IP HD SDI chip design and product compatibility analysis

The test of IP photography is often not transmitted, because IT Netcom itself is a mature field, but the picture quality is the most vulnerable to criticism. As for the HD-SDI surveillance system, the key is not only in the image but in transmission. High-end light-sensing devices and image processing devices are almost at your fingertips, but how to use them to maintain high image quality and ensure long-distance transmission is a science.

I feel struggling with a long delay

The clear picture, no delay, easy control, and remote storage management are all easy to say, but they become difficult after high-definition. Regardless of whether the high-definition image is compressed, the non-networked image signal can be transmitted much more quickly and instantaneously, and it can run to a long distance, which is a very harsh test for security monitoring. So we say that the test of HD is transmission, and the more dangerous it is, the more dangerous it is. As we are familiar with SDI, the concept of specifications does not come from the image domain, but refers to a transmission method, which is the technology of signal transmission and reception (Tx and Rx).

The concept of Datacom, which is popular with IP surveillance in recent years, is very different. It does not directly transmit HD video through the IP network architecture, and it quickly burns in the CCTV field.

Starting from the ignition of the HDcctv alliance led by Gennum and Stretch in 2010, HD-SDI has become the epicenter of security manufacturing.

At one time, the concept of renewal, the hardships of R&D, and the expectation of the Red Sea were intertwined and entangled in the process of HD security. For the CCTV community, HD is relatively easy, or it is actually more difficult and difficult to answer. Including equipment compatibility, image signal purity, transmission distance, low latency requirements, back-end compression efficiency, image analysis performance, power supply, control signals, and IP network interface, display playback format, and even The electronic material cost itself has been a great test. At the end of the day, what are the options for implementing SDI in the market? What are the relevant technologies? What HD alternative architectures are there in addition to SDI? Real-time video is not the only requirement? Are there opportunities for fiber or other wire? With regard to the doubts in the development of various HD systems, we have crossed over from the discussion of Tx and Rx.

SDI function consists of different units

The SDI chip solutions that we see in security R&D circles today, even including FPGAs, have been formed as early as 2007. At the time of the American media exhibition (NAB2007), the chip factory launched several solutions for 3G-SDI (third generation serial digital interface). These companies include Gennum (now incorporated into Semtech), National Semiconductor (NS, now incorporated into Texas Instruments), Altera, and Xilinx, among others.

Gennum later developed the GV7600/GV7601 chip for security reasons, in addition to being the driving force behind HDcctv. On the other hand, it is also the first to integrate discrete chip architectures such as Tx and Rx into one. For example, the transmitter (Tx) chips are serializers and cable drivers, and the receiver (Rx) chips are deserializers and equalizers. The camera and DVR design can be streamlined.

Xu Wenlong, current Semtech Asia-Pacific business manager, said: “Because the success of our chips comes from the affirmation of the radio and television field, there will be many customers’ R&D units that will use our GV7600 and GV7601 published in security applications in other related fields such as TVs. Walls, medical endoscopes, Machine Vision, etc."

In fact, for example, adapters and Extender devices that extend the HDMI signal to more than 100 meters can indeed perform well. This is a considerable measure of the quality capabilities of Semtech Canada (Gennum) chips. In the future, Semtech Canada will also release new chips based on the additional functions of existing security application chips. For example, the monitoring end transmits the control signal and sound data to the camera through the same coaxial cable.

From the perspective of technical dismantling, the full SDI name is a serial digital interface and is a series of formats defined by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers of SMPTE (The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers). This SDI standard serial interface is used to transmit uncompressed and non-delay digital video signals while embedding Audio audio and Data control codes. There are currently five SDI standards, of which SMPTE-292M standard HD-SDI is mainly used for digital video interface of broadcast video. It transmits 720P and 1080i picture formats at 1.485Gbit/sec.

In addition, a high-definition television definition format, commonly known as 3G-SDI, adopts the SMPTE 424M standard specification, and provides 2.970Gbit/s 1080P high-speed image data transmission interface.

In security applications, HD-SDI and 3G-SDI are mostly used. To achieve this transmission architecture, in addition to the coaxial cable (including the receiving end device) and the BNC connector, it is mainly composed of several components. Introduced TI's (NS) launch of individual chip types, including cable equalizers, cable drivers, clock reclockers, serializers, and desserializers Video Timing and other special control functions such as IC. This means that in the SDI chip camp of HD security, there are two types of integration, such as the discrete type of Semtech (Gennum) and TI (NS). The rest introduced discrete components, as well as companies such as EqcoLogic and Mindspeed.

SDI chip integration affects design

As for the other distinguishing method of SDI chip, especially in security, it is obvious that there is a difference between single-channel and multi-channel, mainly refers to the situation of high-speed deserializers, whether there is a 4-way integration. Currently known to be able to have a 4-way solution, mostly featuring FPGAs, such as Lattice, Altera, and Xilinx; even if the Silicon Gear company of South Korea offers an integrated HD-level MUX and a 4-way deserializer single chip, it is still essentially the nature of the FPGA. . As for when the real ASIC is a four-way one, perhaps the market will become more stable and mature, and some will defend the old chip factory's products. In particular, equalizers are not suitable for multiplexing, which involves excessively dense circuit layout and interference.

In addition, SDI includes components such as CableDriver and Equalizer, both of which contain mixed-signal technology. Prior to its merger with Texas Instruments, NS was a well-known analog chip supplier. As we all know, originally TI in digital solutions, including DSP / SoC and many other aspects, for the security IP camera and DVR / NVR device master chip end, it already has a strong support for security in the security industry as an index. Combining NS not only makes TI's overall analog chip strength stronger, but it is actually more meaningful for HD security design solutions.

In April of this year, CompoSec (the 4th Global Security Electronic Technology Forum), Texas Instruments' Senior Product Application Engineer Zeng Xianghua, who is responsible for the SDI products, has already published the integrated design of front and rear end analog and digital chips. TI has been able to target uncompressed HD. The camera and HD-DVR propose a more holistic solution to make the new architecture import smoother.

TI (formerly NS) SDI components of various types cooperate with streamlined FPGAs, and Semtech (formerly Gennum) SDI chips have extended transmission distances, simplifying system design, and are continuing to compete in security applications since 2007.

As far as studying the SDI technology field, a variety of ways to achieve HD transmission through IC semiconductors has clearly presented a variety of appearances; of course, many people have discussed such high-quality signals, and may use HDMI or DVI channels. It is not appropriate to define this uncompressed high-quality solution as HD-SDI alone. Based on the transmission of signal formats and the ease of construction and replacement, SDI connectors such as BNC are most advantageous for monitoring applications and are used in large numbers, and have become a standard format strongly promoted by the HDcctv Alliance.

HDcctv and long distance test

At present, “short HDcctv transmission distance” is one of the questions often asked by many security engineering companies. Even if the coaxial cable can only reach 150 meters, the system equipment supplier still needs to provide extensions and repeaters. Both of them must have built-in Tx and Rx, that is, SDI chips. If the power supply and control signals are added, it is easy to increase the cost.

Xu Wenlong said: "In response to the needs of the security industry, we have specifically targeted the Rx to the GV7601A, which provides an additional 60-meter transmission distance over the previous version. The total distance is 200 meters."

As for the SDI transmission supporting plan, some engineering terminals have already flexibly used optical fiber to transfer and extend the transmission distance. This direction of consideration directly forms a new opportunity for optical fiber materials and modules in security. From this year's CompoSec Security Electronics Fair, wind images can also be observed. At present, some system manufacturers have begun to pay attention to this issue. In addition to actively developing new 3G-SDI products and increasing the transmission distance of SDI at the transmission rate, FPGA design architecture is also selected to design HD-SDI Tx chips.

For example, Dirac image compression technology can be used to achieve the lossless compression of the non-relay transmission, the maximum distance can reach 300 meters of performance.

It can also transmit uncompressed raw video signals up to 150 meters (or within 150 meters), as well as the HDbaseT solution promoted by the recent Israeli IC design company Valens Semiconductor.

What is more special is that it does not transmit via HDMI. It does not go coaxial cable like SDI, nor does it use the LVDS interface circuit. Instead, it is transmitted via the most common cat5e/cat6a network cable (LANCable). Very familiar RJ45 network connector. The first wave of the introduction of a pair of Tx and Rx chips, and the statement is for security applications development, can pass uncompressed and high-quality 1080P @ 60fps image, 150 meters maximum delay of only 10 microseconds.

Chip Compatibility Design

IP high-definition in the transmission process needs to perform compression and decompression and other work, the data in the transmission process, there will be packet loss, network congestion and other issues, resulting in the delay of the video screen, and IP HD instability, easy to crash and other security risks, As well as various brand products that are compatible with complex integration issues, the market has increasingly favored HD-SDI HD products with good stability and real-time effects.

The manager of Sunny Industry Security (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.'s marketing center, Xiaoyu Yu, said that although SDI chips can all be backward compatible (1080P, 1080i, 720P), they must be evaluated in addition to the large amount of video data. CPU performance, and in parallel data processing capabilities. At the same time signal output interface: including serializer (Seralizer), cable driver CD (CableDriver) and other circuits are also aspects that need to be considered. Among them, the serializer is also called a transmitter, and it mainly realizes that the 10BIT/20BIT video data output by the CPU is modulated into a standard SDI signal according to a coding standard defined by SMPTE.

At the same time, the HD-SDI camera's digitally-encoded video signal format still has compatibility issues with different brands of HDDVRs, and HD-SDI cameras will have different degrees of interference when transmitting with different HDMI cable materials.

In fact, for designers, they are more concerned with chip compatibility issues. Some semiconductor manufacturers such as NS, GENNUM and other manufacturers of three different rate equalizer (EQ) pin package are the same, each chip is downward compatible, such as support for 3G speed, HD-SDI, etc. Replacing the corresponding EQ model of the equalizer, hardware design and PCB do not need to be changed to greatly reduce the R & D costs. At the same time, we also diversify the product categories to meet different customer needs.

Furthermore, low-cost FPGAs can also meet the requirements. Front-end receivers (Receivers) integrate cable equalizers EQ, SERDES and other circuits, leading to increased FPGA front-end device costs. The main role of the receiver is to convert the SDI signal to 10BIT/20BIT parallel data output. Which solution is specifically adopted by the receiving end requires comprehensive consideration:

1. Some FPGA development experience is required to be accumulated, the cycle is difficult to predict, but it is easy to maintain, and product functions are easily diversified.

2. Basically, SDI conversion and processing are implemented through hardware chips. The development cycle is short, and products can be quickly brought to market.

HDbaseT uses the network cable as a video signal cable

The use of network cables to run high-definition audio and video signals is of course new. It is like our DVD or BD Blu-ray players. Even the peripherals of handheld devices are connected to TV screens and use the network cable as the signal line. The penetrating power of Netcom's related technology forces is not to be small, but it is indeed rare for this aspect to play.

As early as 2010, the HDbaseT Alliance has already taken advantage of the five-in-one function of power, control signals, network information flow, audio, and high-definition video, so it can easily follow the HDMI interface, so it can also be easily seen as a HDMI cable. . In addition to Valens Semiconductor, including LG, Samsung and Sony are all core members, it is not difficult to feel their intentions.

ccHDtv uses digital television technology to transmit security images

With the SDI program as a lesson, HDbaseT is now more confident in promoting the solution to the security market. Lin Haoyuan, Valens Asia Pacific Director, said: “Our biggest competitor is himself! When other solutions are fully implemented for the delivery of HD video, VS020 has just started and has already had an inherent advantage in terms of specifications.”

Return to the essence of security design
In addition to the choice of options, there are several alternative technologies for security that can be eliminated preferentially and avoid increasing R&D and application barriers.

The first is the cumbersome setup of TCP/IP between the camera and the storage device. Must high image quality be achieved through network devices? What is the impact of the front end on image compression? Where is the image format used for image analysis?

The above-mentioned HD transmission chip supply end has been demonstrated using a high speed connection scheme without compressed images. However, if we are concerned about the security engineering end, it is bound to be able to perceive the above-mentioned idealized solutions. SDI Transport Format List Name Standard Bit Rate The image format has a new threshold: Instantaneous RAW Data Transmission! To fully implement this appeal, it is not simply the cost of replacing the premium wire rod. HD video is indeed a product trend for security monitoring and is irreversible; however, what is HD video? "Do not compress" must not be within the definition, otherwise we have seen DVDs, Blu-rays, online movies, and even HD-level network cameras are not qualified to say that they are high quality, because these sources are compressed.

ccHDtv uses digital television technology to transmit security images

Songzong Technology Product Manager James Soong expressed this, he believes that there must be a new design kinetic energy, comes from the HD image requirements, and taking into account the convenience of transmission and management, no need to change the wiring, like current analog cameras and DVR The intuition and trust that are accumulated between the industry; without the cost of extra relay transmissions, moderate compression processing can be tolerated, and the architecture integration of IP Netcom is also convenient.

Perhaps we can expect such security photography solutions to be the focus of a new wave of IC design products put into security.

Speaking of the Taiwan factory's IC, cut into the HD security to provide the most dazzling representatives of Tx and Rx, seen from 2012, it should be ITE Lianyang Semiconductor, and they promote the ccHDtv architecture.

Not only did they fully implement the above description of HD and non-IP architectures, but they also borrowed their experience in the field of digital television. The technical nature of the proposed solution for DVB-T was to achieve "serial connection" and "parallelization" using coaxial cables. "Recovery" and other ways to pull back storage management, it really saves the cost of wiring. Through the "many-to-one" and "one-to-many" flexible distribution management, the company will inject fresh research and development into the field of HD security.

It may be found that such an architecture may be new to security, but it has already been done for many years in the fourth industry and digital television (especially in Europe). The TV channels watched in the car are wirelessly transmitted through the DVB-T.

This means the possibility of HD wireless, which is also an architectural advantage of HDcctv.

According to Lai Shengzhong, a senior marketing manager at Lianyang Semiconductor, “Wireless may have channel management considerations in Taiwan, but if it is in a closed-circuit system, there is absolutely no such regulatory and security concern.” This statement is very close to the security system Engineering live. He added: “The Tx chip built at the end of the camera is a brand-new IC developed for security by reference to the opinions and needs of all parties, hoping to make the Taiwan industry have a solid and innovative solution.”

When we focus on HDccTv's various HD-SDI chip architectures, including FPGAs, discrete, and integrated chips, we refer to HDbaseT, which has embarked on the network line, and we have the advantages of multi-working integration; look back at the ccHDtv architecture promoted by Taiwan. With the mature technology of DVB-T applied to security; it is clear that the security requirements for HD images are self-evident, and non-IP has been listed as one of the necessary design considerations.

No matter which kind of design route we are on, hope is accompanied by a living water spring that can open up the application form and at the same time, it also has constant source of technical support.

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