EIGHT CHANNEL PCM DATA FORMATTER

Abstract

Advancing technology continually generates larger quantities of data at increasingly high transfer rates which fuels the need for instrumentation to take up the challenge of efficiently managing the collection of data. This defines the driving force behind the desire for increased channel capacity of PCM data formatters. By incorporating state-of-the-art Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology coupled with high-performance Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), Inter-Coastal Electronics has designed the IF-810, a PCM data formatter. The IF-810 allows eight channels of PCM data, one voice channel and an InterRange Instrumentation Group (IRIG)-B channel to be combined and formatted for recording onto the TEAC RX-800 series recorders using a Hi8 8mm video cassette as the recording media. During playback, the IF-810 clocks the PCM data out using a reconstructed version of the input clock. With this unique design, the PCM data and clock outputs are input directly to a decommutator which eliminates the need for costly bit-synchronizers. This paper discusses the integration of the DSP, FPGA and buffering techniques into a low-cost and efficient multi-channel PCM data formatter that accommodates high data rate inputs, all without the need of a bit-synchronizer for decommutation.