DSPs are divided into two broad categories: fixed-point and floating-point. In general, the cutting-edge fixed-point families tend to be fast, low power, and low cost, while floating-point processors offer high precision and wide dynamic range. Designers whose applications require only minimal amounts of floating-point functionality are caught in a "gray zone," often forced to move to higher-cost floating-point devices. Today, however, fixed-point processors are running at clock speeds that are high enough to emulate floating-point operations. This allows the designer to trade off floating-point computational efficiency for low cost and low power. This approach will not work for a truly float-intensive application, but it presents an appealing opportunity for designers "stuck in the gray zone."
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