SDI Plugin Module

1 SDI Plugin Module (1x slot)

The photonSDI system consists of:

1) a development test system with two off-the-shelf circuit boards: an evaluation board and an SDI interface board to handle electrical conversion. 2) A prototype implementation of a custom caseboard that plugs directly into the Axiom Camera and adds SDI connectivity.

1.1 How it works

A description of a desired SDI connectivity is created using the LiteX framework (a fork of Migen).

The framework generates a Hardare Description Language (HDL) reprensentation in Verilog.

The HDL is passed to the tool chain, which generates a configuration for the chip on the evaluation SDI Extension Board.

The configuration is loaded onto the chip on a base board that is plugged into the camera.

Camera with chip has new functionality for connecting to professional SDI video equipment.

1.2 Technical Details

   Implemented in:

   Hardware description language loaded into chips

   litex,a Python framework for building custom hardware

   Based on liteX 

   Supported hardware platforms: 

   Field programmable gate array (FPGA) evaluation board AC701 + SDI interface evaluation board TB-FMCH-12GSDI 

   Camera Apertus AXIOM beta + SDI extension board

   Source code is available on GitHub [1]

1.3 Notes

The initial development is sponsored by the German federal ministry of education and research (BMBF) via the Prototype Fund.

An industry standard serial digital interface (SDI) connection plugin module will provide a nominal data transfer rate of 3G/6G.

Projects using PhotonSDI: apertus AXIOM Beta, HDMI2USB, Numato Opsis.

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