News & Analysis
Gene Frantz: Digital signal processing visionary
Dylan McGrath
11/20/2012 9:33 AM EST
DSP is everywhere
Today, the success of DSP technology is beyond question. DSP is a requirement for modems of all types, any multimedia technology and digital wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, WiMAX, CDMA, WCDMA and LTE.
The size of the DSP market is virtually incalculable. The technology can be found in any device that can access the Internet, make cellular phone calls and, these days, play audio or video, as well as many more.
Click on image to enlarge.
From left to right: Gene Frantz, Richard Wiggins, Paul Breedlove, Larry Brantingham with the TI Speak & Spell.
According to Will Strauss, president of market research and consulting firm Forward Concepts Inc., the market for chips incorporating DSP technology is worth tens of billions of dollars each year. TI remains the leader in discrete, off-the-shelf programmable DSP chips, but with the growth of the cellular handset market in recent years, Qualcomm Inc. is now the larger vendors of DSP silicon, which is incorporated into the millions of cellular basebands the firm sells each year, according to Strauss.
"Most of it is in SoCs and FPGAs now," Strauss said, adding that the market for discrete DSP chips makes up less than 10 percent of the total DSP market. "DSP is in every cellular phone and anything in the world that has multimedia in it."
Click on image to enlarge.
According to Frantz, the story of DSP is a long way from over. With the rise of cloud computing, personal medical devices and more robust analytics comes many more opportunities for DSP technology, he said. "The more fun is the future, not the past," Frantz said.
Today, the success of DSP technology is beyond question. DSP is a requirement for modems of all types, any multimedia technology and digital wireless technologies like Wi-Fi, WiMAX, CDMA, WCDMA and LTE.
The size of the DSP market is virtually incalculable. The technology can be found in any device that can access the Internet, make cellular phone calls and, these days, play audio or video, as well as many more.
Click on image to enlarge.
From left to right: Gene Frantz, Richard Wiggins, Paul Breedlove, Larry Brantingham with the TI Speak & Spell.
According to Will Strauss, president of market research and consulting firm Forward Concepts Inc., the market for chips incorporating DSP technology is worth tens of billions of dollars each year. TI remains the leader in discrete, off-the-shelf programmable DSP chips, but with the growth of the cellular handset market in recent years, Qualcomm Inc. is now the larger vendors of DSP silicon, which is incorporated into the millions of cellular basebands the firm sells each year, according to Strauss.
"Most of it is in SoCs and FPGAs now," Strauss said, adding that the market for discrete DSP chips makes up less than 10 percent of the total DSP market. "DSP is in every cellular phone and anything in the world that has multimedia in it."
Click on image to enlarge.
Speak&Spell, Texas Instruments' educational toy
According to Frantz, the story of DSP is a long way from over. With the rise of cloud computing, personal medical devices and more robust analytics comes many more opportunities for DSP technology, he said. "The more fun is the future, not the past," Frantz said.
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agk
11/21/2012 6:15 AM EST
The text book by Alan Oppenheim is highly followed by many universities teaching DSP. Even though Qualcom is supplying the world, DSP based SOC's ,i see TI DSP chips are having a wide range of applications and also with better customer support.
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shivb
11/22/2012 5:39 AM EST
Nice article. Having been around DSP for a while now, my view is that TI really made the Digital Signal Processor market happen, with their products and staying power. And what gave it a stamp as a market was Will Strauss started publishing market data (full disclosure, I know both Gene F. - a little - and Will S. - a lot :)
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nicolas.mokhoff
11/23/2012 10:10 AM EST
Thanks for the compliment. Dylan synopsized the DSP phenomenon well. And I agree that Frantz and Strauss did much to popularize the technology over the years, as a key developer and a reputable market follower, respectively.
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DickH
11/24/2012 10:12 PM EST
I hope he's a "Principal Fellow" and not a "Principle Fellow"
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