User`s guide

2 - Alternatives and their properties

Before choosing the system to be evaluated, four main DSP-alternatives have been scrutinized

in order to find the one that best fits our requirements:

• eZdsp F2812 from Spectrum Digital (DSP controller by Texas Instruments)

• LabVIEW and hardware from National Instruments

• PC with APCI-3110 from Addi-Data

• DSpace

2.1 – Areas of interest

Each system has its own advantages, as well as disadvantages. The table below grants a quick

view of these and how they compare to one another.

System Price User friendly Signal levels Ethernet Mathworks

integration

eZdsp F2812 +++ ? ? -- ?

LabVIEW * ++ +++ +++ ?

APCI-3110 - ? +++ + ?

DSpace --- +++ +++ ? +++

2.1.1 - Price

The eZdsp F2812 has the lowest cost by far, priced at less than $470 – the DSP controller

chip, if bought in bulk, is available for less than $20 from Texas Instruments. The APCI-

3110-card alone costs around $1000 but then you need a fully equipped computer as well to

utilize it, making the price go up quite a bit. LabVIEW comes in a wide range of different

setups, a system that fits our needs should cost approximately $3500 without discount.

DSpace on the other hand is the most expensive alternative of the four – though offering high

quality systems; the $6000 price tag is a bit too big.

* LabVIEW offers a variety of discount opportunities for academic users.

2.1.2 - User friendly

Both DSpace and LabVIEW have great, easy-to-use interfaces featuring graphical

programming and sleek layouts. The solutions from Addi-data and Spectrum Digital don’t

offer the same level of intuitivity, lacking the graphical programming of the competitors. The

Mathworks integration might fix this.