{"id":9926,"date":"2022-08-24T16:30:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T14:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/?p=9926"},"modified":"2023-06-23T15:47:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T13:47:26","slug":"know-how-testing-fpd-link-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/know-how-testing-fpd-link-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Know-How: what is FPD-Link III and how to test it?\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Flat Panel Display Link<\/strong>, better known as FPD-Link\u2122, is a high-speed digital video interface created in 1996 by\u00a0Texas Instruments – TI <\/strong>(formerly National Semiconductor), now used in many Automotive applications to transport video from point to point, like Navigation Systems, In-car E<\/strong>ntertainment, and backup cameras<\/strong>, as well as other Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS)<\/strong>. The automotive environment is known to be one of the harshest for\u00a0electronic equipment due to inherent extreme temperatures and electrical\u00a0transients.\u00a0<\/p>

FPD-Link\u2122 III<\/strong> was introduced in 2010, specifically to meet automotive\u00a0application requirements and to embed a bidirectional communication channel<\/strong> on the same differential pair, over a low-cost cable, either twisted pair or coax. This bidirectional channel transfers control signals between source and\u00a0destination in addition to the clock and streaming high-definition digital video\u00a0data. Therefore, FPD-Link III even further reduces cable cost by eliminating cables for control channels such as I2C<\/strong> and CAN bus<\/strong>.<\/p>

FPD-Link III serializers and deserializers\u00a0<\/strong>(SerDes)<\/strong> have been optimized either for the link between a processor and a\u00a0display, or between the processor and a camera. Not long ago, cameras were a novel feature in an automobile,\u00a0mostly used in larger vehicles to aid in seeing behind the vehicle while\u00a0backing up. Today, backup cameras are included even in low-cost, sub-compact\u00a0cars. As automobiles develop, there will be more and more applications for\u00a0cameras in the vehicle, and the cameras will become more and more\u00a0sophisticated. Furthermore, automotive vision systems industry is moving from single camera system, such as a backup camera, to multiple camera-systems.\u00a0 With multiple cameras, images and synchronization becomes an important feature for next-generation systems.<\/p>

In many areas, adding more capabilities to an existing\u00a0technology has made the interconnects more complicated and more expensive. For\u00a0example, adding copy protection to the link from your home DVD player to your\u00a0video monitor requires changing from an analog coax cable to an HDMI cable. The\u00a0new connection method gives better quality video, along with the copy\u00a0protection. But this is at the cost of a much more expensive cable\/connector\u00a0ecosystem, and there is also the difficulty of supporting longer cable runs. When confronted with a similar issue within the automobile, FPD-Link III was\u00a0extended to allow the same twisted-pair cable to carry copy-protected content\u00a0<\/strong>from a Blu-ray\u2122 player or server to a back-seat entertainment screen. In these\u00a0devices, the same information that was carried over separate conductors is now\u00a0encoded and carried along the FPD-Link III \u2013 sharing the same conductors that\u00a0carry the video content. Getting video out of a camera and to the processor, or\u00a0from a Blu-ray player to a screen, is not enough. In both cases, control\u00a0<\/strong>signals<\/strong> going in the opposite direction are also required. In the case of the\u00a0camera, the processor needs to configure the imager. In the case of the\u00a0back-seat entertainment panel, the user interface is often a touch screen, and\u00a0touch commands must be sent back from the screen to the processor. FPD-Link III\u00a0handles this with an integrated return channel, which allows the same piece of coax or twisted pair to carry video in one direction, and to have an\u00a0independent, bidirectional control channel sharing the same conductor. This\u00a0allows the cable to remain thin, flexible and inexpensive.\u00a0<\/p>

Testing of FPD-Link III displays<\/strong><\/p>

In automotive applications, automotive infotainment displays<\/strong> based on FPD-Link III chipsets, or multi-camera driver assistance systems, as well as automotive RADAR & LIDAR modules are subject to thorough V&V and manufacturing test. Testing of these devices typically includes the generation and transmission of multimedia digital stream to the corresponding receiver, and in this use case a programmable multimedia stream generator<\/strong> compatible with the Device Under Test (DUT) receiver is required.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"FPDLRTD3_use_case\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Car Infotainment display testing with FPD-Link III Flexmedia XM Multimedia Stream Programmable Generator<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\r\n\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The ideal test tool is a modular solution, that can be used both in R&D<\/strong>, V&V and manufacturing test<\/strong>, with a rugged<\/strong> and at the same time compact<\/strong> shape to save manufacturing floor space, closer to DUT for more efficient cabling and conceived for continuous 24\/7 operations<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>

Flexmedia XM FPDL3TD3<\/strong><\/a> module is a versatile video generator equipped with TI DS90UH947<\/strong> dual link serializer over (dual) twisted pair, or FPDL3TC1<\/strong> <\/a>module equipped with TI DS90UB953<\/strong> serializer over coax. Both modules fully support TI chipset functions, they are equipped with pixel perfect reference pattern generator<\/strong> and programmable frame size<\/strong>, synchs & porches. Video frame content is customizable from image files<\/strong>, and two different generation modes are available: still frame and circular buffer movie<\/strong>. Real time adjustable overlays can be enabled, and RGB <\/strong>or YCbCr color space<\/strong> can be selected. Additional features include 4:2:2 chroma sub-sampling and ITU656 coder, and an arbitrary audio generator can be provided as an option. To complete the full feature set, they support bidirectional sideband communication <\/strong>and programmable I\/O trigger<\/strong>. As all Flexmedia XM modules, they share the same rugged industrial design<\/strong> in a portable, palm-sized form factor<\/strong>. They use a Gigabit PoE<\/strong> low-cost control & power infrastructure, with 10\/100\/1000BASE-T Ethernet support, and are provided with a variety of software interfacing methods, including Windows GUI & APIs<\/strong> (DLL, LabVIEW\u00ae, NI TestStand\u00ae & Supernova\u2122 Step Types) and a simple OS-agnostic<\/strong> Command Line Interface (CLI<\/strong>). Remote firmware updates can be performed via Ethernet.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\r\n\t\t\t\t

\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\r\n\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Conclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Video is becoming a bigger part of the modern automobile. FPD-Link III is an ideal technology to support today\u2019s and tomorrow\u2019s needs, minimizing system costs through inexpensive cable to do more. This technology is also ready to keep pace with future advances.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

References:
– TI.com: FPD-Link III \u2013 doing more with less<\/a>
– Wikipedia:FPD-Link<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\r\n\t\t\t\t

\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRequest a quote or aks for more details<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/section>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flat Panel Display Link, better known as FPD-Link™, is a high-speed digital video interface created in 1996 by\u00a0Texas Instruments – TI (formerly National Semiconductor), now used in many Automotive applications to transport video from point to point, like Navigation Systems, In-car Entertainment, and backup cameras, as well as other Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS). The automotive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/box1.jpg",850,350,false],"list":["https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/box1-463x348.jpg",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/box1-300x124.jpg",300,124,true],"full":["https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/box1.jpg",850,350,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9926"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9934,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9926\/revisions\/9934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.areadisviluppo.com\/flexmediaxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}