Configurable video platform for LatticeECP2 FPGAs

This system meets the image-processing speed and quality standards required by the automotive, marine, consumer, building automation, and industrial control markets. Developed by Arrow's European reference board team and design partner Exor/Sitek International, the platform provides developers with the necessary hardware and software to develop and test video display systems.

Designed as a modular system, the EasyLCD platform consists of a system baseboard, an FPGA mezzanine module, and a TFT LCD display module. The EasyLCD system can be used to develop video and display systems, or it can be integrated into OEM video and display applications.

About the EasyLCD system
Easily integrated with third party and custom IP, the main component of the EasyLCD system is a reconfigurable FPGA-based video controller that can support LatticeECP2 FPGAs with densities from 12K to 50K LUTs in package sizes up to 484-ball fpBGA.

The LatticeECP2 FPGA devices have been optimized to deliver high performance features in an economical FPGA fabric. The devices include Look-Up Table (LUT)-based logic, distributed and embedded memory, Phase Locked Loops (PLLs), Delay Locked Loops (DLLs), pre-engineered source synchronous I/O support, enhanced sysDSP blocks, and advanced configuration support.

"The combined strengths of Lattice, Exor/Sitek, and Arrow provide customers with a flexible video imaging system for the evaluation and development of powerful display systems. Exor/Sitek used several of the advanced features in the LatticeECP2 FPGA architecture to optimize the performance of their soft core. Customers in the automation and automotive markets are eager to implement systems based on this solution," said Stan Kopec, Lattice corporate vice president of marketing.

In addition to the LatticeECP2 FPGA, each evaluation board features 64 Mbytes of DDRAM video memory, and a powerful 16 bpp LCD video controller that can be configured for resolutions from QVGA to high definition in 4:3 and 16:9 formats. The EasyLCD system supports two PAL/NTSC composite video inputs and one analog VGA input. Each software selectable video input supplies a digital video stream to the FPGA for real-time manipulation and display on the LCD screen.

Designed to provide comprehensive graphic processing functionality, the EasyLCD video platform incorporates a 2D graphics accelerator and can handle picture scaling and cropping of real-time video. An IC interface facilitates "plug-and-play" LCD connectivity, while a backlight inverter enables ON/OFF and dimming control.

The platform offers a four-wire analog resistive touch screen input and the overall system capabilities can be expanded through the addition of SRAM and Flash memory. A high-speed USB 2.0 interface operating at 480 Mbps ensures the rapid transfer of graphics images and accelerates system programming.

Evaluation software support is included that provides the ability to control all the on-board functions through the USB interface. Flexible video and control systems can be developed using the JMobile software suite available from Exor International.

Availability and pricing
The EasyLCD Evaluation Kit is available in several LCD configurations. Please contact your nearest Arrow sales office for pricing and availability.

More information about the EasyLCD system can be found at the Exor/Sitek International Ultilogic website; please visit www.ultilogic.com for more details.