Before embarking on the development of a next-generation electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) system, it is important to not only understand the power and performance characteristics of the FPGA, but also the various functions developed both as IP and reference designs. Altera’s VIP Suite of MegaCore®functions provide sensor control and various image-processing capabilities, including buffering, scaling, filtering, and combining video streams in real time. Imagize’s FP-5500 compact video-processing engine offers sensor processing and image fusion on an Altera® Cyclone® FPGA platform, meeting system performance and size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements for next-generation EO/IR systems. Implementing these functions on Altera’s Cyclone IV FPGAs can kick-start development efforts for nextgeneration EO/IR and display systems, as well as provide a canned solution for the “boring” aspects of system design, leaving the designer free to innovate on value-add functions.
Introduction
Military imaging systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated, incorporating multiple advanced sensors ranging from thermal infrared, to visible, to even ultraviolet focal planes. Not only do these sensor outputs need to be corrected, interpolated, etc., often images from multiple sensors must be combined and further processed for local display and/or for transmission. Figure 1 shows a high-level block diagram of a typical signal chain implemented in an electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) system. As shown, the processed image is compressed many times (usually lossless) before being transmitted over a communications link.
Figure 1. Typical Signal Chain for an EO/IR System
Combining exceptional image quality with low power consumption is the key challenge when designing EO/IR systems. For hand-held and wearable systems, such as night-vision goggles (NVGs) or weapon sights, the critical specification is often the number of hours a unit can run on AA batteries. According to military estimates, “An infantry soldier requires one AA battery an hour in combat.” (1)
Low-power FPGAs are the platform of choice for almost all state-of-the-art EO/IR systems because they meet the needs for programmability, real-time video-processing performance, and low power consumption. In fact, each successful generation of low-power FPGAs have featured both lower static and dynamic power consumption by utilizing a combination of architectural enhancements and lower core voltages. As the process technology continues to march downwards, the average power consumed by these FPGAs has dropped 30% or more each generation, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Power Reduction in Successive Generations of Low-Power FPGAs of Comparable Density
Offering up to 150,000 logic elements (LEs), Cyclone IV FPGAs consume up to 30% less total power than the previous generation. This low-power, programmable silicon platform provides ample computational power to implement the sensor-control and image-processing algorithms required for most HD video processing systems.
Author: Suhel Dhanani, Sr. Manager, DSP Marketing
Juju Joyce, Sr. Strategic Marketing Engineer, Military and Aerospace Group
Mr. Dhanani is responsible for DSP product marketing. He has over 15 years of industry experience in semiconductors, and has completed a graduate certificate in Management Science from Stanford University and holds MSEE and MBA degrees from Arizona State University.
