Cradle Enhances MPEG-4 IP Video Streamer Reference Design with Power-Over-Ethernet

Bluegill provides “production-ready” reference design for remote video surveillance
Accelerates customer development of network video streaming equipment

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – June 8, 2005 –Cradle Technologies today announced an enhanced version of Bluegill, an MPEG-4 IP video streamer reference design based on the company’s CT3400 multi-processor digital signal processor (MDSP). The low-cost and small form factor reference design is “production ready” and includes all the hardware and software needed for an advanced networked surveillance IP video streamer system to enable remote surveillance monitoring. Bluegill enables conversion of surveillance-related content from analog to digital without requiring the substantial investment that would otherwise be incurred in replacing the existing installed base of analog cameras.

With Bluegill, users can remotely access, control, and monitor live video from any PC on a LAN/WAN using existing analog cameras in the infrastructure. The onboard Cradle CT3400 MDSP can implement a variety of advanced video-compression algorithms such as MPEG-4 to produce high quality D1 real-time video at low compression bit rates. For live streaming, video is encapsulated in RTP for UDP-based IP transmission. The design supports video input from any standard NTSC/PAL analog camera or CMOS sensor with industry-standard ITU-R BT.656 outputs. The addition of an 802.3af-compliant Power-Over-Ethernet (PoE) feature simplifies system deployment by supplying both data and power to devices on a wired LAN through the Ethernet cable, thus reducing required wiring. Other newly added capabilities include RS485 PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) camera control, as well as enhanced alarm sensor and relay control.

The combination of the newly added PoE feature and the existing glueless IDE interface, which enables direct connectivity to local storage devices, make Bluegill a highly integrated and cost-effective reference design for IP video surveillance applications. “Customers developing IP video streaming equipment have appreciated Bluegill’s high degree of integration, low cost and ease of use,” said Kourosh Amiri, Cradle’s marketing director. “Through use of our MDSP chip in Bluegill, customers have uncommitted DSP/RISC processing power that they can use to implement their own design-specific algorithms, simplifying product differentiation. The latest enhancements in Bluegill’s capabilities provide our customers further integration and more design options from which to choose.

Bluegill Details

The Bluegill MPEG4 IP Video Streamer reference design comprises all schematics, board layout files, application firmware object code, one pre-loaded “ready-to-go out of the box” streamer board, and a client-side PC viewer/decoder application. System memory includes 8 MByte Flash and 64 MByte SDRAM. The board measures only 4.0” x 4.75”. Detailed manufacturing cost bill of materials (BOM) estimates are available for 3 different build options: 1) standard, 2) with IDE support, and 3) with PoE support. To facilitate customer evaluation of the Bluegill reference design, an evaluation board is also available. This consists of one assembled Bluegill board with application firmware pre-loaded in FLASH memory, including an MPEG4 D1 real-time encoder, a G.711 audio codec, an IP transport protocol stack (RTP/UDP) and all I/O drivers and interfaces.

Pricing and Availability

The Bluegill IP video streamer reference design is currently available. The evaluation board is priced at $995. Contact Cradle for pricing on the complete Bluegill reference design kit.

About Cradle Technologies

Cradle is a fabless semiconductor company providing the best price/performance, most flexible and most scalable DSP solutions for real-time multimedia applications. Cradle’s multiprocessor DSP architecture innovation delivers high-performance scalable DSP processing with the flexibility, time-to-market and product differentiation benefits of processor-based programmable platforms. Coupled with a Rapid Development System and suite of application software functions, Cradle provides OEMs with all the building blocks necessary to enable flexible yet high-performance DSP designs. Cradle’s corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. For more information call 408-636-5000 or visit www.cradle.com.

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