The LoonBoard





At a Flash Summary of the LoonBoard
Click for flyer in PDF Click for comparison to other products Click for manual in PDF

[Background]

So you want to get started in video - but not just using systems which have the same video quality as the original Tetris. Maybe you want to do framegrabbing, machine vision, object tracking, playback, or more. Imagine a board small enough to mount on a robot, enough quality to insert in a studio environment, robust enough to forgive some of your wiring mistakes, and flexible enough to do it all:
  • Video Capture
  • Video Playback
  • Full colour overlay
  • Overlay date/time/location on security cameras
  • Video compression
  • Object tracking
  • Motion detection
  • Video servering
Download a sample of the quality the LoonBoard is capable of, recorded with the example framegrabber application.
The LoonBoard uses standard video (NTSC or PAL), which means you can use it with your camcorder, VCR, CCD camera, TV, or anything else. Expansion I/O means you can hook it up any way you want, don't let NewAE limit you. But not to worry - it does come with source code for an example framegrabber application. In fact the LoonBoard's example application has more features then boards specifically built as a framegrabber! Don't believe us of course, check for yourself.

There's more applications comming all the time, the next planned release is a on-screen display including sprite support. As a NewAE customer you'll have access to updated binaries and new applications as they are released. If you buy a LoonBoard today you can be assured that you'll have the same access as a customer that buys one in two years.

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[Feature Set]

The LoonBoard is designed to have a large feature set, but more than that it has features to make it usable. These are things you don't find on every product, features like multiple layers of reverse polarity protection and current-limited user IO. Features that are there because NewAE uses their own products, and understands the frustration of boards packed with features on paper but are unusable because of short-sighted design. Download the flyer to see more information on the list below.

  • Immersion gold plated circuit board
  • Xilinx Sparten II-E 200K Gate FPGA (XC2S200E PQ208-6)
  • 100% Of available I/O on all IC's routed to something, nothing goes to waste!
  • Two 512Kb by 8-bit SRAMs (8Mbit total), enough to buffer 1.3 entire frames of video without compression
  • Atmel AtMega168 AVR microcontroller, with 16K of built-in flash (upgrade, was originally marked as Mega88)
  • Two channels of analog video input (ie: composite or S-Video)
  • Three channels of analog video output with anti-aliasing filters (ie: composite AND S-Video OR RGB OR YUV)
  • Three additional channels of analog video output possible (requires external buffering)
  • NTSC and PAL Input/Output Standards accepted
  • 4Mbit DataFLASH for user constants/fonts
  • 4Mbit DataFLASH for FPGA configuration
  • Battery-backed real-time clock with 4K of user EEPROM (battery included)
  • PS/2 Connector for mouse
  • 8-DIP User Oscillator socket
  • Two 40-pin connectors for expansion boards, including 56 pins of user I/O
  • Switching OR Linear 3.3V Regulator supported
  • Mounting holes can be connected to GND or left floating
  • 0.1"x0.1" Grid used to layout main connectors means you can plug into pref-board
  • Reverse polarity protection and resettable fuse on input voltage (Fuse is disabled by default to provide more reliable switching regulator startup)
  • Reverse polarity protection on switching regulator for 3.3V line to minimize damage due to failure of switching regulator
  • Current-limited inputs/outputs to prevent damage
  • Advanced LoonBoard Unified Bootloader to load FPGA and AVR through serial port, takes only 20 seconds to download an FPGA file, only 3 seconds to download an AVR file
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[Downloads]

NewAE believes in community support - as such there are a number of useful downloads for the LoonBoard. Some are totally free, and some are commercial. Note that unless noted purchasing a LoonBoard entitles you to unlimited updates to all these files for use with the LoonBoard.

Name Description Last Update Price File
LoonBoard Schematic The schematic for the LoonBoard Rev 2.5 - Oct 4, 2005 Free - Copyright NewAE loonboard.pdf PDF [884K]
LoonBoard Manual The manual for the LoonBoard Jan 10, 2006 Free - Copyright NewAE lb-manual.pdf PDF [1.2M]
LoonBus Interface Converts LoonBus to BT.656 and back. Oct 4, 2005 Free - LGPL loonbus_bt656_vhd.zip ZIP of VHDL [12 K]
LoonBoard Hardware Interface Contains the User Constraints file for ISE. Oct 8, 2005 Free - Copyright NewAE loonboard_hardwareucf.zip ZIP of VHDL [K]
LoonBoard Unified Bootloader The bootloader for the LoonBoard including the manual See Page Free - GPL See Page
Add-On Module Template A board and schematic in Eagle format that allows you to create new top modules. Will open in free version of Eagle! NB: Untested July 17, 2005 Free - Public Domain loonboard_adapter.zip ZIP [38K]
Framegrabber Example Example framegrabber application documentation Jan 23, 2006 Multiple nae-ex-001.pdf PDF [230K]
Framegrabber Example Example framegrabber application code Sept 15, 2009 Multiple framegrabber20060303.zip ZIP [1.8M]
Framework Framework Sept 15, 2009 Multiple framework.zip ZIP [560K]


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[App-Notes]

Name Description Last Update File
NAE-AN-001 Loading the LUB code onto the LoonBoard Nov 8, 2005 nae-an-001.pdf PDF [415K]
NAE-AN-002 Using the LoonBUS Dec 6, 2005 nae-an-002.pdf PDF [250K]
NAE-AN-003 Quick-Start Tutorial Dec 6, 2005 nae-an-003.pdf PDF [350K]

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[Errata]

Despite our best efforts errors come up. However they will be disclosed as fast and throughly as possible to help you make a better decision. This page lists know problems and fixes.

Name Description Rev Affected Last Update File
NAE-ER-001 Switching Regulator Startup Problems Rev 2.4 Jan 10, 2006 nae-er-001.pdf PDF [66K]

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[Accessories]

Don't get caught risking your investment. The lb-cable provides a regulated five volts to the LoonBoard, provides fuse protection, and most importantly provides a USB interface to communicate with the LoonBoard. See more details on it's page. Buy with the LoonBoard for only $32 US, select the lb-cable option when ordering.

[Ordering Information]

Be sure to view information on shipping and NewAE policies.

Quantity on hand (approx): 21
Quantity backordered: 0
loonboard-brd Fully Assembled LoonBoard
Quantity Price (USD)
1-10 $300.00
11+ E-Mail
Quantity
2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA) is an authorized retailer for
goods and services provided by NewAE.
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