as single-cycle multiply–accumulate (

MAC Mac or MAC most commonly refers to: * Mac (computer), a family of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * A variant of the word macaroni, mostly used in the name of the dish mac and cheese * Mac, ...

) units,

barrel shifter A barrel shifter is a digital circuit that can shift a data word by a specified number of bits without the use of any sequential logic, only pure combinational logic, i.e. it inherently provides a binary operation. It can however in theory als ...

s, and large accumulators. Not all vendors have adopted the term DSC. The term was first introduced by

Microchip Technology Microchip Technology Inc. is a publicly-listed American corporation that manufactures microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP integrated circuits. Its products include microcontrollers ( PIC, dsPIC, AVR and SAM), Serial EEPROM dev ...

in 2002 with the launch of their 6000 series DSCs and subsequently adopted by most, but not all DSC vendors. For example, Infineon and Renesas refer to their DSCs as microcontrollers.) DSCs are used in a wide range of applications, but the majority go into motor control, power conversion, and sensor processing applications. Currently DSCs are being marketed as green technologies for their potential to reduce power consumption in electric motors and power supplies. In order of market share, the top three DSC vendors are

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...

Freescale Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embe ...

, and

, according to market research firm Forward Concepts (2007). These three companies dominate the DSC market, with other vendors such as Infineon and Renesas taking a smaller slice of the pie.

DSC chips

NOTE: Data is from 2012 (Microchip and TI) and table currently only includes offering from the top 3 DSC vendors.

DSC software

DSCs, like microcontrollers and DSPs, require software support. There are a growing number of software packages that offer the features required by both DSP applications and microcontroller applications. With a broader set of requirements, software solutions are more rare. They require: development tools, DSP libraries, optimization for DSP processing, fast interrupt handling, multi-threading, and a tiny footprint.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Digital Signal Controller Microcontrollers Digital signal processing Digital signal processors Integrated circuits