Altera FPGA Replaces 64 DSP Devices in Fairlight's New Media Processing Engine
09 April 2007 - 11:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
A/V Production Engine Demonstrates FPGA's Flexibility and Digital
Signal Processing Capabilities, Creating a Market-Leading Product
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Sydney, Australia-based
audio production systems expert Fairlight is applying the
flexibility and digital signal processing (DSP) advantages of
Altera(R) FPGAs to shrink an eight board, 64 DSP device-based
design to a single, Stratix(R) FPGA-based PCI card. "Our Crystal
Core (CC-1) architecture demonstrates how Altera FPGAs deliver
superior price-performance for DSP functions," said Tino Fibaek,
Fairlight's chief technology officer. "Altera's development tools
helped make this project the smoothest engineering effort I have
ever witnessed. We completed our development in one-third the time
it would have taken to complete a DSP device-based architecture."
Crystal Core technology obsoletes DSP/Time Slice Bus-based media
processing architectures and delivers major performance gains while
dramatically reducing hardware complexity and cost. When compared
to competitive products, the CC-1 enables significantly improved
signal processing quality, broader system capability and previously
unattainable price/performance gains. "This design demonstrates the
superior flexibility and the signal processing advantages of FPGAs
versus traditional DSP devices," said Dr. Nick Tredennick, editor
of Gilder Technology Report. "The reduced hardware complexity
between the new and old systems offers important implementation and
time-to-market advantages." Precision Processing for Separate Tasks
Fairlight uses the hardware flexibility of Altera FPGAs, rather
than the fixed bit-width of DSP devices, to simultaneously run
multiple processes at different bit depths. The company refers to
this feature as Dynamic Resolution Optimization (DRO), which allows
audio engineers to choose the best level of processing for each
system task. With DRO, equalization processing can be performed at
72-bit floating-point precision, while mixing is performed with
36-bit floating point precision and metering functions at 16-bit
fixed-point resolution. This provides greater performance at a
lower system cost, resulting in notably enhanced audio quality.
Fairlight applies the FPGA's programmability, enabling a universal
hardware platform for a number of media applications requiring
real-time audio and video processing power. For example, the CC-1
deployed for sound design activities can be redeployed as a
high-definition (HD) video color grader and later be repurposed for
a music recording session. For more information on Fairlight's CC-1
capabilities, go to
http://www.fairlightau.com/default_content.html. Fairlight will be
exhibiting the CC-1 at the National Association of Broadcasters
(NAB) Convention, April 14 - 19, in Las Vegas, booth SL 4010. About
Fairlight Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Fairlight designs and
manufactures media-creation tools including digital audio
recording, editing and mixing systems for standard- and
high-definition audio post, broadcast and music production
applications. Fairlight's DREAM II family includes Satellite,
StationPlus, Constellation-XT, HD Factory and Anthem. The DREAM II
series is powered by Fairlight's breakthrough CC-1 technology, the
world's first FPGA- based media processing engine, which introduces
Dynamic Resolution Optimization and delivers previously
unattainable price/performance gains together with unprecedented
speed, flexibility and exceptional sonic quality. The platform sets
the benchmark in low latency processing. For more information, go
to http://www.fairlight.com/ About Altera Altera's programmable
solutions enable system and semiconductor companies to rapidly and
cost-effectively innovate, differentiate and win in their markets.
Find out more at http://www.altera.com/. NOTE: Altera, The
Programmable Solutions Company, the stylized Altera logo, specific
device designations and all other words that are identified as
trademarks and/or service marks are, unless noted otherwise, the
trademarks and service marks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and
other countries. All other product or service names are the
property of their respective holder. Editor Contact: Ford Kanzler
Daniel O'Connell Altera Corporation Griffin Public Relations &
Marketing (408) 544-6836 (212) 481-3456 DATASOURCE: Altera
Corporation CONTACT: Ford Kanzler of Altera Corporation,
+1-408-544-6836, or ; or Daniel O'Connell of Griffin Public
Relations & Marketing, +1-212-481-3456, or , for Altera
Corporation Web site: http://www.altera.com/
http://www.fairlight.com/
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