AXIOM Alpha Prototype Hardware complete
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The comment you are replying to does not exist.Submitted by Sebastian on Mon, 10/07/2013 - 11:14
After receiving our PCBs for the prototype, we have now started assembling them. Doing so has required a series of complex procedures and multiple runs of hand soldering tiny components or reflow soldering on a hot plate. This has been immediately followed with connectivity testing and interface communication tests. At present, all components have been properly installed and testing/verifying electrical connectivity has indicated that everything is in good working order. On the software side of things, we have basic communication with the sensor on the Zedboard up and running and can set/get registers on the image sensor through the Zedboard's Linux shell. The next step involves getting actual image data from the sensor, however before we can do this we have to create a memory interface for reading/writing to and from DRAM, storing and retrieving the image data from inside the FPGA.
HDMI Output
To get the HDMI output up and running on the Zedboard, we have created a test pattern generator inside the FPGA. If you have a Zedboard you can give it a try here, irrespective of whether you have the image sensor hardware. Doing so will allow us to verify and adjust timing properties across a range of monitors and resolution/refresh rate combinations where necessary. The main reason for these tests is that outputting video over HDMI from the image sensor is much easier if you know that the HDMI output is already working properly across all monitors and resolutions/refresh rates, and that the only thing we really need to deal with is the actual image stream that is being output.
