Quest Innovations Selects the LatticeECP2/M FPGA Family for its Next Generation "Raptor" Camera System

System Integrates LatticeMico32 Microprocessor and DDR2 Memory IP

HILLSBORO, OR - JANUARY 21, 2008 - Lattice Semiconductor today announced that Quest Innovations has selected the LatticeECP2™ and LatticeECP2M™ FPGAsfor use in its next generation Raptor series of scalable, intelligent Gigabit Ethernet cameras. Quest has integrated its QuadCore IP (intellectual property) into the Lattice FPGA. The QuadCore IP is a multi-core, scalable parallel pixel processing unit. By connecting 10 QuadCore IP cores together, Quest is able to deliver more than 1 Gbyte/second image processing and transfer. This latest version of the Raptor camera system will support more than 2Mpixels, 500 fps, and 8Gbytes of memory and is capable of doing pre-processing and storing up to 24 seconds of high speed image data.

The decision to use the LatticeECP2/M family of low-cost FPGAs was driven by the availability of the LatticeMico32™ open source soft microprocessor core, 840Mbps high speed LVDS I/Os, pre-engineered DDR2 memory interface IP and the embedded, full-featured DSP blocks available with this FPGA architecture.

"The LatticeECP2/M FPGA family proved to be an excellent platform for integrating our high performance QuadCore scalable pixel processing IP into our Raptor camera systems,” said Richard Meester, President and CEO of Quest Innovations. “The combination of the Lattice FPGAs and IP cores, combined with our expertise in machine vision systems, has allowed Quest Innovations to develop a truly industry leading, user programmable camera system.”

"Our LatticeECP2 and LatticeECP2M FPGA families continue to deliver significant value to our customers by combining a low-cost FPGA fabric with selected high-end functionality such as 840Mbps LVDS I/Os, full-featured DSP blocks, expanded memory and 3.125Gbps SERDES,” said Stan Kopec, Lattice corporate vice president of marketing. “When combined with our comprehensive portfolio of IP cores, including our open-source LatticeMico32 32-bit microprocessor core, the LatticeECP2/M family enables customers to implement complex system designs at very low cost points.”

About the LatticeECP2/M FPGA Family 

The LatticeECP2/M family has redefined the low-cost FPGA product category by providing performance-enhancing features that are typically available only on more expensive competitive high-end FPGAs. The LatticeECP2/M family supports logic densities from 6K LUTs up to 95K LUTs, has high performance DSP blocks, supports DDR2 memory interfaces at up to 533Mbps and up to 840Mbps generic LVDS performance. Some of the high-end features incorporated into the LatticeECP2M family specifically include embedded SERDES I/O and the most on-chip memory in its class. The LatticeECP2M family supports up to 16 channels of embedded SERDES operating up to 3.125Gbps, supporting protocols such as PCI Express, Ethernet (1GbE and SGMII), CPRI and OBSAI. The LatticeECP2M Embedded Block RAM capacity ranges from 1.2 Mbits to 5.3 Mbits, representing up to a 400% increase over competitive low-cost architectures. All ECP2/M family members in all package options are now in full production.

About Quest Innovations

Quest Innovations B.V. is a privately held high technology company with three business divisions: IP/Chip Design, Engineering Products and Machine Vision. Quest has expertise in chip design, engineering products and services and machine vision. Quest’s main focus is in configurable RISC cores and the appropriate software; Multi Media IP such as high performance VGA cores and MPEG2 decoders; and Interface IP such as IDE, I2C, I2S and MOST MLB. Quest Innovations can be contacted at info@quest-innovations.com or at +31 227 604046.

About Lattice Semiconductor

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation provides the industry's broadest range of Programmable Logic Devices (PLD), including Field Programmable Gate Arrays ( FPGA), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLD), Mixed-Signal Power Management and Clock Generation Devices, and industry-leading SERDES products.
Lattice continues to deliver "More of the Best" to its customers with comprehensive solutions for system design, including an unequaled portfolio of high-performance, non-volatile, and low-cost FPGAs.
Lattice products are sold worldwide through an extensive network of independent sales representatives and distributors, primarily to OEM customers in communications, computing, industrial, consumer, automotive, medical and military end markets. For more information, visit http://www.latticesemi.com