TI and Micron's Aptina Imaging deliver HD quality for IP surveillance networks at analogue video camera prices

“The rapidly growing market for security and surveillance cameras is fueling the need for increasing levels of image quality and functionality at affordable prices,” said Curtis Stith, Director of New Markets for Aptina. “Through our joint development work with TI on this new reference design, we are making it much easier for security system designers to make the shift to high quality IP network video.”

Scalability, increased field of view and low power Unlike traditional CCTV cameras, the DM355IPNC-MT5 allows for simple scalability while providing remote viewing and storage capabilities in a distributed network. Complexity and cost of the network are reduced by utilizing the TI/Aptina reference design, producing a field of view of 1280 x 720 pixels, whereas traditional surveillance systems typically use two D1 cameras each seeing 480 x 720 pixels to capture the same scene. Additionally, by leveraging Aptina’s 5-megapixel image sensor, image quality is greatly improved with the sensor delivering exceptionally low noise levels and low-light sensitivity.

The IP camera reference design also supports analog output for existing CCTV customers who are not yet ready to migrate to IP allowing them use the camera system to future-proof their investment. Functioning at 400mW during HD MPEG-4 encode, the TI/Aptina camera can operate at less than 3W, reducing the power requirements of even complex networks.

Optimized reference design reduces development time to four months From device drivers and application software to hardware and image pipe tuning, a video surveillance camera system can often take more than 150 man months to develop. The DM355IPNC-MT5 reference design reduces system development to less than four months by including complete and optimized schematics, gerber files, as well as free Linux application source code. Included in the source code, for example, is functionality for integrated auto white balance/auto exposure, simple motion detection, dual stream HD MPEG4 and MJPEG video codecs and DaVinci IP network camera software frameworks to quickly bring this camera into production. The reference design further saves time and drives performance by taking advantage of TI’s wide portfolio of analog, power management and logic technology including the TLV320AIC26 audio codec and the TPS23750 Power over Ethernet controller.

“The combination of TI’s DaVinci DM355 digital media technology with Aptina’s leading image sensor makes for a powerful but highly cost effective solution,” said Danny Petkevich, video surveillance and imaging business manager, TI. “Working closely with Aptina, we’ve removed the traditional barriers—like cost, complexity and design skill sets—to implementing IP-based HD video surveillance systems.”