The drive for IP-based video surveillance is receiving increased interest over the analog counterpart in various markets, such as homeland security, commercial, and so on. Camera manufacturers are under pressure to develop highly advanced or intelligent cameras at low prices. HD IP cameras are proving to be competent solutions over the analog cameras for surveillance applications due to its enhanced capabilities (for example, scalability, low-installation costs, and so on). It is observed that WDR CMOS image sensor has the capability to offer images of high quality and enhanced resolution while performing well under harsh environmental conditions. Altera Corporation provides FPGA, which functions as the central interface for such WDR CMOS image sensors and plays a key role in designing next generation HD IP surveillance cameras.
The drive for IP-based video surveillance is receiving increased interest over the analog counterpart in various markets, such as homeland security, commercial, and so on. Camera manufacturers are under pressure to develop highly advanced or intelligent cameras at low prices. HD IP cameras are proving to be competent solutions over the analog cameras for surveillance applications due to its enhanced capabilities (for example, scalability, low-installation costs, and so on). It is observed that WDR CMOS image sensor has the capability to offer images of high quality and enhanced resolution while performing well under harsh environmental conditions. Altera Corporation provides FPGA, which functions as the central interface for such WDR CMOS image sensors and plays a key role in designing next generation HD IP surveillance cameras.
The FPGA-based surveillance camera platform provides the flexibility to interface HD WDR video image sensors as well as various other types of image sensors and enables complex image processing to aid the image sensor functionality. The platform also offers the potential to interface pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) control on a single device.
Last year (June 2010), Altera released a HD IP camera reference design on a single FPGA, and this solution carries Altera's low FPGAs, Aptina's HD WDR CMOS image sensors, and associated solutions. With this solution, the surveillance equipment manufacturers can minimize the power consumption, board space, and enhance the flexibility over architectures that are based on DSPs. Though high resolution and frame rates are enabled by WDR image sensors, high-computing power is required for processing the images including white balancing, pixel-by-pixel correction, and so on. The conventional application specific standard products (DSPs or ASSPs) may be limited in terms of processing power that is required for receiving the high-bandwidth data from the image sensors in surveillance applications. With Altera's FPGA (Cyclone series), the desired bandwidth and performance that is needed for tackling high-volume data from the HD WDR CMOS image sensor is made possible. Moreover, with conventional designs, the FPGAs in the HD WDR camera are required to perform the front-end data processing; and the back-end video encoding has to be done by a digital processor or ASSPs. This can be eliminated with the introduction of Altera's single FPGA platform solution. Such a single solution FPGA platform, which eliminates DSPs or ASSPs enables reduction in power consumption by over 50 percent compared to the traditional designs and also results in cost savings with reduced board space. The full image sensor pipeline enables noise reduction; advanced color correction; per pixel tone mapping; and so on. The development time can be reduced by one year with integration of intellectual property in the reference design and the users have the flexibility of including their own software solution to execute functionalities, such as motion detection, zoom control and so on.
Recently (April 2011), Altera released HD WDR video surveillance chipset, which integrates Altera's Cyclone series FPGA, Apical's HD WDR full ISP pipeline IP, and AltaSens' image sensor. The chipset provides a forum to leverage single vendor source for FPGA and IP without having to purchase from different/separate vendors while paying extra fees for licensing. The single chip camera solution enables the surveillance camera designers to generate high-resolution images over IP network using cost-effective solutions while addressing the industry trends.