Xilinx takes Zynq platform into broadcast applications

Xilinx takes Zynq platform into broadcast applications

Xilinx has teamed up with OmniTek on a Linux-based high performance real time processing platform for broadcast equipment based around its Zynq programmable system on a chip.

The OmniTek Zynq-7000 SoC Broadcast Development Kit allows broadcast OEMs to now combine their own hardware and software IP with a high-performance, reprogrammable video processing platform for creating unique and differentiated broadcast equipment that can easily adapt to changing standards.

The Zynq-7000 family combines an ARM dual-core Cortex-A9 MPCore processing system with tightly coupled programmable logic on a single die so that developers can combine software algorithms for video quality and analysis on the ARM cores with hardware acceleration in the FPGA fabric, all within the same environment.

The key for broadcasters is the Zynq 7045 device that has started sampling that provides 10Gbit/s interfaces for SDI and high speed Ethernet links, says Rob Green, senior product marketing manager for broadcast at Xilinx. "This also allows audio algorithms such as Dolby to be added to the system using the ARM cores, making the synchronisation much simpler," he said.

"The unique architecture of the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC development environment in broadcast applications enables OEMs to achieve their goals of accelerating the time-to-market for their next-generation of products, while incorporating unique features and reducing the bill-of-materials (BOM) of their system," said Roger Fawcett, managing director of OmniTek.

"Complementing this, the performance and reprogrammability of Zynq-7000 devices enables us to address broadcasters' requirements to support performance-intensive real-time applications that need to be 'future proof' to adapt to changing industry standards and specifications."

Broadcast equipment OEMs can also reduce the BOM costs for their equipment using a single Zynq-7000 device rather than multiple chips to achieve their processing requirements. Additionally, Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC-based products consume less power compared to multiple chip equivalents, thanks to the tight integration between the ARM processing system and 28nm programmable logic.

The Development Kit includes the new 2.0 release of the Xilinx Real-Time Video Engine (RTVE) developed jointly with OmniTek. RTVE 2.0 incorporates OmniTek's advanced video processing IP, along with Xilinx's Video & Image Processing Pack (VIPP). This supports supports up to eight channels of video for increased system performance in the same area of silicon – a fourfold increase over version 1.5, and also includes OmniTek's integrated deinterlacer / scaler with multi-port VDMA technology to optimize resources used and performance.

The board can be used in production for applications such as professional monitors and multiviewers which require incoming video to be de-interlaced and scaled in real-time to support monitor formats up to 4K resolution or in 3D with no loss of video quality, as well as studio cameras and professional-grade camcorders, which can be built at lower cost, space and power through the integration of video and audio processing hardware alongside operating system processors and microcontrollers. It is also aimed at production switchers, which must support multichannel video and audio processing with the best possible quality and enable smooth transitions between input feeds.

Availability of the platform is currently anticipated for first quarter of 2013. Both the development kit and the RTVE Version 2.0 will be offered through OmniTek.

http://www.omnitek.com.

This article originally appeared on EE Times Europe.

TAG:Zynq broadcast video processing Dolby audio