Isle-of-Wight-based RFEL had developed universal high-definition high-speed video processing hardware for defence and government security.
"It is a black box that can take in a variety of analogue and digital video formats, process the image, and output it in a variety of formats," said RFEL technical sales engineer Wayne Cranwell.
For example, 1080p moving video can be stabilised against shake and roll at up to 150frame/s.
The firm's expertise is in optimising signal processing algorithms for FPGAs - custom algorithms are its main business.
The video hardware, branded Halo, is based around an FPGA that includes dual ARM cores.
Video algorithms can be mixed and matched within the FPGA and the hardware includes two video inputs, one video output, and a port which can be either input or output.
Amongst the 12 algorithms (above) are distortion correction, image fusion and digital zoom, and interface options include: CameraLink, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI (output only), analogue video, and SDI.
Interfaces and algorithms are configured in the factory to the customers specification.
Hardware comes in three forms: One literally is a black box (!50x150x100mm), then there is a 90x75mm system-on-module, and lastly the firm will design custom boards with area equivalent to 150x75mm, which could include an XMC format board, said Cranwell - XMC is a version of PCI mezzanine card.
The black box is full-function, as the custom versions can be providing they meet the minimum area requirement, but the system-on-module omits bus interface chips to save space - video I/O is instead over LVDS.
Image fusion aligns and combines feeds from two video cameras, typically visible (left) and infra-red (right) to produce a composite (centre). Algorithm behaviour, or a limited set of behaviours, is pre-defined by RFEL to suit the application
The ARM cores run Linux to control the hardware, with spare capacity that enables customer to port embedded software running elsewhere into the Halo hardware.
Control bus options, for the ARM cores and for limited control of video processing, is CAN, RS-422 or Gigabit Ethernet.
Black box and custom options can be configured to run entirely stand-alone.
As well as military and government applications, Cranwell expects interest for commercial security, and pointed out that US ITAR export regulations do not apply.
