An in-circuit emulator (ICE) is a piece of indispensable equipment in developing a microprocessor-based system. Digital signal processor (DSP) chips like the TMS320 family are VLSI processors with superior 16-bit microcomputer internal architecture, and are designed to support a wide range of computation-intensive and high-speed applications. Development tools, such as full-speed emulators and software simulators for DSP chips, are either too expensive or too complicated to be used in laboratory classes for teaching purposes. This paper describes the design and implementation of a low-cost in-circuit emulator for the TMS320C25 that has all the necessary facilities for debugging hardware and software. A window-based user interface has been incorporated to allow maximum user friendliness. The emulator is now widely used by engineering students in the Chinese University of Hong Kong for experimental work and project development employing TMS320C25 DSP chips in digital filtering, speech analysis, image compression, and other applications.
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