Dapco improves safety for railroads, pipelines and other critical infrastructure with TI's new six-core DSP

Dapco improves safety for railroads, pipelines and other critical
infrastructure with TI's new six-core DSP
Processing power, real-time speed of TI's TMS320C6472 DSP allow Dapco's
non-destructive testing equipment to identify more defects inside metal and
other materials

DALLAS and RIDGEFIELD, Conn., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Dapco Industries, Inc. is
using Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI) (NYSE: TXN) new TMS320C6472
digital signal processor (DSP) to improve the ability of Dapco's
non-destructive testing (NDT) equipment to peer inside railroad rails,
high-speed train wheels, high pressure gas cylinders, and other critical
transportation, power generation, and infrastructure components to pinpoint
internal defects before structural failures cause safety risks to life and
property. Dapco will deliver the first commercial version of its C6472-based
ultrasonic testing instrumentation to the Union Pacific Railroad next month.
Processing power up to 4.2 GHz, faster real-time processing speeds and the
industry's lowest power consumption were critical features imperative in
Dapco's decision to deploy the six-core C6472 DSP at the heart of their test
equipment.

"Our next-generation test and inspection instruments will have significantly
greater precision and be capable of 3D imaging, similar to that of medical
ultrasonic imaging; things that just were not possible with legacy equipment,"
said Ron Keenan instrumentation development leader at Dapco. "Internal defects
in the structures and components we are dealing with are simply dangerous.
Because of the capabilities of the C6472, our defect detection capability will
increase in speed and accuracy. Technicians in the field, inspecting rail or
high-pressure gas cylinders, and in factories where pipe and other product is
being manufactured, will be able to locate and classify defects that were
previously considered undetectable. By accelerating the speed and accuracy of
these tests, we will lower the cost of the inspection process and make it more
effective."

Dapco is implementing the C6472 in a new system architecture designed to
detect the smallest defects quickly and allow technicians to examine their
characteristics much more closely than they could in the past. Moreover, the
system will have the intelligence to dynamically and automatically categorize
defects, reducing the risk of human operator error. TI DSPs are also used by
other companies for imaging and diagnostic systems as well as other
high-performance imaging applications.

High-Speed Architecture
Dapco's next-generation NDT systems have been designed for "real-time" digital
processing of received acoustic signals within a 100 micro-second (us) test
cycle time. That is, every 100 us, the C6472-based system pulses acoustic
energy into the test piece, and monitors the test piece for any returned
acoustic energy. The system digitizes and analyzes the received acoustic
signals for rendering of detailed 3D images of any internal anomalies, or for
application to real-time pattern recognition algorithms.

The high-speed peripherals included with the C6472 were also critical to
Dapco's selection of the device. In particular, Dapco is using the C6472's
Serial RapidIO (SRIO) ports to achieve transfer rates of five gigabits per
second (Gbps) between the system's pre-processor FPGAs and the C6472 DSP
cores. The C6472's high-speed Gigabit Ethernet interface as well as its Double
Data Rate 2 (DDR2) memory interface are also deployed in Dapco's
next-generation systems.

Low Power
The C6472's industry-leading power consumption efficiency was another
important consideration for Dapco. Future generations of Dapco's NDT
inspection and test systems will be battery-operated. As a result, deploying
the lowest power components in the next generation of their systems was an
important step in this direction.

"We always try to design our systems with a 'green' mindset," said Keenan. "We
will be designing low-power features into our next-generation systems so that
partitions of the system can be powered down when they're not in use. That
will reduce overall power consumption. And, of course, the low power
consumption of the C6472 was a very big plus in this regard."

Pricing and availability
The TMS320C6472 is available starting at USD $140 in quantities of 1K units.
To help speed development, developers can take advantage of the low cost high
performance evaluation module TMDXEVM6472 for USD $349.

Find out more about TI's C6472 DSP by visiting the links below:
-- C6472 Overview Page: www.ti.com/c6472-pr-customer-wn
-- C6472 EVM Folder: www.ti.com/c6472-pr-customer-evm
-- Related White Paper: www.ti.com/c6472-pr-customer-wp
-- C6472 Overview Video: www.ti.com/c6472-pr-customer-v

-- Follow TI on Twitter: http://bit.ly/REsI6

About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new
electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more
fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and
manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go
to www.ti.com.

Trademarks
TMS320C64x and C64x+ are trademarks of Texas Instruments. All other trademarks
and registered trademarks belong to their respective owners.

About Dapco Industries
Dapco Industries (www.dapcondt.com) specializes in the design and
manufacturing of nondestructive testing instrumentation, ultrasonic
transducers and wheel probes, and customized turnkey ultrasonic inspection
systems used for high throughput, real-time inspection of products for
factory/mill in-line and off-line applications. Dapco is a global leader in
the development and design of ultrasonic rail inspection vehicles.

Dapco Industries is part of Nordco, Inc. The Nordco family of companies offer
an extensive selection of products and services that help the railroad
industry keep its trains running safely, efficiently and on time. The family
of companies consists of Nordco Inc.; J.E.R. Overhaul; Shuttlewagon; Dapco
Industries; and Nordco Rail Service. Nordco is headquartered in Oak Creek,
Wisconsin, with operations in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada; Arcola, Illinois;
Grandview, Missouri; Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Lee's Summit, Missouri. For
more information, go to www.dapcondt.com.

SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated

Cindy Warschauer of Texas Instruments, +1-214-567-2463, chuff@ti.com; or Alex
Tan of GolinHarris, +1-972-341-2533, atan@golinharris.com, for Texas
Instruments; or Bob Coakley of Dapco, +1-203-438-9696, ext. 218,
bcoakley@dapcondt.com, (Please do not publish these numbers or e-mail
addresses.)