congatec reference board for video wall system design

congatec AG, a manufacturer of embedded computer modules, has introduced a reference board for video wall system design. Video wall systems increasingly rely on high-quality videos and (3D) graphics and therefore require a maximum number of graphics interfaces. The congatec reference board offers up to nine independent DisplayPort connectors in combination with an MXM graphics module and a COM Express CPU module. Both are equipped with AMD technology and provide concentrated graphics and computing power.

The video wall baseboard reference platform is based on the COM Express specification 2.1 for Pin-out Type 6, making it suitable for new designs. Displays can also be connected via additional VGA or LVDS ports. Besides graphical interfaces, the video wall baseboard includes a wide range of important ports for embedded applications such as 2x gigabit ethernet, 4x SATA, 2x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0, high-definition audio and a 19 V power supply for standard notebooks. For mass storage, a 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD can be mounted directly on the baseboard. The baseboard also comes with an RF4CE (ZigBee) receiver enabling remote control.

As an option, developers can integrate an additional graphics unit via a complete MXM 3.0 module. It is plugged into the appropriate socket on the video wall baseboard using a 314-pin connector and communicates with the computer module via PCI Express Graphics (PEG 2.0).

Developers can upgrade the integrated graphics and computing power of the COM Express module by adding the graphics or processing power of the dedicated MXM module.

Applications that need to control a large number of displays, such as airport check-in kiosks, benefit from this combination. Depending on the COM Express and MXM modules employed, up to nine independent displays can be controlled. Three panels are addressed via the computer module, the remaining six via the MXM graphics unit.

The AMD Radeon E6760 GPU MXM module when used with the AMD Embedded R Series APU-based conga-TFS provides good graphics performance. The integrated graphics core of the conga-TFS supports DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.2 for fast 2D and 3D imaging. A third-generation hardware universal video decoder provides seamless processing of H.264, VC-1, MPEG4 Part 2 and MPEG2 video streams. The available graphics interfaces include VGA and 18-/24-bit single-/dual-channel LVDS.

In addition, there are three DisplayPort 1.2, one HDMI 1.4 and two single-link DVI for the direct control of three independent displays. PEG Port 2.0, seven PCI Express 2.0 x1 lanes, four SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, four SATA 6 Gbps ports, a gigabit ethernet interface and high-definition audio complete the feature set.