Altera Collaborates With National Semiconductor to Facilitate Routing High-Resolution Digital Video

This collaboration leverages Altera's low-cost Cyclone® III FPGAs and National's FPD-Link II embedded clock SERDES architecture to deliver high-speed, long-range data-exchange solutions that provide high bandwidth, low electromagnetic interference (EMI), increased reliability and lower system costs.

National has a proven track record for enabling the high-speed data link between video source and sink in automotive applications, said Erroll Dietz, vice president of National's High-Speed Product Division. Our expertise in mixed-signal IC design, video transport, signal integrity and automotive qualification processes has made National's FPD-Link II SERDES products the first choice among major OEMs and tier-1 suppliers for point-to-point data transfer. Altera's proficiency in embedded digital video processing is a natural complement to National's FPD-Link II SERDES. Our shared customers are well positioned to benefit from our strategic collaboration, which is fueled by strong growth in embedded video for infotainment and driver-assist applications.

Through their initial collaboration, Altera and National developed a reference design showing the transmission of a digital video bitstream over a 10-meter CAT6 cable to National's DS90C124 FPD-Link II deserializer. The deserializer output interfaces directly to a Cyclone III FPGA, which processes the incoming signals and sends the resulting video to a display. A demonstration of this reference design is showcased in Altera's booth 1044 at ESC Silicon Valley, held this week in San Jose, Calif.

Michael Samuelian, director of Altera's automotive and industrial business unit added, This work with National represents the first in a multi-step collaboration between the two companies to facilitate the routing of high-resolution digital video within automotive applications. Our experience in processing automotive video, graphics and human-machine interfaces combined with National's widely deployed FPD-Link II SERDES family delivers automotive manufacturers a proven solution for deploying digital video in their next-generation vehicles.