Forum Discussion

Altera_Forum's avatar
Altera_Forum
Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
14 years ago

Help with choosing an appropriate FPGA

Hello all,

I am undertaking a project where I need to serialise 3 signals that each have a maximum capacity of 3.4Gb/s (Digital High Definition Video Signal). We are going to then output this signal with plans to then connect it too a optical driver chip and then a laser transceiver then at the receiver end deserialise the signal to then feel into a television/projector via a HDMI cable.

I am new to FPGA's and am wondering if there were any restrictions on which Altera FPGA's would be capable of serialisation and outputs of those kinds of speeds?

I was originally looking at the Arria V because it said "Low-power serial transceivers:

■ 600 Mbps to 10.3125 Gbps integrated transceiver" I assumed this meant that it could modulate a 10.3Gb/s signal at the output but I am not sure as i've never read a FPGA data sheet before. Also Arria V is not available anywhere.

Thanks for any advice,

Justin

1 Reply

  • Altera_Forum's avatar
    Altera_Forum
    Icon for Honored Contributor rankHonored Contributor
    14 years ago

    Hi Justin,

    --- Quote Start ---

    I am undertaking a project where I need to serialise 3 signals that each have a maximum capacity of 3.4Gb/s (Digital High Definition Video Signal). We are going to then output this signal with plans to then connect it too a optical driver chip and then a laser transceiver then at the receiver end deserialise the signal to then feel into a television/projector via a HDMI cable.

    I am new to FPGA's and am wondering if there were any restrictions on which Altera FPGA's would be capable of serialisation and outputs of those kinds of speeds?

    --- Quote End ---

    The devices to look at would be the Stratix IV GX FPGAs. They're in production. The Stratix V, Arria V, and Cyclone V devices are just starting to become available. Once you've got something working with a Stratix IV GX development kit, you can decide whether you need to go for something cheaper in your final design.

    The Altera Stratix IV GX development kit

    http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/altera/kit-siv-gx.html

    has HDMI and an SDI channel. The connectors along the top of the board breakout 8 transceiver lanes on the left connector and six on the right. These connectors are called HSMC and are defined by an Altera specification. There are development boards from multiple vendors that plug into these connectors. Perhaps you can find a video development kit.

    The Terasic Stratix IV GX kit is called the DE4;

    http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=138&no=501

    Terasic might also sell HSMC video kits, have a look around their web site.

    Cheers,

    Dave