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Cyclone FPGAs with embedded Nios processors provide highly integrated control and processing functions for the NightVista line of compact, high-performance night-vision cameras from Intevac. The Altera products replaced a digital signal processor (DSP)-based solution, delivering lower cost, reduced power consumption, and a high degree of integration. These features allowed Intevac to shrink the NightVista form factor by over 50 percent. The Altera solution bolsters NightVista’s position as one of the most advanced night-vision video cameras currently available to commercial or military customers.
By choosing Altera's integrated solution, Intevac also gained strategic benefits for current and future design efforts. Despite being first-time Nios processor users, Intevac was able to reduce design times and bring its product to market after only four months of development. Further, the FPGA reprogrammability enables Intevac to modify or upgrade NightVista cameras in the field—significantly opening its product roadmap. Finally, Intevac is able to scale and reuse its proprietary Nios processor-based design, even retargeting it to other Altera FPGAs if desired, enabling the engineering team to leverage its development efforts for future products.
"Replacing an off-the-shelf DSP processor allowed us to reduce five separate boards of components to a single board occupied mainly by a Cyclone device running an embedded Nios processor. The Altera-based approach reduced our component costs by at least 20 percent and decreased our power consumption to a fifth of what it had been. In addition, we are enjoying lower manufacturing costs and higher product reliability due to much simpler product architecture. These results, combined with the excellent support we are getting from our Altera distributor, Arrow Electronics, confirm that we made the best choice by going with Altera."
David Main
Engineering Group Manager
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