Display Controller

Overview

The Display Controller IP Core enables the easy addition of a display to existing or future FPGA designs, allowing the system designer to focus on the main application instead of dealing with display control issues. In addition, there is no need for an external display controller device that would consume precious PCB space and unnecessarily extend the project’s BOM.

With its modular design and strong scalability, the Display Controller IP Core perfectly fits the system requirements without wasting any FPGA resources. These unique features will also simplify the reuse of the Display Controller IP Core in future projects. Selecting our Display Controller IP Core for the display control needs of present or future projects will significantly reduce time to market as well as the overall system cost.

Key Features

  • Support for parallel, LVDS, HDMI/DVI and CameraLink displays without external display controller device
  • Support for unlimited video pages
  • Built-in PWM generator for display brightness control
  • Optional 2D accelerator unit (draw/copy rectangles, supports transparent color)
  • AXI/Avalon bus interface for both register bank and frame buffer memory access
  • Supported color modes:
    • 16-bit true color (5/6/5)
    • 24-bit true color
  • Supported display resolutions:
    • Up to 1280 × 1024 on low-cost FPGAs*
    • Up to 1920 × 1080 on high-performance FPGAs1
    • 1 Note that these resolutions are for reference only and thus not guaranteed; the maxium achievable resolution is dependent on system design factors like memory bandwidth, clock frequency, etc.

Benefits

  • No need for an external display controller device which results in a smaller PCB and a reduced BOM
  • Low resource usage and good scaling due to modular design
  • Easy integration thanks to the unified bus interface and the clearly laid out register bank

Block Diagram

Display Controller Block Diagram

Applications

  • Test and measurement
  • Communication
  • Automation
  • Embedded processing
  • Medical diagnostics

Deliverables

  • Display Controller IP Core
    • VHDL source files (plain or encrypted, depending on product options)
    • Precompiled ModelSim® simulation libraries (planned)
    • User manual (PDF download)
  • Display Controller IP Core reference design
    • Reference design top-level VHDL file (plain VHDL)
    • UCF / XDC / SDC constraint files (depending on product options)
    • Xilinx® ISE / Xilinx Vivado™ / Altera® Quartus® II project files (depending on product options)
    • Top-level simulation test bench file (plain VHDL) (planned)
    • Top-level simulation ModelSim project file (planned)
    • Documentation (integrated in user manual)

Technical Specifications

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Semiconductor IP