Next-Generation SoC: Video & Control Processing for
Action Camera
Introduction
The customer is a well-known technology company that manufactures action cameras andcreates its individual mobile apps and video-editing software.
The customer’s goal was to advance a specific camera model to the next generation. Thisrequired a custom-built processor with unique features with a higher power-performance ratio.
A prototyping platform to test different use-cases against the proposed architecture for thenew processor was necessary. To accomplish this, Mirabilis Design Inc. was engaged to createa virtual model of the camera’s processor.
Apart from providing consulting services for this venture, Mirabilis Design Inc.’s flagshipproduct VisualSim with its tools and extensive library, was deployed to construct this virtualprocessor.

Customer’s Story before Mirabilis
Design and VisualSim
The camera’s model in question, was till then, running on
an off-the-shelf processor. This meant that othercompanies could also make use of the same processor, thus
reducing the competitive advantage.
In this scenario, the customer wanted to include several new features for the next generation of thecamera. This would require a custom-built processor. Since a full custom-built processor calls for ahigh level of investment, it was important for the customer to understand completely the new features
to be incorporated, and the usage of different resources and their impact, for all possible combinationsof use cases.
In other words, the new features needed to undergo a requirements validation on a virtual,collaborative specifications platform.
This platform was made available by Mirabilis Design Inc.

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Why the Customer
Chose Mirabilis
Design Inc. andVisualSim

VisualSim’s technology has been built for rapid productexploration, system validation and design spaceexperimentation. The pre-built modelling library, applicationspecific templates, detailed technical support and extensive
reports provided instantaneous feedback on the customer’ssystem feasibility, performance, energy-efficiency and quality.
Before building the actual processor, it was critical for thecustomer to test out all features and parameters. Mirabilis
Design helped to significantly reduce all risk through thedynamic system simulation, a key feature of VisualSim.
Various use cases were run and verified and in the process,system performance barriers like high power consumption werereduced. Product specification confidence was also increasedusing the modeling library and analysis tools in VisualSim.

Project Scope••••

Challenges••
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Key requirement - 2:20 hours of recording time and 4k
recording facility
Higher power-performance ratio
Prototyping platform needed to test several use cases
against a proposed architecture for the proposedprocessor.
o Examples included overlapping 360i, dual lens
720p, and 4K
Achieve timing deadlines for existing software on theproposed processor

Pipeline and memory accesses were concurrent anddynamically scheduled, requiring detailed analysis tomeasure the power, memory bandwidth and timing
H.264 and H.265 algorithms spanned multiple stagesof the pipeline
There was limited power optimization for the video
pipeline and memory access, areas that consumed
most of the camera battery. For instance, the current
battery life for the 4K recording was only 45 minutes
The electronics board in the camera could notaccommodate an FPGA; which was required to add
new features and an accelerator for key videofunctions.
The area needed to be minimized by reducing thebuffers, bus structures, system width, clock speed andmemory
Achieve timing deadlines for existing software on theproposed processor

Mirabilis Design’sSolution••

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Technology•

A model of the entire SoC was developed using theblock and flow diagrams provided
Information template developed by Mirabilis Design
was used to populate the list of devices, the tasks oneach core, use-cases, traffic, sensor activity andconfiguration of each device
Latency across the pipeline was measured
Buffer overflows and incorrect sequence of memory
data were corrected.
Power management algorithms were created andtested for various use-cases.
Specifications provided to the semiconductor vendor
was optimized
Examples include overlapping 360i, dual lens 720p,
and 4K
AMBA AXI, Arm Cortex A53 and A77, GPU, DMA,HDMI, LPDDR and Light Sensor

Results•••••

The model was ready in three months, much ahead of schedule.
A vastly improved end-to-end latency and throughput was achieved, along with reduced power
consumption.
The new processor enabled battery life of three hours for 4K recording, compared to the earlier
time of a mere 45 minutes.
New use-cases and boundary conditions were identified before the actual product development.
An enhanced quality of the customer’s final product design was accomplished.

Mirabilis Design Inc. was the single source provider of both the virtual prototype and consulting
services. The customer had various components to be integrated on to the proposed processor.
Mirabilis Design was able to effectively ensure all of that to speed up the development process,apart from providing the tools and the existing library.
If you would like similar results, reach out to us!

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