Digital signal controller


A digital signal controller is a hybrid of microcontrollers and digital signal processors. Like microcontrollers, DSCs have fast interrupt responses, offer control-oriented peripherals like PWMs and watchdog timers, and are usually programmed using the C programming language, 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
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, Freescale, and Microchip Technology, according to market research firm Forward Concepts. 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 and table currently only includes offering from the top 3 DSC vendors.
VendorDeviceClock Speed Flash PWM channels, resolution, duty cycle
MicrochipdsPIC30F306–1444–8
dsPIC33F4012–256up 18 PWM
dsPIC33E7064-512up 16 PWM
Texas InstrumentsTMS320F28x60–15032–51216 PWM
TMS320LF240x4016–647–16 PWM
FreescaleMC56F83x6048–28012 PWM
MC56F80x3212–645–6 PWM
MC56F81x4040–57212 PWM

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.