How to implement a high-definition video design framework for FPGAs
By Suhel Dhanani and Girish Malipeddi, Altera
April 06, 2008 -- pldesignline.com
Almost all new design starts for video/imaging systems – be it in broadcast, studio, medical, or military applications – is processing high-definition (HD) video signals. A frame of HD video has between 5 to 12 times the numbers of pixels as the frame of SD video as illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1. Frame sizes in pixels for different HD resolutions compared to standard definition (SD).
This increase in the number of pixels per frame directly translates into increased video processing throughput requirements that drive most of HD video system designs to FPGAs.
With inherently parallel DSP blocks, an abundance of embedded memory blocks, a large number of registers, and high speed memory interfaces, FPGAs are ideal for HD video system design. However, HD video signal processing on FPGAs also has significant challenges, such as implementing efficient external frame buffer interface, interfacing different video function blocks, integrating the signal processing to the on-chip processor, as well as rapid debug and prototyping.
This article explores a video design framework that can alleviate some of these challenges and allow for a faster design cycle. The components of the video design framework described can be used collectively or designers can pick and choose to suit an in-house design flow and methodology.
April 06, 2008 -- pldesignline.com
Almost all new design starts for video/imaging systems – be it in broadcast, studio, medical, or military applications – is processing high-definition (HD) video signals. A frame of HD video has between 5 to 12 times the numbers of pixels as the frame of SD video as illustrated in Table 1.
Table 1. Frame sizes in pixels for different HD resolutions compared to standard definition (SD).
This increase in the number of pixels per frame directly translates into increased video processing throughput requirements that drive most of HD video system designs to FPGAs.
With inherently parallel DSP blocks, an abundance of embedded memory blocks, a large number of registers, and high speed memory interfaces, FPGAs are ideal for HD video system design. However, HD video signal processing on FPGAs also has significant challenges, such as implementing efficient external frame buffer interface, interfacing different video function blocks, integrating the signal processing to the on-chip processor, as well as rapid debug and prototyping.
This article explores a video design framework that can alleviate some of these challenges and allow for a faster design cycle. The components of the video design framework described can be used collectively or designers can pick and choose to suit an in-house design flow and methodology.
To read the full article, click here
Related Semiconductor IP
- DeWarp IP
- 6-bit, 12 GSPS Flash ADC - GlobalFoundries 22nm
- LunaNet AFS LDPC Encoder and Decoder IP Core
- ReRAM NVM in DB HiTek 130nm BCD
- UFS 5.0 Host Controller IP
Related Articles
- Processor Architecture for High Performance Video Decode
- High Definition, Low Bandwidth -- Implementing a high-definition H.264 codec solution with a single Xilinx FPGA
- Polyphase Video Scaling in FPGAs
- Video encoding with low-cost FPGAs for multi-channel H.264 surveillance
Latest Articles
- VolTune: A Fine-Grained Runtime Voltage Control Architecture for FPGA Systems
- A Lightweight High-Throughput Collective-Capable NoC for Large-Scale ML Accelerators
- Quantifying Uncertainty in FMEDA Safety Metrics: An Error Propagation Approach for Enhanced ASIC Verification
- SoK: From Silicon to Netlist and Beyond Two Decades of Hardware Reverse Engineering Research
- An FPGA-Based SoC Architecture with a RISC-V Controller for Energy-Efficient Temporal-Coding Spiking Neural Networks