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Originally Posted by davidthefat
I was not very aware of FPGAs, so I read up on them; essentially FPGAs are processors that are highly customizable to fit specific functions? So do FPGAs need to be configured hardwarely before it can be programmed? Is the cRio a type of FPGA? If not, which FPGA is a suitable FPGA for the purpose of image processing? Also would the FPGAs be used primarily to capture the images or process the images? Regarding cameras, would they need to be directly communicating with the FPGA, like the middle man, or would the cameras be communicating with the cRio?
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The cRIO has an FPGA in it. This is what produces the PWM signal on the digital sidecar, accumulates the gyro signal, and communicates with all of the modules in the RIO.
It also provides the system watchdog.
Most FPGAs are programmed over JTAG, they only need power (some need 3.3v for IO as well as 1.75v for the main processor) and a clock to be programmed.
Keep in mind that some of them are volatile, they lose their program upon power down, so those ones need an external flash memory in order to function properly each time it is powered up.
As far as capturing / processing goes, the FPGA could do both (if you use one that has enough NAND (or NOR) gates).
If to be used for capturing, then it would have to be a "middle man" between the camera and the cRIO.
This would allow all of the processing to be done without putting ANY load on the cRIO. It would appear be something like a CMUCam to the cRIO.
The CMUCam would give the RC a very limited set of data (but the data was useful). It gave the centroid's (Center of mass) coordinates, 2 coordinates (a box where the green target was found), and servo control commands to keep the target centered.
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidthefat
If the cameras were to be communicating with the cRio, would a Ethernet network cable splitter suffice? Would the cameras show up as two separate cameras or would the set up just fail?
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You would need a hub or switch, not just a splitter.
Each camera would have its own IP address (unless your processing FPGA is what is ultimately communicating to the cRIO, in which case no cameras would show up, the only data transferred would be in your own custom protocol and with your own data.) and thus would show up as 2 cameras.