Seeking Some Special Roadtesters for the UltraZed-EV

rscasny, a beasty board with hardcore features for high-end embedded video processing requirements and I would really love to see this in action. Thinking of an Advanced Driver Assistance System with video analysis based situational awareness application. However, I am still a rookie to Zedboard platform and am currently learning it, and the implementation would thus take additional time. So, considering my inadequate experience, I have to back off.

Hello Shabaz.

Yes openCV etc can be used on a simple controller. But all applications differ in size and requirements. OpenCV is something that is not sufficient for some of my applications. I want to develop my system using MATLAB, since I find it really easy to interface it with the rest of my system, and even simulate the environment i intend to deploy my solution in. It helps me test my multi domain systems and projects at one place.

The parts that I have mentioned have been selected as per my current hardware. If I get a chance, I will buy better and more powerful peripherals that will serve my purpose better. The modules that I am currently using are good for prototyping, but not for a real world scenario I feel. I am very well aware of the beaglebone, rpi, etc. They are good for playing around, not for actual deployment. I want to move past that, all I was suggesting is that I am already working on those things. Thats all.

Also, as I mentioned, I have worked on a multitude of projects, not just that one. There are other suitable projects that I am working on as well and I feel I will be able to write a good and extensive review.

Lastly, yes I am aware of the pricing of this board. It won't be a part of the deployable solution, I intend to use it more for R and D and applications where I need a more powerful hardware. I have been considering the Jetson Xavier as well, lets see.

I hope I have answered all your doubts.

Hi Dishant,

No, I still have doubts.

On the one hand you say:

"The modules that I am currently using are good for prototyping, but not for a real world scenario I feel. I am very well aware of the beaglebone, rpi, etc. They are good for playing around, not for actual deployment. I want to move past that, all I was suggesting is that I am already working on those things. Thats all."

A $1000 board for thermal imaging sounds weird for 'actual deployment' which I'm guessing you mean as deployment in the field. What was the processing limitation you're going to hit with lower-cost plain Cortex-A and a smaller FPGA if needed, in actual deployment that would need a $1000 board?

"Also, as I mentioned, I have worked on a multitude of projects, not just that one. There are other suitable projects that I am working on as well and I feel I will be able to write a good and extensive review."

Great.. any hints on these projects?

"Lastly, yes I am aware of the pricing of this board. It won't be a part of the deployable solution, I intend to use it more for R and D and applications where I need a more powerful hardware. "

What R&D applications?

I'm only questioning this, because about five years ago an FPGA board got reviewed incompetently, and the guy scrapped the PCB - he tore it down!. Not saying that will be repeated by you, but when you raised what you were planning to do, it rang alarm bells and made me wonder what projects you have done with Xilinx or FPGAs. Given that there may only be one or a few RoadTests for this board, it would be nice to see a decent RoadTest is all I'm interested in seeing.

I understand. But it seems to me that you don't. I will try to sound clear.

I am doing some projects in thermal imaging, that have been restricted to cheaper sensors and boards because in India we don't really have much of funds to actually try and create something innovative or new. I wanted to develop a system, similar to FLIR's MSX technology. That was not possible with the infra I had so I had to resort to limited applications. With this board, it will be like the sky is the limit.

In India, we do not receive much of funding to develop some novel ideas or products easily. It is a real grind and everyone needs returns, and that to soon. I wanted to develop systems that use heavy Image processing in situations where multiple cameras wirelessly send their feeds over a frequency band. Like railway stations or agricultural farms.

A 1000$ board might sound weird for actual deployment yes, but not if it works for 10 people together, and they share it's cost.

As far as my background in fpgas and xilinx is concerned, it is only academical and basic, not even close to what i have done in embedded sbcs and controllers, but i am a fast learner and wanted to try these things that i mentioned in earlier paras on an fpga, since microcontrollers are not always sufficient.

Anyways, it's rscasny decision, all i wanted to mention is that i am seriously interested and if he finds me suitable he can surely give it a chance, i promise not to disappoint if he does. That's all I can say.

thebluephoenix  I'd suggest that it would be wise to finish your existing road test (and impress by doing it well) before taking on something this ambitious. Also, I believe that using a road test board as part of a work project can add some complications and isn't recommended.

After attending yesterday's webinar I'm really impressed by the board but more sure that I wouldn't be able to provide what Avnet would be after in a road test. I'd suggest that anyone hoping to road test this take a look at the webinar recording first  Embedded Video Processing Using the UltraZed-EV

I was present during the webinar, it was 3 in the night in India, but i was really interested in knowing more about the board.

I'll do my road test well, and as far as using the ultrazed for one of my project is concerned, it isn't any corporate or backed project. It is a personal project, that i i just wish to deploy in a practical environment. The companies i talked about just sponsor my hardware similar to this case, to be used in one of my applications. I try them, send my reviews and thats it.

As I said, I just mentioned I am interested in this roadtest, i won't disappoint if someone puts faith in me. The rest is for rscasny to decide, i have no problems if someone more experienced gets selected for this roadtest, i'll be looking forward to it.

thebluephoenix  wrote:

I'll do my road test well

I meant finish your Silicon Labs Bluetooth Design Kit road test first and prove you can do that well before starting another one.

I too was talking about that roadtest. Knowing my speed, and the time I have to spare, I meant to say that I can do one more roadtest with it. I am already 30% done with it.

Due to time constraints I really can't apply for this beast of a board. Will drop in a question here though - 

In the Video Processing module I am doing in college, we have been taught there are two big stages in the video pipeline - Compression(reducing the size of a video file) and Post-processing (things like Bayesian probability and motion estimation [Stochastic math]). I am sure the VCU can do (de/)compression, but what about the post-processing bit?  Where does an FPGA come in here? I have done quite a lot of work on FPGAs so hit me with all the jargon you guys got!

The VCU is a hardened HECV. H265 decode encoder so if you're familiar with Video codecs you'll find that motion estimation is an inherent part of the algorithm. On H265 search for P-Frames , i-Frames to get an idea.