ARM offers DSP Lab-in-a-box to universities

06th July 2014
ARM offers  DSP Lab-in-a-box to universities

Cambridge, UK, July 7, 2014:  To help boost practical skills development and the creation of new ARM-based audio systems,  the  chip technology leader has  put together a digital signal processing (DSP) 'Lab-in-a-Box' (LiB) to universities worldwide . This will include products such as high definition home media and voice-controlled home automation systems. The LiB kits contain ARM Cortex-M4-based microcontroller boards by STMicroelectronics and audio cards from Wolfson Microelectronics and Farnell element14. 
DSP courses have traditionally used software simulation packages, or hands-on labs using relatively expensive development kits costing around $300 per student. By comparison, this new DSP LiB will cost around $50 and will allow students to practice theory with advanced hardware sourced from widely-available products.
“Our Lab-in-a-Box offerings are proving hugely popular in universities because of the low-cost access to state-of-the-art technology,” said Khaled Benkrid, manager of the Worldwide University Program, ARM. “The DSP kits, powered by ARM Cortex-M4-based processors, enable high performance yet energy-efficient digital signal processing at a very affordable price. We expect to see them being used by students to create commercially-viable audio applications and it’s another great example of our partnership supporting engineers in training and beyond.”
The DSP LiB  has  begun shipping to universities this month.The DSP kits will also be offered to developers outside academia at a later date.
A typical DSP Lab-in-a-Box contains:

·    Hardware boards (ARM Cortex-M4-based STM32F4 Discovery microcontroller boards from STMicroelectronics and Wolfson Audio Cards from Wolfson Microelectronics and Farnell element14)
·    One-year renewable software licences for the full ARM Keil® MDK-Professional development tool from ARM
·    Complete teaching materials, including lecture note slides,