Video Dragon supports MIPI A-PHY®

The GOEPEL electronic Video Dragon 6222 product family offers powerful tools for testing camera- and display-based driver assisted systems.

Video Dragon 6222 combines both frame grabber and frame generator functions in one product and currently supports the processing of many video data standards including, FPD-Link II/III and IV, GMSL 2 and 3 and APIX 2 and 3. The product portfolio has now been expanded to include the MIPI A-PHY® interface.

The Video Dragon 6222 product line follows a modular concept in which a universal base board provides a slot for a test-object specific media interface. 
The MI 6222 VA7044 Coax media interface grabs data from MIPI A-PHY® -based cameras or data sources. It uses the VA7044 serializer from Valens Semiconductor, whose four input channels are available via two HFM® Fakra twinaxial connectors on the front panel.

The MIPI A-PHY® specification addresses applications in the areas of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), Autonomous Driving Systems (ADS), and In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI). These are precisely the areas in which the Video Dragon 6222 has already been a powerful test tool for some time.

The Video Dragon 6222 product family includes the G CAR 6222 stand-alone device, the G PCIe 6222 PCI express card, and the G PXIe 6222 PXI express module, covering all applications from developer workstations to fully automated test solutions used in production.

In addition to the MI 6222 VA7044 Coax discussed here, a broad portfolio of different video interface modules enables the Video Dragon 6222 to be used across various OEMs as a project-specific multi-channel grabber or generator. 
A special application monitors and analyses the data traffic in a pass-through mode (respective media interfaces provide both, receivers (deserializers) and transmitters (serializers)). The data received from a transmitter under test and forwarded directly to the receiver under test is simultaneously collected by Video Dragon 6222 in order to transfer it to the host PC for further processing and analysis.

A wide range of special functions such as sideband communication via UART, I²C, SPI or MII, a CAN FD bus interface (e.g. for a residual bus simulation or CAN over UART), and a digital I/O interface are also available options.

The Video Dragon includes the intuitive “Dragon Suite” configuration and control software, available for MS Windows and LINUX operating systems. The software’s graphical user interface and interactive dialogues enable convenient configuration and parameterization of the Video Dragon, allowing users to start using the application quickly and to visualize test results. 

Another use case is the integration of Video Dragon in customer-specific test systems. Video Dragon comes with a generic API that can be integrated very easily into user software (e.g. C code, LabVIEW, ...). The range of related services offered includes product and application support, as well as assistance in selecting the right components and their configurations.