Xilinx has introduced a design platform based on Virtex-6 FPGAs
which is intended to support the development of serial digital
interface (SDI) circuits in broadcast audio and video systems.
According to the supplier, multiple channels of standard
definition, high definition and 3G-SDI video can be implemented in
a single Virtex-6 device that includes up to 24 transceivers
supporting line rates of up to 6.5Gbit/s.
A development kit integrates a Virtex-6 LX240T device on the
ML605 evaluation board, an industry-standard FPGA Mezzanine Card
(FMC) supporting digital audio and video interfaces and bridging
technologies.
There are also reference designs for implementing SDI interfaces
based on Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
standards, including triple rate SDI transmit, receive, and
pass-through designs.
The interface designs support all the typical SDI rates ranging
from 270Mbps (SD) to 1.485Gbps (HD) and 2.97Gbps (3G) with their
1/1.001 derivatives, and are shown to perform much better than the
receive jitter and transmission jitter requirements established by
SMPTE standards.
The Virtex-6 FPGA
Broadcast Connectivity Kit will be available starting in
January 2010 priced at $4,995.