HD Video Solutions

Requirement

An electronics manufacturer required a Quad-Port Camera Link Optical Extender for an embedded video system to extend four Camera Link interfaces in harsh industrial environments across extended distances of 150m or more. The design consists of two boards; a Camera Link (CL) Receiver and a CL Transmitter interconnected across bi-directional fiber optical links.

Challenge

The challenge was to build a CL Extender using fiber optics to interconnect a CL camera source to a CL Frame Grabber across a bi-directional fiber optical link which is capable of operating transparent to the CL devices. The design must support four Base CL interfaces each operating between 20MHz and 75Mhz. and operate at minimal power dissipation and incorporate a low cost FPGA device.

Solution

The IP core design implementation included our Camera Link Transceiver IP Core in conjunction with a line buffer FIFO and a SerDes 8b/10b encoder/decoder capable of supporting 3.125 GHz optical transceiver interfaces. The IP design fit in a single low cost Cyclone FPGA. Each CL receiver interface utilized a PLL enabling it to operate between 20 MHz and 75MHz without the need of user configuration.

Result

The design achieved the design objectives for cost, performance and functionality. Maximum power dissipation was under 5 watts. The design supported transparent CL communication across the bi-directional 850nM fiber optical interfaces.

Related: SDI Video Overlay Products