Xilinx will demonstrate its first FPGA-based Ethernet audio/video bridging (EAVB) network design for carrying high-speed data traffic in automotive vehicles, at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week.
The development kit has been co-developed with Digital Design Corp. (DDC), and the demonstration features multi-camera driver assistance and infotainment A/V sources streaming, simultaneously on a single network.
Using Spartan-6 FPGAs, the design incorporates a 3D vehicle surround view offering real-time, multi-camera driver assistance.
"The IEEE 802.1 EAVB standard is already gaining the attention of a number of leading automotive manufacturers even though the specifications are still being finalized," said Nick DiFiore, director of Xilinx's automotive business.
DiFore sees Ethernet as the most suitable ubiquitous network standard now that it has been enhanced to support real-time media streaming in automotive systems.
"Drivers and passengers are not only expecting higher resolution displays and graphics quality, but critical information needs to be displayed in real-time as drivers are using it to make instantaneous decisions," said Scott Keane, Visual Systems Engineer at DDC.
"This development kit proves that EAVB can deliver world-class audio and video quality to passengers while taking advantage of the same Xilinx FPGA devices already on board many driver assistance systems," said Keane.
The emerging IEEE 802.1 AS, QAT and QAV standards, fully implemented in the Xilinx/DDC EAVB solution, provide for high-fidelity, low-latency audio and video transport in a completely deterministic fashion over a 100Mbit/s -1Gbit/s Ethernet-based local area network (LAN).
Configured to carry infotainment and DA data content, including system control, audio and video information, the network topology (e.g. star, tree or combination) can expand overall network bandwidth as needed. With up to 75% of the bandwidth on any given connection may be reserved to guarantee quality of service for media streaming.
The DDC IP cores, which are separately licensable, include facilities for A/V data packetization, media extraction, media clock recovery and stream reservation protocol, as well as handling of legacy Ethernet traffic for generic data or command/control.
In the Xilinx/DDC demonstration, video data from four different cameras are streamed over an EAVB network to an FPGA where further DA video and graphics processing can be performed (e.g. 3D vehicle surround view). In addition, separate infotainment A/V source streaming to a remote display is performed simultaneously on the same network. Low latency MJPEG video compression is also implemented to further manage network bandwidth.
The DDC/Xilinx EAVB Development Kit is currently available from DDC for $9,999 and includes hardware, reference design, and a single-user evaluation IP license.
Visit http://www.xilinx.com/applications/automotive/index.htm for more details.