iMX 6 or other DSP processor for 2-way full duplex video codec

[corbysable]

Hello forum,

Please inform me about evaluation development boards for full-duplex video/audio encoding and decoding.  Also following development, I seek OEM or smaller boards than the evaluation for board for product integration.  Following are my requirements and questions:

1. My application is to perform full-duplex encode and decode simultaneously in 2-way communications using an evaluation board.
2. 1080P 60 video & audio live streaming video 60 frames per second.
3. two (or possible three)  ethernet ports are required on the evaluation board.
4. raw video data from a CCD sensor/commercial camera will connect directly to one port on the evaluation board and then the data is H.264 encoded.  Its encoded data will be sent to an I/O port (to the network) to location "B".
5. the second port on the eval board will input H.264 audio/video from location "B" and then decode it.  This 2nd data stream arrives from location "B" through a network.  Following this decode, the video will be displayed on a LCD screen at the camera (location "A")
6. The end result is 2-way video full duplex video processing.
7. Real time processing
8. H.264 video streams sent out from the camera - location "A" is 1-10 megabits per second. 
9. The video coming from location "B" (from the network) to the camera (location "B" is 1-5 megabits per second.
10. Frame rate is 15-60 frames per second in either direction - inbound or outbound.
11. I would like the evaluation board to scale the video from (location "A" to location "B"0 on-the-fly.
12. After development is complete with the evaluation board, I prefer to use a commercially available board ( off-the-shelf board) or OEM board with only necessary one iMX6 chip (or media chip), two I/O ethernet ports/interface/memory to perform only the decode.  This OEM board is a smaller version of the eval board.
13. The 2nd OEM board with same requirements will perform only the H.264  encode and scaling.
14. I want to download the proven software from the eval  development board to 2 smaller boards - as products - approx. the size of 50mm X 50mm -
15. Linux operating system
16. And please recommend a WI-FI 802.11 b/g/n board which connects to the the 2 smaller encode & decode boards.  Does TI make these smaller type boards?
17. A camera sensor is not needed on the eval board.   An external CCD sensor will be used in all cases.
18. Which port name/number is best used to input external CCD data into the eval board...so that the ethernet ports (RJ-45) connections can be used for output?
19. What is the max input data rate into the ports on the eval board?  And what is the max input data rate of smaller OEM or commercial boards?
20. Which interface is best used for control of the board's functions?  To start/stop/pause, etc?
21. Are there scaling algorithms available on this forum or on the Freescale website to provide control for these boards?
    

Thanks for your help.

Corby

[TheAdmiral · Accepted solution]

Hi Corby,

What you are asking for is a very specific use case. Unfortunately, the two development boards available from Freescale (SABRE AI and SABRE SD) are designed more to support software development while actual customer hardware is being designed. A third board, available from Boundary Devices (SABRELite), falls into the same basic category.

All three boards come with only one Ethernet port, although there is a mini-PCIe connector available which would allow a second Ethernet connection through a PCIe to Ethernet adapter card.

All boards have connections for HDMI, LVDS  or RGB outputs.

As for video inputs:

The SABRE SD board was designed specifically to work with OmniVision OV5640/5642 camera modules, so camera input would be problematic. The SABRELite board has proprietary interfaces that could probably be modifies to use with external sources. The SABRE AI and SABRELite board both have 4-lane MIPI camera connections that are somewhat standardized. It would depend on what type of interface your camera had available.

WIFI is available on the SABRE SD board through a third-party SDIO expansion card (Silex technology).

There would be no “proven software” for any of this. Source code for Linux operating system is available, but must be modified to meet your specific application.

The i.MX6 processor is capable of handling the required data processing that is needed real time.

The software development boards available from Freescale are roughly 100mm x 180mm, with no plans to reduce them in size. The SABRELite board is 75mm x 75mm.

More information about each specific board can be found at:

SABRE AI  http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=RDIMX6SABREAUTO&fsrch=1&sr=1

SABRE SD  http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=RDIMX6SABREBRD&fsrch=1&sr=2

SABRELite  http://boundarydevices.com/products/sabre-lite-imx6-sbc/

I am not aware of any other third-party hardware that would do specifically what you require.

I wish you the best of luck with your search.

Cheers,

Mark

[corbysable]

Hello Mark,

Thank you for replying to my questions.

I will investigate your links.  My requirement is to ingest two live streaming videos/audio into the the board.  The board of size 100mm X 180mm is too large to fit into the proof-of-concept.

The board size should be about 90mm X 90mm.

Is the iMX6 Sabre lite dev board fast enough to perform simultaneous encode/decode/scaling in real time on qty. two HD -- H.264 streams, which is full-duplex?  One stream entering the board is to be encoded.  The second stream is to be decoded.  qty. 1-2 mini-PCI express is required connection.  qty. 1-2 RJ-45 Giga-ethernet ports is required.

Is this iMX6 processor the fastest DSP processor available by Freescale?  In terms of GFLOPs and MMACs.

Please let me know your opinions.

Regards,

Corby