Daughter Cards First For 3G-SDI

The SDALTEVK and SDXILEVK daughter cards paired with development kits from Altera and Xilinx debut as the industry’s first triple-rate (3G/HD/SD) serial digital interface (SDI) and video clocking daughter card development kits. The two daughter cards are compatible with development kits from Altera and Xilinx and include synthesizable FPGA source code. According to the company, this allows designers to evaluate system performance, implement or modify FPGA source code, finalize architectures, and start new designs. Both daughter cards support industry-standard 270 Mb/s, 1.485 Gb/s, and 2.97 Gb/s data rates. The SDALTEVK plugs directly into Altera's Cyclone III development board via a high-speed mezzanine connector (HSMC) while the SDXILEVK interfaces with a Xilinx Spartan-3A development board via Avnet's EXP expansion module. Both cards support a complete 3G-SDI signal path consisting of an adaptive cable equalizer, a deserializer with re-clocked loop through, and a serializer with integrated cable driver. A multi-rate sync separator and clock generator deliver reference clocks to the host FPGA and a reference clock selector, either a 4 x 4 LVDS crosspoint switch or a 2 x 2 LVDS crosspoint switch, enables four selectable clocking options. Price for either the SDALTEVK or SDXILEVK development kits is $399 each. NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CORP., Santa Clara, CA. (800) 272-9959.