StarBoard Design Specializing in rapid, effective, analog and mixed-signal electronic design

Here are some examples of work done by StarBoard principals:

	1.76Gb/s MSK Baseband Test Signal Generator Designed as test and demo platform for customer's RFIC Modular Verilog code may be used as basis for end-customer designs Based on low-cost Xilinx Spartan FPGA Custom FMC adapter card with filters & attenuators designed, laid-out, fabricated & assembled by StarBoard Provides quadrature I & Q references in addition to quadrature data signals Data timing adjustable at build time to within ~40ps to account for filter delays Data pattern selectable between LFSR pseudo-random sequence and several simpler patterns
	FPGA Logic, Windows Driver, and Software Libraries for PCIe/104 FPGA Card Scatter/gather DMA engine for high sustained bandwidth User logic interfaces to any number of simple streaming channels Independent FIFOs for each channel and each direction Based on Xilinx Virtex-5 LX FPGA Simple block-based API on host Host code has independent access to each user-FIFO on the FPGA Drivers for XP, Vista, Win7, Server-2003, Server-2008, all 32bit or 64bit Host can download new FPGA configurations as needed, without rebooting Highly customizable to match user logic requirements
	Custom 800V Discrete Linear Amplifier Class-B for very low quiescent power, 1/15 the power of some competing integrated solutions Intended for large capacitive loads such as CILAS deformable mirrors Adjustable current limit so as not to exceed actuator slew-rate limits Output short-circuit tolerant (depending on current-limit setting) Single current-limit setting may be shared among many independent channels Low crossover distortion Announced at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+Instrumentation, July 2012, Amsterdam Low cost compared to integrated modules
	140-channel High-Speed HV MEMS Driver System Evolution of 140-channel USB-based Driver (below) 2.5Gb/s Single-lane Serial Interface through Infiniband-style connector Uses Altera ArriaGX FPGA Serial interface compatible with Xilinx' Aurora Core >400kHz Update Rate <4usec latency including serial link, 1st-word in to last DAC updated Schematic, Firmware, and Test pattern Generator designed by StarBoard
	High-connectivity DSP/FPGA Board TIM-format Module 1GHz TI DSP 64b Memory Interface Large FPGA 2x S-ATA Interfaces Schematic and PCB redesign of existing board to add features Developed all manufacturing and acceptance tests Developed standard FPGA code Assembly managed by StarBoard
	32-channel High-Voltage MEMS Driver System Designed Custom Adjustable Low-cost 300V DC/DC Converter High-speed USB Interface
	Custom FPGA IP Developments (many projects) Multi-channel FFT with high-resolution FIR prefilter Custom multi-pulse auto-correlation & averaging processing for LIDAR Serial-Front-Panel Data Port Module New family of intra-board and inter-board FPGA/DSP communications channels Most modules are parameterized to facilitate reuse Development in VHDL or Verilog Can support any Xilinx or Altera FPGAs: Spartan, Virtex, Cyclone, Arria, Stratix Testbenches always included
	140-channel High-Voltage MEMS Driver System High-speed USB 2.0 interface to host PC Provided schematic design, FPGA development, initial unit bringup Uses custom HVA modules (below)
	Custom Low-cost High-voltage Amplifier 32 channels per small plug-in card 300V range 30kHz bandwidth Stable with pure-capacitive load Much cheaper alternative to integrated multi-channel HVAs
	Data interface board for 4k-channel high-voltage MEMS driver Fast parallel interface to host PC Dual FPGAs format data for up to 128 multi-channel DACs Configurable for different array sizes & system configurations Auxiliary USB control/data interface Provided schematic design, FPGA development, PCB layout, and microcontroller monitor code
	Multi-Sensor USB Camera System Used for portable biometrics application Turn-key project from initial specification to delivery of complete board sets and software Supports 2 or 3 CMOS Mono & Color Sensors with high-speed serial data interface Processing & data handling provided by Altera FPGA USB High Speed interface to Host PC
	High-throughput DSP/FPGA Board Quick-turn redesign of existing non-functional board PMC-format Module Dual TI 1GHz DSPs Xilinx Virtex2-Pro FPGA 64bit 66MHz PCI interface 16 lanes of Multi-Gigabit Transceivers Conduction-cooled PrPMC / XMC format Provided schematics, CPLD & FPGA code, low-level PCI support in C Provided test code & procedures
	Avalanche Photodetector Board Detector for high-speed pulse-power measurements Identified candidate APD suppliers, correlated disparate datasheet info Analyzed filter topologies for high SNR Laid-out PCB to meet strict customer mechanical requirements Sourced bare PCBs Tested noise, bandwidth, pulse response of completed assemblies
	Digital Audio Power-CoDec Development From specification to initial demonstration in two weeks StarBoard provided full Verilog code plus testbench Based on Spartan-3 FPGA and integrated 12-FET output stage
	Custom Audio Power ASIC Sample Board 4-layer and 2-layer reference designs for direct integration by customers Allows demonstration/experimentation with different configurations by simple jumper selection Accomodates multiple component packages in key positions
	PDR-level system design for a low-power multi-DSP + multi-FPGA VME/PMC board set Full power analysis Top-level design and I/O allocation for two high-end Xilinx FPGAs Netlist generated for preliminary board layout and mechanical design Included support for customer meetings Met highly compressed schedule
	Consumer 360-degree Camera System Provided production-ready schematics, HDL, and prototype hardware Single-DSP (analog-video output) and dual-DSP (1394 interface) versions
	Custom DSP Development / Demonstration / Characterization Platform Interchangable DSP daughtercards 400Mbit/s IEEE1394 interface to PC Configurable FPGA interfaces to DSP I/O Programmable core voltage SDR and DDR SDRAM support
	Specification, Verilog RTL development and verification for I/O modules of a new DSP family High-speed video input and output ports Selectable master/slave host port PLL-based clock control Embedded bus monitor General-purpose I/O
	Demonstration of new DSP architecture Based on 1.5M Gate equivalent Altera FPGA USB interface to PC Extensive debugging features RS-422 Interface to external CCD camera Firmware and Windows DLL included
Machine    Vision	Three unique vision-based process controls for flat-glass manufacturing Flow tracking inside the melt tank Width measurement inside the tin bath High-accuracy width and knurl tracking immediately after the tin bath (linescan camera) All projects included camera and processing specification, algorithm development, PC-based software, documentation, and customer training Custom camera modifications were made as needed
	Full-Custom Camera for Adaptive-Optics-Based Astronomy 4-output backside-illuminated CCD array Thermoelectric cooling 128 x 128 pixel resolution 2,000 Frames per second Less than 10 electrons noise 12-bit resolution, 11-bit dynamic range
	Industrial high-speed CCD camera 4-output array 256 x 256 pixel resolution 15 - 1,000 Frames per second 32-bit digital output
	Quick-turn demonstration platform for new InGaAs Near-IR sensors

Home	Examples	Contact
© Copyright 2013 by StarBoard Design, all rights reserved
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners