![[Tech-On!]Tech News-Straight from Asia](/english/img/06/logo1.gif){kind=logo}
Programmable Logic Facilitates Connectivity for Digital Video Applications
| Geographic Eligibility (Edition) | Medium (Click where applicable) |
|---|---|
| Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (English) | Magazine + e-newsletter E-newsletter only |
| India (English) | Digital magazine + e-newsletter E-newsletter only |
| Taiwan (Complex Chinese) |
Magazine + e-newsletter E-newsletter only |
| South Korea(Korean) | Magazine + e-newsletter E-newsletter only |
| Other countries/regions | E-newsletter only *Readers from other countries/regions who want to receive Nikkei Electronics Asia printed magazine may consider paid subscription. Please contact NE Asia Circulation Department for details. |
The market for digital video has grown tremendously over the past few years. In the past digital video files could be created, and stored but not shared in the robust, transparent manner that users expected and received for other applications. With the convergence of PC applications and other electronics appliances, the need for transparent and high bandwidth connectivity is becoming more and more a necessity.
There are several solutions available today that provide interconnectivity between different devices, but there is such a mix and match of standards being used by manufacturers in the market today depending on the end application and varying customer requirements. Interfacing between components on a board and between different products is a critical bottleneck that needs to be overcome for digital video. High-speed access is enabled by interfaces such as USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, DVI, LVDS and PCI for internal and external connectivity. Programmable logic offers product manufacturers with the right features that are ideally suited to facilitating connectivity solutions for high-bandwidth digital video transmissions.
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a bus standard that was originally specified in 1995. The major goal of USB is to define an expansion bus that makes it easy to add peripherals to a PC. USB-compliant devices can be plugged in and simply turned on without the need of shutting down and restarting devices.
USB is playing a key role in fast growing consumer areas: digital imaging, PC telephony, and multimedia games. The presence of USB in most new PCs, and its plug-and-play capability, means that PCs and peripherals (such as CD-ROM drives, tape and floppy drives, scanners, printers, digital cameras, etc) will automatically configure and work together, with a high degree of reliability. USB distributes power to all connected devices and allows bi-directional data transfer, making it a natural choice for connecting PC-centric information appliances across the home. USB opens the door to new levels of innovation and ease of use for input devices, such as the new generation of "force-feedback" digital joysticks. There are also brand new opportunities for all types of peripherals from printers to scanners to high speed connections such as Ethernet, DSL, cable, and satellite communications.
USB version 1.1 has gained tremendous success in the marketplace, with most PC and peripheral vendors worldwide developing products based on this specification. USB supports two high-speed data transfer protocols: isochronous and asynchronous. Isochronous connections from the PC USB port to the peripherals such as scanners, video devices, digital cameras and printers, supports data transfers at a guaranteed, fixed rate of delivery of 12Mbps. The slower asynchronous protocol is used to communicate with peripherals such as keyboards and mice at 1.5Mbps.
These data rates of up to 12Mbps are sufficient for low-speed to medium-speed peripherals. USB data rates also accommodate a whole new generation of peripherals, including MPEG-2 video-based products, data gloves, and digitizers. However, USB 1.1 bandwidths do not fill the void for many evolving high-bandwidth digital video applications.
Programmable Logic-Based USB Solutions
USB 2.0 is based on the same architecture as USB 1.1, but the next generation specification extends the bandwidth and hence increases the connection speeds between the PCs and the peripherals. USB 2.0 has over 40 times the data rate as USB 1.1 increasing data rates from 12Mbps to 480Mbps respectively, and hence extending its capabilities. USB 2.0 will be forward and backward compatible with current USB systems and peripherals and specifies the use of the same cables and connectors as the USB 1.1 standard.
The higher bandwidth will support the most demanding PC applications where multiple high-speed peripherals will be running simultaneously.
The success of USB has brought about a plethora of USB solutions to the market. A multitude of commodity chipsets for USB 1.1 are available today, however that is not the case with USB 2.0. The still evolving nature of the USB 2.0 makes a programmable solution ideal. Fig 1 shows a USB 2.0 core implementation.
The link controller block can be implemented in an FPGA, and with the FPGAs inherent flexible nature can be interfaced to any backend interface as required by a given end application. In addition, the reprogrammable serial interface engine (SiE), which is the bridge between the USB 2.0 PHY and function controller, allows designs to be future-proofed in case the interface needs modification due to an update in the specification.
Fig 2 shows USB 2.0 to SCSI example, a desirable solution for the mass storage market. As shown in the figure, due to its programmable nature the design is provisioned to support IDE and ATA interfaces on the same PCB along with SCSI. A low cost FPGA solution extends traditional FPGA benefits to the cost sensitive USB 2.0 market providing time-to-market, flexibility and the ability to bridge disparate protocols.
IEEE 1394
IEEE 1394 provides a digital interface to integrate entertainment, communication, and computing electronics into consumer multimedia. IEEE 1394 is a hardware and software standard for transporting data at 100, 200 or 400Mbps. With IEEE 1394 there is no need to convert digital data into analog and tolerate a loss of data integrity. In addition, IEEE 1394 devices are hot-pluggable and scalable, i.e. there is the ability to mix and match devices that operate at 100, 200, or 400Mbps.
The IEEE 1394 topology supports daisy chaining and branching for true peer-to-peer communication. With these features it has become the audio/video digital interface of choice. For most audio/video stream isochronous transfers are the best choice for sending time-critical and error-tolerant data. If the data is not error-tolerant, such as a disk drive then asynchronous transfers are preferable.
The IEEE 1394 multimedia connection enables simple, low-cost, high-bandwidth isochronous (real-time) data interfacing between PCs, peripherals, and a plethora of consumer electronics products such as camcorders, VCRs, printers, TVs, gaming consoles, digital cameras, video editing equipment and so on. A variant of IEEE 1394, IEEE 1394b is a significant enhancement to the basic 1394 specification that enables speed increases to 3.2Gbps and supports distances of 100m on optical fiber. This revision is a legitimate contender for the mass storage market.
To protect 1394 streams from piracy, Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), an encryption scheme has been developed. Streams up to 400Mbps can be encrypted, which is more than adequate for compressed MPEG-2, however not sufficient for uncompressed HD video, which is addressed by DVI and HDCP as will be discussed later.
Programmable Solutions for IEEE 1394
Home Audio Video Interoperability (HAVi) is a digital audio/video networking initiative that provides a home networking software specification for seamless interoperability among home entertainment products, irrespective of their manufacturer.
Eight of the world's leading consumer electronics manufacturers have actually developed a standard that will bring "plug and enjoy" convenience and easy interoperability to all new digital home devices. IEEE 1394 (i.LINK or FireWire) has been chosen as the interconnection medium because it has more than enough capacity to simultaneously carry multiple digital audio and video streams around the house, and provides support for digital copy protection.
Programmable logic solutions are ideal for implementing the link layer functionality as shown in Fig 3. Link layer controllers are different for different end applications. Programmable logic with its inherent programmable nature allows itself to be modified to suit the application that it is being targeted for. In addition, the ability to customize the backend interface for the desired end application is another compelling reason for a programmable logic based solution. As shown in Fig 3, the solution could be a simple IEEE 1394 link layer to PCI solution or it could just as easily be tweaked to provide a PCMCIA, Cardbus, MiniPCI, or any other interface required to fit the bill of the overall system.
Coexistence of USB, IEEE 1394
USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394, while offer similar data rates primarily differ in terms of application focus. The USB 2.0 Promoter Group expects USB 2.0 to be the preferred connection for most PC peripherals, whereas IEEE 1394's primary target is audio/visual consumer electronic devices such as digital camcorders, digital VCRs, DVDs, and digital TVs. One of the major differences is that USB requires a CPU to perform bus master functions whereas IEEE 1394 is peer-to-peer and hence does not need a master device. However, both USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 are expected to coexist on many consumer systems in the future.
Digital video interface (DVI) is a one-way point-to-point digital interface to send uncompressed streams. It is an interface that has gained rapid popularity to send digital graphics sources to digital displays such as plasma displays and flat panel LCDs. It removes an unnecessary analog-digital-analog conversion step that is required by current methods and allows sending a pure digital signal to display. DVI is based off transition minimized differential signalling (TMDS) and was developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG).
DVI was designed to carry sustained HDTV data rate without interruption. For example, a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution 24-bit signal at 30 frames per second requires a 1.49Gbps link. DVI's single link can distribute video data at 4.9Gbps and a double link can support up 9.9Gbps. DVI-based applications are not just limited to HDTV, but also extend to set-top boxes, DVD players, video conferencing, professional audio/video equipment; essentially anything requiring a high-definition, high-quality display.
Programmable Solutions for DVI
Out of the needs for DVI outputs from being copied, High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) has evolved. DVI with HDCP provides a secure digital link from video source to display and has been endorsed by the major movie studios including Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney to protect rights of the creators of digital content.
DVI and IEEE 1394 each have their place in the market. Whereas DVI is suitable for uncompressed digital video, IEEE 1394 is suited for the distribution on compressed (MPEG-2) digital video. Most digital content received at home from DVD, satellite or cable is based on MPEG-2 streams. In addition, IEEE 1394 is a two-way high-speed interface capable of sending command and control protocols that enable devices to both broadcast and record data as opposed to a one-way point-to-point interface that DVI supports. Though all this at lower bandwidth links than DVI.
LVDS
Low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) as the name suggests is a differential interconnectivity standard. It uses a low voltage swing of approximately 350mV to communicate over a pair of traces on a PCB or cable. LVDS was primarily used with laptop PCs initially and is now widely used across digital video applications, telecom and networking, and for system interconnectivity in general across many applications.
As digital TV, digital cameras and camcorders are fueling the consumer demand for high-quality video that offers a realistic visual experience, moving high-bandwidth digital video data within these appliances and between them is a very challenging task. LVDS rises up to the challenge of handling high performance video data well over 400Mbps and in addition offers superior immunity to noise, low power, and all at a low cost.
Differential data can be transmitted at these rates using inexpensive connectors and cables. LVDS provides robust signaling for high-speed data transmission between chassis, boards, and peripherals using standard ribbon cables. Point-to-point LVDS signaling is possible at speeds of up to 622Mbps and beyond.
There are low-cost FPGA solutions in the market today that support LVDS capability for consumer applications. The integration of high performance LVDS I/O in low-cost FPGAs means that it can easily support real-time image processing and support transfer of data well in excess of typical HDTV rates. Capable of MPEG-2 co-processing, color space conversion, image enhancement, graphics control, and interfacing to multiple memory types, FPGAs are ideal for digital displays that use LVDS for an interconnectivity solution. LVDS is also just as well suited as an intra-system connectivity solution to transfer high-bandwidth video content between video chips.
PCI
The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus is one of the most successful standards in history, serving as the main general-purpose bus in virtually every desktop computer and an ever growing number of embedded systems. The flexibility of PCI has allowed it keep pace with tremendous increases in CPU performance and data capacity, while making it suitable for applications such as laptops, servers, industrial computers, communication switches, routers, instrumentation and digital video.
PCI graphics and video cards have been prevalent in PC systems for years now. In general, PCI-based systems are the norm in video applications where high performance is a requirement. PCI is widely used for internal connectivity within advanced set-top boxes to add on cards for high performance copiers, graphics accelerators, and frame grabbers.
Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) is a variation of PCI, which was designed to remove major load from the PCI bus and improve graphics performance, especially for 3D rendering. It provides a point-to-point graphics bus to link graphics engine with main memory. It provides higher throughput, as it is able to support long bursts of data and little overhead. Different speeds of AGP support 266 Mbytes/s all the way up to 2.1 Gbytes/s for AGP 8x running at 533MHz clock speeds.
Programmable Solutions for PCI
PCI is a significant design challenge: the stringent electrical, functional and timing specifications are difficult to meet in any technology and the standard continues to evolve to meet the dynamic needs of the industry. One needs a flexible PCI solution that will meet both current and future requirements, while guaranteeing full PCI compliance with no limitations on performance or functionality.
Both 32-bit and 64-bit programmable PCI solutions are available today. These designs offer flexibility and a cost-effective solution for a fully compliant, high-performance PCI systems. The customizable nature of these PCI solutions allows variations of PCI such as CompactPCI, PMC, Cardbus, PCMCIA, and AGP, etc, to all be implemented for the same FPGA technology.
There is no one clear winner for the connectivity solution to address the digital video market. Each standard has its own benefits and hence a niche that it addresses. Each one of the high-bandwidth connectivity solutions is continuously evolving, proving the need for systems to be flexible in nature. Programmable logic-based connectivity solutions for digital video applications available today offer this and more. These solutions offer traditional benefits of programmable logic including accelerated time-to-market, flexibility, longer time-in-market and risk aversion, all this at cost competitive price points.
by Mamoon Hamid, System Architect, Strategic Solutions, Xilinx, Inc, USA
(April 2002 Issue, Nikkei Electronics Asia)
There are several solutions available today that provide interconnectivity between different devices, but there is such a mix and match of standards being used by manufacturers in the market today depending on the end application and varying customer requirements. Interfacing between components on a board and between different products is a critical bottleneck that needs to be overcome for digital video. High-speed access is enabled by interfaces such as USB 2.0, IEEE 1394, DVI, LVDS and PCI for internal and external connectivity. Programmable logic offers product manufacturers with the right features that are ideally suited to facilitating connectivity solutions for high-bandwidth digital video transmissions.
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a bus standard that was originally specified in 1995. The major goal of USB is to define an expansion bus that makes it easy to add peripherals to a PC. USB-compliant devices can be plugged in and simply turned on without the need of shutting down and restarting devices.
USB is playing a key role in fast growing consumer areas: digital imaging, PC telephony, and multimedia games. The presence of USB in most new PCs, and its plug-and-play capability, means that PCs and peripherals (such as CD-ROM drives, tape and floppy drives, scanners, printers, digital cameras, etc) will automatically configure and work together, with a high degree of reliability. USB distributes power to all connected devices and allows bi-directional data transfer, making it a natural choice for connecting PC-centric information appliances across the home. USB opens the door to new levels of innovation and ease of use for input devices, such as the new generation of "force-feedback" digital joysticks. There are also brand new opportunities for all types of peripherals from printers to scanners to high speed connections such as Ethernet, DSL, cable, and satellite communications.
USB version 1.1 has gained tremendous success in the marketplace, with most PC and peripheral vendors worldwide developing products based on this specification. USB supports two high-speed data transfer protocols: isochronous and asynchronous. Isochronous connections from the PC USB port to the peripherals such as scanners, video devices, digital cameras and printers, supports data transfers at a guaranteed, fixed rate of delivery of 12Mbps. The slower asynchronous protocol is used to communicate with peripherals such as keyboards and mice at 1.5Mbps.
These data rates of up to 12Mbps are sufficient for low-speed to medium-speed peripherals. USB data rates also accommodate a whole new generation of peripherals, including MPEG-2 video-based products, data gloves, and digitizers. However, USB 1.1 bandwidths do not fill the void for many evolving high-bandwidth digital video applications.
Programmable Logic-Based USB Solutions
USB 2.0 is based on the same architecture as USB 1.1, but the next generation specification extends the bandwidth and hence increases the connection speeds between the PCs and the peripherals. USB 2.0 has over 40 times the data rate as USB 1.1 increasing data rates from 12Mbps to 480Mbps respectively, and hence extending its capabilities. USB 2.0 will be forward and backward compatible with current USB systems and peripherals and specifies the use of the same cables and connectors as the USB 1.1 standard.
The higher bandwidth will support the most demanding PC applications where multiple high-speed peripherals will be running simultaneously.
The success of USB has brought about a plethora of USB solutions to the market. A multitude of commodity chipsets for USB 1.1 are available today, however that is not the case with USB 2.0. The still evolving nature of the USB 2.0 makes a programmable solution ideal. Fig 1 shows a USB 2.0 core implementation.
The link controller block can be implemented in an FPGA, and with the FPGAs inherent flexible nature can be interfaced to any backend interface as required by a given end application. In addition, the reprogrammable serial interface engine (SiE), which is the bridge between the USB 2.0 PHY and function controller, allows designs to be future-proofed in case the interface needs modification due to an update in the specification.
Fig 2 shows USB 2.0 to SCSI example, a desirable solution for the mass storage market. As shown in the figure, due to its programmable nature the design is provisioned to support IDE and ATA interfaces on the same PCB along with SCSI. A low cost FPGA solution extends traditional FPGA benefits to the cost sensitive USB 2.0 market providing time-to-market, flexibility and the ability to bridge disparate protocols.
IEEE 1394
IEEE 1394 provides a digital interface to integrate entertainment, communication, and computing electronics into consumer multimedia. IEEE 1394 is a hardware and software standard for transporting data at 100, 200 or 400Mbps. With IEEE 1394 there is no need to convert digital data into analog and tolerate a loss of data integrity. In addition, IEEE 1394 devices are hot-pluggable and scalable, i.e. there is the ability to mix and match devices that operate at 100, 200, or 400Mbps.
The IEEE 1394 topology supports daisy chaining and branching for true peer-to-peer communication. With these features it has become the audio/video digital interface of choice. For most audio/video stream isochronous transfers are the best choice for sending time-critical and error-tolerant data. If the data is not error-tolerant, such as a disk drive then asynchronous transfers are preferable.
The IEEE 1394 multimedia connection enables simple, low-cost, high-bandwidth isochronous (real-time) data interfacing between PCs, peripherals, and a plethora of consumer electronics products such as camcorders, VCRs, printers, TVs, gaming consoles, digital cameras, video editing equipment and so on. A variant of IEEE 1394, IEEE 1394b is a significant enhancement to the basic 1394 specification that enables speed increases to 3.2Gbps and supports distances of 100m on optical fiber. This revision is a legitimate contender for the mass storage market.
To protect 1394 streams from piracy, Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP), an encryption scheme has been developed. Streams up to 400Mbps can be encrypted, which is more than adequate for compressed MPEG-2, however not sufficient for uncompressed HD video, which is addressed by DVI and HDCP as will be discussed later.
Programmable Solutions for IEEE 1394
Home Audio Video Interoperability (HAVi) is a digital audio/video networking initiative that provides a home networking software specification for seamless interoperability among home entertainment products, irrespective of their manufacturer.
Eight of the world's leading consumer electronics manufacturers have actually developed a standard that will bring "plug and enjoy" convenience and easy interoperability to all new digital home devices. IEEE 1394 (i.LINK or FireWire) has been chosen as the interconnection medium because it has more than enough capacity to simultaneously carry multiple digital audio and video streams around the house, and provides support for digital copy protection.
Programmable logic solutions are ideal for implementing the link layer functionality as shown in Fig 3. Link layer controllers are different for different end applications. Programmable logic with its inherent programmable nature allows itself to be modified to suit the application that it is being targeted for. In addition, the ability to customize the backend interface for the desired end application is another compelling reason for a programmable logic based solution. As shown in Fig 3, the solution could be a simple IEEE 1394 link layer to PCI solution or it could just as easily be tweaked to provide a PCMCIA, Cardbus, MiniPCI, or any other interface required to fit the bill of the overall system.
Coexistence of USB, IEEE 1394
USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394, while offer similar data rates primarily differ in terms of application focus. The USB 2.0 Promoter Group expects USB 2.0 to be the preferred connection for most PC peripherals, whereas IEEE 1394's primary target is audio/visual consumer electronic devices such as digital camcorders, digital VCRs, DVDs, and digital TVs. One of the major differences is that USB requires a CPU to perform bus master functions whereas IEEE 1394 is peer-to-peer and hence does not need a master device. However, both USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 are expected to coexist on many consumer systems in the future.
Digital video interface (DVI) is a one-way point-to-point digital interface to send uncompressed streams. It is an interface that has gained rapid popularity to send digital graphics sources to digital displays such as plasma displays and flat panel LCDs. It removes an unnecessary analog-digital-analog conversion step that is required by current methods and allows sending a pure digital signal to display. DVI is based off transition minimized differential signalling (TMDS) and was developed by the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG).
DVI was designed to carry sustained HDTV data rate without interruption. For example, a 1,920 x 1,080 resolution 24-bit signal at 30 frames per second requires a 1.49Gbps link. DVI's single link can distribute video data at 4.9Gbps and a double link can support up 9.9Gbps. DVI-based applications are not just limited to HDTV, but also extend to set-top boxes, DVD players, video conferencing, professional audio/video equipment; essentially anything requiring a high-definition, high-quality display.
Programmable Solutions for DVI
Out of the needs for DVI outputs from being copied, High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) has evolved. DVI with HDCP provides a secure digital link from video source to display and has been endorsed by the major movie studios including Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and Disney to protect rights of the creators of digital content.
DVI and IEEE 1394 each have their place in the market. Whereas DVI is suitable for uncompressed digital video, IEEE 1394 is suited for the distribution on compressed (MPEG-2) digital video. Most digital content received at home from DVD, satellite or cable is based on MPEG-2 streams. In addition, IEEE 1394 is a two-way high-speed interface capable of sending command and control protocols that enable devices to both broadcast and record data as opposed to a one-way point-to-point interface that DVI supports. Though all this at lower bandwidth links than DVI.
LVDS
Low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) as the name suggests is a differential interconnectivity standard. It uses a low voltage swing of approximately 350mV to communicate over a pair of traces on a PCB or cable. LVDS was primarily used with laptop PCs initially and is now widely used across digital video applications, telecom and networking, and for system interconnectivity in general across many applications.
As digital TV, digital cameras and camcorders are fueling the consumer demand for high-quality video that offers a realistic visual experience, moving high-bandwidth digital video data within these appliances and between them is a very challenging task. LVDS rises up to the challenge of handling high performance video data well over 400Mbps and in addition offers superior immunity to noise, low power, and all at a low cost.
Differential data can be transmitted at these rates using inexpensive connectors and cables. LVDS provides robust signaling for high-speed data transmission between chassis, boards, and peripherals using standard ribbon cables. Point-to-point LVDS signaling is possible at speeds of up to 622Mbps and beyond.
There are low-cost FPGA solutions in the market today that support LVDS capability for consumer applications. The integration of high performance LVDS I/O in low-cost FPGAs means that it can easily support real-time image processing and support transfer of data well in excess of typical HDTV rates. Capable of MPEG-2 co-processing, color space conversion, image enhancement, graphics control, and interfacing to multiple memory types, FPGAs are ideal for digital displays that use LVDS for an interconnectivity solution. LVDS is also just as well suited as an intra-system connectivity solution to transfer high-bandwidth video content between video chips.
PCI
The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) local bus is one of the most successful standards in history, serving as the main general-purpose bus in virtually every desktop computer and an ever growing number of embedded systems. The flexibility of PCI has allowed it keep pace with tremendous increases in CPU performance and data capacity, while making it suitable for applications such as laptops, servers, industrial computers, communication switches, routers, instrumentation and digital video.
PCI graphics and video cards have been prevalent in PC systems for years now. In general, PCI-based systems are the norm in video applications where high performance is a requirement. PCI is widely used for internal connectivity within advanced set-top boxes to add on cards for high performance copiers, graphics accelerators, and frame grabbers.
Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) is a variation of PCI, which was designed to remove major load from the PCI bus and improve graphics performance, especially for 3D rendering. It provides a point-to-point graphics bus to link graphics engine with main memory. It provides higher throughput, as it is able to support long bursts of data and little overhead. Different speeds of AGP support 266 Mbytes/s all the way up to 2.1 Gbytes/s for AGP 8x running at 533MHz clock speeds.
Programmable Solutions for PCI
PCI is a significant design challenge: the stringent electrical, functional and timing specifications are difficult to meet in any technology and the standard continues to evolve to meet the dynamic needs of the industry. One needs a flexible PCI solution that will meet both current and future requirements, while guaranteeing full PCI compliance with no limitations on performance or functionality.
Both 32-bit and 64-bit programmable PCI solutions are available today. These designs offer flexibility and a cost-effective solution for a fully compliant, high-performance PCI systems. The customizable nature of these PCI solutions allows variations of PCI such as CompactPCI, PMC, Cardbus, PCMCIA, and AGP, etc, to all be implemented for the same FPGA technology.
There is no one clear winner for the connectivity solution to address the digital video market. Each standard has its own benefits and hence a niche that it addresses. Each one of the high-bandwidth connectivity solutions is continuously evolving, proving the need for systems to be flexible in nature. Programmable logic-based connectivity solutions for digital video applications available today offer this and more. These solutions offer traditional benefits of programmable logic including accelerated time-to-market, flexibility, longer time-in-market and risk aversion, all this at cost competitive price points.
by Mamoon Hamid, System Architect, Strategic Solutions, Xilinx, Inc, USA
(April 2002 Issue, Nikkei Electronics Asia)
