SATA interface

Wenjun,

As you know, the C6672 does not include a SATA interface peripheral. It includes several high-speed peripherals, such as PCI Express, which can be used to access a variety of devices through off-the-shelf adapters.

Another option would be to use the EMIF for a NAND interface to provide non-volatile memory access, but I doubt this would meet your application goal.

You might also want to consider using a device like the TMS320C6A8167 or TMS320C6A8168. Although these do not comprise 2 C66x DSP cores, they do both comprise a C674x DSP core and an ARM Cortex-A8 core plus a very rich set of peripheral interfaces. Many users find it very convenient to have an ARM core for handling interface and control code plus a DSP to run the signal processing code.

Regards,
RandyP

If you need more help, please reply back. If this answers the question, please click  Verify Answer  , below.

Ya, I think the EMIF would not meet my specification since I am intending to connect a 320 GB Solid State Drive (too large for the EMIF).

I was thinking if there is a bridge available to convert other bus (like PCIe or SRIO) to SATA bus interface so that I could connect the Solid State Drive to the SATA interface.

I also thought that the DSP cores could serve as a controller for handling interface and control code and signal processing code, hence there is no need to split the job between a ARM core and DSP core. I do not intend to change to a new device unless it is necessary to do so as the chip is set by my boss and much time has been devoted to reading about C6672.

Thanks

Hi I'm facing similar extension to sata problem and found this pci-x to sata bridge chip might help:

http://www.siliconimage.com/products/product.aspx?pid=32

http://www.acard.com/english/fb01-product.jsp?idno_no=302&prod_no=ATP%208624&type1_title=Storage%20IC%20&type1_idno=1

Still need to read in detail of the datasheet to make a decision

Oh ya, the second link give a chip to convert pci-e to sata interface. Thanks.

Is that another way to resolve the problem? For example, I am thinking of using c6672 chip to control a C6A616x C6-Integra DSP+ARM processor (which has a SATA interface).

So, the c6672 will send data to the C6A616x and the processor will redirect the input to the SATA interface. Or is there a better method like using a FPGA to create the SATA interface. So, the c6672 will connect to the FPGA (which is programmed to act like a SATA bridge) which will output to the SATA interface.

Which method will be the optimal? In term of performance/ speed?

I realize that the chip is not what I wanted as it convert PCI-X to SATA instead of PCIe to SATA.

Hi Wenjun,

I believe there are other parts advertised for 1 port PCIe to 1 port SATA / SATA2 from other silicon suppliers such as silicon image, etc., though we have not verified this information or done any interoperability to ensure operation. Not sure if this will work for your application, but is probably worth a web search .

Regards, Sandeep