IP cores

Overview:

  • Cottonpicken Engine
  • JPEG Encoder IP
  • cCAP: customizeable application processors and System on Chip solutions for networking and video processing

Cottonpicken Engine

The Cottonpicken Engine is an in-house micro coded engine that has the following functionality:

  • Bayer pattern decoding into various formats (YUV 4:2:2, YUV 4:2:0, RGB, programmable delays)
  • 3×3, 5×5 filter kernels
  • Specific matrix operations, cascadeable

It is capable of running at full data clock (pixel clock) up to 150 MHz, typically (platform dependent).

The engine is only available as a closed source netlist object as part of a development package.

JPEG Encoder IP

We have developed our own, machine vision proof JPEG encoder which is available for third parties with partial source code licensing options (VHDL only). The supported pixel bit depth is up to 12 bits. For JPEG header generation, a SoC and DMA engine is typically required. The JPEG IP is available in two variants:

  • L1 monochrome multiplexed pipeline (150 MHz pixel clock on Spartan6)
  • L2 dual pipe simultaneous encoding for high quality YUV422, for example 1280×720@60fps (up to 100 MHz pixel clock)

Board supply packages for eval kits:

  • Spartan6 Gigabee module from Trenz electronic
  • Versa ECP5 development kit
  • HDR60 from Lattice semiconductor (license required)

Also, we can provide a simulator package as Linux Container or virtual machine. It can be used to test the virtualized encoder HDL with existing PNG images, see [ Link ]. This is a full bit accurate model to prove compliance to existing reference software algorithms.

Further resources on request:

cCAP SoC Reference designs

These System on Chip designs consist of a fully configureable CPU plus standard peripherals and can be customized with special interfaces. The CPU can be programmed with GCC and is accessed via ICE JTAG during development.

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The MaSoCist build system

The pun is intended: Applying a linux kernel configuration approach onto a hardware system turned out to be painful. However, it turned to pay off in the following scenarios:

  • Cross platform: Simulate and synthesize reusable code for various architectures (Lattice ECP series, Xilinx Spartan series, …)
  • Configure peripheral interface instances
  • Automated generation of address decoders, peripheral instances and memory map from gensoc – our in house SoC generator.
  • Optional translation from IP-XACT, automated design rule check
  • Generate hardware configuration, software drivers and corresponding register documentation in one ‹call›. For example, all our reference documentation is automatically in sync with the register HDL.

It allows vendor specific designs and extensions without the need to OpenSource, therefore it is available in two license variants:

The MaSoCist opensource v0.10 release is available for free as standalone Linux based Docker container, including:

  • GHDL simulator and ghdlex co-simulation extensions
  • VirtualChip setup, virtual UART, FIFO, etc. for communication with real software for regression tests
  • Limitations: Spartan6 RAM models missing, hardware/vendor specific HDL libraries not included, no XML to HDL possible.

Download (registration required): [ Docker container tar.gz (960 MB) ]

Simulation models

Full simulation models are available for all our IP cores that can be co-simulated with custom IP or run ‹live›:

See also VirtualChip page.