The trend of general-purpose programmable SoC in video surveillance-EEWORLD

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Since the digital video surveillance system not only includes video compression and decoding processing suitable for DSP, but also a large number of control, management, storage and network functions suitable for CPU, a higher level of integration will be achieved through SOC. The SOC generally recognized by the industry is a single-chip integrated system with two or more processor cores, and it can have a CPU main processor, as well as DSP and coprocessor-type soft cores, the latter is an ASIC-type hard core, and can even include other special processing subsystems, and integrate a rich peripheral interface.

As we all know, general programmable DSPs have led the rise of digital video surveillance. However, just like the process of digital video products being industrialized, when the technology matures at a certain stage, there will be many customized devices participating in the competition. This means that the programmable platform must continue to innovate on the basis of continuous improvement, and even have new concept breakthroughs to remain invincible. Since the digital video surveillance system not only includes video compression and decoding processing suitable for DSP, but also a large number of control, management, storage and network functions suitable for CPU, a higher degree of integration will be achieved through SOC. The full name of SOC is System On Chip. Regarding its Chinese translation, different people have different opinions. Some people think that it should be translated directly as "system on chip", while others think that it seems to be more accurate as "single-chip system". The SOC generally recognized by the industry is a single-chip integrated system with two or more processor cores, and it can have a CPU main processor, as well as DSP and coprocessor soft cores, the latter is an ASIC-type hard core, and can even include other dedicated processing subsystems, and integrate a wealth of peripheral interfaces. The following will explore the advantages and trends of SOC development in combination with the application of Texas Instruments (TI) general-purpose programmable single-chip system in digital video surveillance.

Single SoC platform for multiple products

TI's general programmable platform for video surveillance products started with the DM642 general media processor, a chip with DSP as the core and rich peripheral interfaces, with cumulative global sales of more than 10 million units. Based on this, TI planned the Davinci platform, which is a series of SOCs that fully reflects the characteristics of a single-chip system. It can be applied to multi-channel devices of embedded DVRs and NVRs, and also takes into account the needs of DVS and IPC. Therefore, one platform can support the development of multiple different types of products, effectively reducing R&D investment and accelerating product launch cycles.

DM644X is the first Davinci chip, in which the integrated CPU is ARM9 core, the integrated DSP is C64+ core, and the video coprocessor VICP is also integrated. In addition, the integrated video subsystem includes both the front-end and the back-end. The front-end can directly connect to CCD or CMOS video sensors, and is equipped with image scaling and preview tools, as well as the so-called "3A" functions, namely automatic white balance, automatic exposure and automatic focus control units; the back-end integrates multi-layer subtitle overlay (OSD), four video DACs and 24-bit digital RGB output. The integrated peripherals include Ethernet interface, PCI interface, SPI serial interface, ASP audio interface, USB2.0 interface, ATA hard disk interface, MMC/SD memory card interface, etc. The software development is open, and the industry-recognized multimedia API can be used for software system integration. Figure 1 shows a video surveillance product based on DM644x.

Figure 1 Video surveillance products based on DM644x

The Davinci series includes mature video software, complete development tools and strong technical support, so a prototype design can be derived into more product forms such as digital video recorders, digital video servers and IP network cameras. Davinci builds a digital media development framework that will be shared by all series of platforms.

Multiple SoC platforms for a single product

The success of a SOC platform is reflected in its recognition by the industry and market verification, such as DM644x, which is extended to more series of applications. In Davinci's subsequent single-chip systems, DM646x and DM3xx all have main CPUs, integrated DSP-type soft cores, processing subsystems and rich peripherals.

Although DM643x and DM648 do not have a main CPU, the DSP core they contain can implement real-time operating system functions based on DSP?BIOS, or a third-party commercial Linux embedded real-time operating system. In addition, they integrate processing subsystems or coprocessor soft cores, as well as rich peripherals, and can form their own systems.

The IP network camera solution is a typical video surveillance product. Customers have different requirements for its product specifications. Davinci provides support for different platforms with a unified digital media framework. DM6446 can support H.264 under D1 and add intelligent video functions; DM6437 can be upgraded from the DM642 platform and also supports H.264 under D1; IP cameras based on DM355 are very popular in the industry. Its outstanding feature is that it can support MPEG4 high-definition 720P encoding on a single chip, and can also support a CIF stream. The video front end can be directly connected to CCD or CMOS sensors. There are various storage interfaces on the chip. The software of this chip is provided free of charge, and the process adopts low-power design, which is easy to realize small integrated design. The newly launched DM365 not only has all the above advantages, but also adds support for high-definition H.264, and integrates enhanced functions such as audio and network. The video front end has an ISP unit that supports face detection, video stabilization and noise removal. The DM6467 supports 1080P H.264 high-definition and the integrated DSP core C64+ supports advanced video intelligent analysis functions, and supports high-definition BT1120 high-definition input and Gigabit Ethernet interface. Figure 2 shows the IP network camera solutions based on different Davinci.

Figure 2 Davinci-based IP network camera solution

It can be seen from this that before planning, defining and designing a specific product, multiple SOC platforms should be evaluated. If these platforms have commonalities and cover products of different grades, this will be of great significance to digital video surveillance developers.

Powerful combination of multiple SoC platforms

Whether it is an embedded DVR, DVS or NVR, it is hoped that one chip can support multiple systems. All series of Davinci platforms have corresponding support capabilities. DM6446 or DM6441 single chip can support four-channel CIF in H.264 format, and mature products are currently on the market; DM365 single chip can support two-channel D1 or eight-channel CIF in H.264 format. Since the video interface of the Davinci series has only one set of BT656 input and output, it needs to be expanded when supporting multi-channel applications. For this reason, TI single-chip four-channel video decoder has been widely used, and the TVP5158 to be launched will add video multi-channel splitting function, which can be directly connected to the Davinci video port.

DM6467 belongs to Davinci-HD, which means that a single chip supports 1080P high-definition H.264 encoding, and its core processing is realized by two video coprocessors. DM6467 has strong multi-channel capability, which can support four-channel D1 or sixteen-channel CIF in H.264 format in real time. After upgrading to Gigabit main frequency, it can support eight-channel D1 in H.264 format in real time. DM6467 can be expanded and cascaded through PCI or Gigabit network port, and TVP5158 can also support cascading, so it can realize the combination of different resolutions and different video channels, up to sixteen-channel D1 in H.264 format in real time. As shown in Figure 3, it is a multi-channel system solution based on Davinci-HD, with multiple DM6467 as the core and multiple TVP5158 as the video expansion. It is worth mentioning that the DSP of each DM6467 has the ability to process the intelligent analysis required for each video channel.

Figure 3 Multi-channel system solution based on Davinci-HD

The huge potential of the "hard and soft" SoC platform

Programmability is a major factor in order to improve the performance and enrich the functions of the SOC chip solution as much as possible. High integration is another major factor in significantly reducing power consumption and reducing costs. For this reason, the series of SoC platforms launched by TI strive to innovate so that the products of security video surveillance manufacturers can better conform to the development of the market and meet the needs of customers. The successful promotion of the Da Vinci platform has established TI's general programmable platform in the field of video surveillance. The definition and development of core unit digital video surveillance products such as the ARM9 processor, C64+?DSP core, video coprocessor VICP, video front-end and back-end subsystem VPSS integrated in these series of products are more efficient and flexible. According to different application needs, different series are selected for target product development and design, which can take into account the development of hardware and software system platforms. These have been successfully confirmed to varying degrees in the field of security.

Under the current economic situation, the monitoring market is still growing, but the competition is also extremely fierce. The application-specific devices (ASIC) on the market have also begun to be "system-on-a-chip". The existing SOC chip solution is based on ARM integrated hardware codec, but its disadvantage is that the support for video formats is limited and it is not flexible. No matter how SoC chips develop, the programmable feature will remain for a long time. The development trend of SoC chips will be reflected in the upgrading of the main control CPU, the enhancement of the capabilities of the video coprocessor, the DSP resources are completely the same as the value-added applications and support both fixed-point and floating-point operations, and more high-performance peripheral interfaces are integrated into the single chip, such as DVI, SATA, PCIe, etc. Although some programmable dedicated platforms have appeared, they are not universal, the development and design are relatively complex, and the support for value-added functions such as video surveillance is very weak.

As digital video compression and decoding technologies mature, the hotspot of innovative technologies in the field of video surveillance will turn to video content analysis (VCA) technology. In order to improve the efficiency of video surveillance systems, VCA will likely completely change all aspects of video surveillance applications. The development and innovation of technology has accelerated the popularization of VCA in video surveillance, and programmable DSP plays an important role in the first place. TI has developed a VCA development underlying function library called VLIB on C64+ and core, and promised to provide it to a large number of video surveillance customers for free, which will open up an endless source of new intelligent video products.

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