Xilinx Accelerates Machine Vision Application Design Productivity for Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoCs

Industry leading development platforms, HALCON and VisualApplets, create an end-to-end Smarter Vision development environment with maximum design productivity

SAN JOSE -- Calif., Nov. 25, 2013 -- Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announced accelerated design productivity for machine vision applications, leveraging HALCON and VisualApplets development platforms to create an end-to-end Smarter Vision development environment for the Zynq®-7000 All Programmable SoC.   HALCON software from MVTec for machine vision provides high-performance and comprehensive support for video analytics and runs on multicore platforms like the Zynq All Programmable SoC. HALCON includes a library of more than 1800 operators for blob analysis, morphology, matching, measuring, identification, and 3D vision. VisualApplets from Silicon Software provides advanced image processing libraries and high-level design entry and simulation tools that enable users to quickly and efficiently program FPGA hardware for industrial image processing. The strong collaboration of Xilinx with HALCON and VisualApplets creates an end-to-end Smarter Vision development environment for Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC users that reduces design cycles and time to market. Offering both hardware and software re-programmability, the Zynq-7000 SoC is well suited for the system flexibility and customization required by machine vision applications.   The dual-core ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ processing system inherent in the Zynq-7000 architecture provides a software programming platform that runs application software and executes networking and management tasks, while the Xilinx® 28nm programmable logic provides a hardware programming platform capable of real-time performance for image processing, filtering and scaling.  Placing key image processing functions inside the FPGA fabric accelerates performance faster than a traditional software approach.

"In the past, machine vision worked  via central processing on a PC with cameras transmitting video and images;  however, with the development of embedded technology, smart vision cameras and compact vision systems have developed to support the distributed intelligence at nodes," said Christoph Fritsch, director of industrial, science and medical segment markets for Xilinx. "The growth of smart vision applications requires All Programmable embedded processing technology that can deliver real-time processing and system flexibility for customization."

"The ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor inherent in the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC is the best match for advanced image processing applications," said Klaus-Henning Noffz, CEO of Silicon Software. "VisualApplets is the development platform to make maximum use of this processing power by offering short design cycles, simple verification, automatically generated interface to the ARM processor, and a huge image processing library. Software and application engineers are able to create complex designs efficiently – with the benefit of short time-to-market and dramatically reduced risks."

"Adding support for the Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC is a natural extension of the flexible architecture inherent to HALCON software for machine vision," said Dr. Gerhard Blahusch, director of solutions and services for MVTec.  "While the FPGA fabric provides the real-time performance required for pixel processing at high resolution and high frame rates, HALCON's automatic operator parallelization capability takes full advantage of the ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processor, without the need for additional programming."

Technology demonstrations leveraging Silicon Software's Visual Applets and MVTec's HALCON will be available in Xilinx's Booth #6-111 at SPS Drives, November 26-28, at the Nuremburg Exhibition Hall in Nuremburg, Germany.

About Xilinx Smarter Vision

Xilinx Smarter Vision includes a broad portfolio of building blocks for smarter systems, called SmartCORE™ IP.  The SmartCORE IP portfolio, developed by both Xilinx and its ecosystem, includes both hardware IP targeting All Programmable logic and software IP developed for high performance ARM processors.  SmartCORE IP can be rapidly integrated via the Vivado IPI (IP Integrator). Additionally, new IP can be generated from: C, C++ or SystemC with Vivado HLS (high-level synthesis), and now includes industry standard OpenCV libraries, which are supported by popular operating systems and software development environments.  A wide range of design kits further accelerate design productivity for smarter systems design.

Xilinx Smarter Vision solutions leverage Xilinx FPGAs, 3D ICs and Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoCs. Xilinx All Programmable SoCs are considered the ideal platform for designers to rapidly deliver highly integrated solutions with real-time pixel processing in programmable logic with ARM processor-based analytics for smarter video broadcast, machine vision and immersive displays. To learn more about Xilinx Smarter Vision solutions visit www.xilinx.com/smartervision.

About Xilinx

Xilinx is the world's leading provider of All Programmable FPGAs, SoCs and 3D ICs. These industry-leading devices are coupled with a next-generation design environment and IP to serve a broad range of customer needs, from programmable logic to programmable systems integration. For more information, visit www.xilinx.com.