Agility Design Solutions, a specialist in embedded systems for the implementation of complex image and signal processing algorithms, has announced the availability of the RC240 programmable development and prototyping platform.

According to Agility, the RC240 is aimed at the design and optimisation of high-performance, high-throughput algorithms using an FPGA and an ARM 922T core in digital entertainment, communications, in-car infotainment, robotics and machine vision applications.

It says the RC240 was designed to provide developers with a flexible prototyping platform that supports a range of popular peripherals and interfaces allowing developers to focus on their unique algorithm implementation instead of the laborious development of the peripheral and interface connections. According to Agility, this typically allows developers to complete projects as much as 75% faster.

"The RC240 extends the already extensive list of peripherals and interfaces available from Agility for rapid algorithm implementation," stated Jeff Jussel, vp of Agility's C Solutions business. "With the RC240, customers optimise their algorithm performance in both hardware on the FPGA, and software on the embedded processor. Combined with Agility's powerful DK Design Suite and board API libraries, the RC240 enables rapid algorithm development in FPGA-based embedded systems, even for first time users of FPGA technology."

The RC240 includes a 4M gate Xilinx Virtex-4 LX40 FPGA, direct access to 12 Mbytes of pipelined SRAM, 128 Mbytes of SDRAM for FPGA use and 128 Mbytes of SDRAM for ARM CPU use. The RC240 is supported by both the Agility PixelStreams Video IP library and Agility's C to FPGA design environment, DK Design Suite, to deliver a complete solution for rapid development and prototyping of image and signal processing algorithms.

The RC240 peripherals and interfaces include:

Video

• Camera-link interface
• Optional CMOS Camera
• VGA/DVI output
• Optional 8.1" 1024 x 768 LCD Touchscreen

Audio AC97 compatible

• On-board microphone and stereo speakers
• Line-level input (stereo)
• Line/headphones output (stereo)

Communications

• USB 2.0: 1x to FPGA, 1x to ARM, 2x from ARM
• Gigabit Ethernet
• RS232
   

Pricing and Availability

The RC240 is available now as a stand-alone product or as part of a complete design kit bundle including Agility's DK Design Suite. Stand-alone board pricing starts at $5,000. See http://www.agilityds.com.