ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to present the design of DSP-based vector and current controllers for a PMSM drive. Several different implementations of the vector controller are evaluated and the consequent effect on the maximum motor speed examined. A careful choice of the cosine look-up table which is used in the vector controller is presented. The possibility of implementing a hysteresis current controller algorithm using the DSP is also evaluated. The layout of a PC board including the DSP chip, latches and PAL chips to decode the 1/0 ports is included as well. Experimental results are provided.