Intelligent chip technology innovation leads HD video surveillance

As people pay more attention to their own and property safety, the video security monitoring market is rapidly becoming popular. Based on the development of digital signal processing (DSP) and network technologies, video surveillance has evolved from traditional analog surveillance (VCR) to digital and analog hybrid DVRs, and has evolved into IP video surveillance systems. The vigorous development of the video surveillance market has brought huge market opportunities for chip manufacturers and system manufacturers, and also brought new challenges for developers.

Zhang Tiehu, technology market manager of Analog Devices, introduced that DSP is currently the mainstream processor in China's surveillance market and is the mid-to-high end option; ASIC SoC is a latecomer and has a certain impact on the market, especially the low-end market; and FPGAs are trying to enter this market. However, no apparent success has yet been achieved.

According to his analysis, this is due to the fact that there are no standard algorithms for intelligent analysis and processing. Implementing intelligent video analysis based on different compression formats will have very different MIPS requirements for DSP, so the optimization of the algorithm is critical. Because the performance of ASIC can't meet the requirement of intelligent processing, so the flexibility and high performance of DSP make intelligent analysis processing become its best job.

Zhang Tiehu further explained that the technical challenges faced by the video surveillance market mainly come from the following four aspects: the low cost of high-definition products; the close integration of intelligent analysis technologies with the needs of specific application industries; the construction of network infrastructure and network security; Resistance in the field, for example, system integrators are accustomed to digital video recorder (DVR) and analog camera modes, and building technology is also accustomed to analog video doorbell intercom systems. Therefore, whether or not customers can provide low-power, high-performance, high-integration, and flexible products will become the key to competition among manufacturers.

At present, ADI can provide a full range of chips for the entire signal chain for the security surveillance market. Including DSP, AD/DA, power management, interface chips, etc. Its representative Blackfin family offers single- and dual-chip solutions for IP camera applications, enabling considerable flexibility in video standards, resolutions, frame rates, and related video pre/post processing functions while enabling video compression , Operating system support, native interoperability of CCD/CMOS sensors, complete interface selection, and overhead processing required for target video analysis.

In terms of software, ADI is based on the Blackfin platform and provides fully optimized H. 264 codec algorithm and Image Tool Box. "For the H.264 codec, video image effects and cost per channel are the most important; the purpose of the image processing toolkit is to provide basic, Blackfin-optimized function functions for developers. "Zhang Tiehu said.

In addition, the video surveillance market is also showing some new trends, including: Network deployment from centralized coaxial network to IP-based network systems; High-definition resolution camera video capture; Camera sensor used by the past CCD Sensors have now become integrated with current CMOS sensors, as well as with existing system networks and IP networks.

Ken Chuang, market manager of video surveillance at Conexant Systems, expressed the same view. He believes that the migration from SD to HD, combined with the increasing channel density in traditional video surveillance systems, will significantly increase IC solutions including bandwidth, power consumption, and interoperability.

"Several trends will have an impact on future video surveillance products. For example, migration from SD to HD, transition from analog cameras to digital/IP cameras, and the evolution of HD CCTV will require full use of existing infrastructure and deployment." Ken Chuang emphasized that “other features include the emergence of more sophisticated video analysis tools to increase security protection. In addition, as IP-based systems become more popular, device interoperability will become a The key factor."

Previously, Conexant had teamed up with Grain Media and Huper Lab from Taiwan to launch a complete hardware and software reference design for 16-channel DVRs, as well as HuperVision integrating Conexant's CX25853 and CX25821 video solutions. 4000 DSS Gaia Series Server Boards.

Cyril Clocher, video service manager of TI's DSP System Business Unit, said that the application trend of video surveillance will be more reflected in the "multi-channel" and "IP network camera". For example, the CIF resolution is currently only for the ultra-low-end market. With the decline of the D1 channel cost, D1 is gradually replacing the CIF. The 4, 8, and 16 channel D1 30 frames per second has become the mainstream, and in the next few years, the DVR The market will continue to grow in volume while developing to NVR. On the other hand, in the IP network camera market, real-time resolutions of 720p and 1080p are becoming mainstream, 5 million to 10 million pixels are entering the high-end market, and the low end Analysis functions have become practical features such as camera tampering, smart motion detection, etc.

Taking TI's most representative DM8168 DaVinci video SoC as an example, for a hybrid security DVR, 16 channels of H can be supported at the same time. 264 HP D1 encoding with CIF substreams and 8-channel D1 decoding, with video mixing and image mixing capabilities, supporting up to 3 independent displays; for video communication applications, supporting up to 3 60 frames per second For 1080p channels, due to the codec delay less than 50 milliseconds, the off-chip failure problem is eliminated and the point-to-point latency can be reduced to less than 50 milliseconds. A few days ago, Hikvision announced that it will adopt the video SoC product in its new DVR product.

Clocher said that the current focus of customers in the video security market is mainly focused on wanting to invest in the same platform as much as possible. The solution has absolute advantages in product differentiation design, time to market, and cost control. This is precisely where TI's strength lies. For example, he said, through the provision of DMVA, Cortex A8, C674x, 3D graphics capabilities, customers can design different menus and graphical interfaces; dozens of cost-optimized SoC derivatives and the introduction of a large number of molded reference designs at cost reduction At the same time, it also accelerated the time for the products to be released.