This paper presents a high speed digital signal processor (DSP) based system architecture for motor drive control. The system achieves fast speed performance by using the 50 MHz TMS320C25 DSP and specialized digital hardware to perform data acquisition and output control tasks usually performed in software. The peripheral hardware has been designed for easy interface to many types of motor drive systems, to make the system generally applicable in the motion control field. The specifications, systematic design, and realization of this general purpose controller are described. Software to support the features of the system is discussed. Experimental results using the proposed system to control a switched reluctance motor drive, both in torque mode and four quadrant speed operation, verify the speed performance of the DSP based system. / Master of Science