Posted by John Keller

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., 22 Feb. 2012. GE Intelligent Platforms in Charlottesville, Va., is introducing an enhanced version of the ICS-8580 rugged high definition video compression Express Mezzanine Card (XMC) module for video applications in aerospace and defense systems. The XMC helps users capture, transmit, and store high quality moving images at high speed with low latency and with minimal consumption of bandwidth or disk space, GE officials say.

The ICS-8580 video-compression XMC can capture, archive, or stream video inputs over Ethernet, manage several video streams, as well as well as perform capture, manipulation, conversion, compression, storage, decompression, and video display. The embedded computing card for military embedded systems also can be deployed in harsh environments that are constrained by size, weight and power (SWaP).

Enhancements from the previous version of the ICS-8580 include two digital signal processors (DSPs) configurable as an encoder or decoder; support for PCI Express; a software development kit (SDK); six inputs and four outputs for use with front-end connectors; ability to connect to a network-attached storage (NAS); and support for synchronizing stereo or mono sound.

The ICS-8580 features H.264 video compression/decompression (codec) technology. At the heart of the ICS-8580 lies a combination of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) coupled with dual DSPs.

The FPGA enables video switching, format conversions, scaling, blending, and other processing functions while the dual DSP processors enable multichannel video compression and decompression. It can handle as many as two channels of full HD (1080p30) or UXGA (1,600 x 1,200 @ 30 frames/second) video, or as many as four channels of standard-definition video.

For more information contact GE Intelligent Platforms online at www.ge-ip.com.