New Users Forum

[fradaric]

Hii there,

I need to disply ECG signals of data width 8 in a VGA monitor as a continuous wave. I have both spartan3E and vertex 2 p

anyone please suggest me which one can I use!!! It is somewhat similer to  video I think. I am planning to store the data in the RAM via uart from MATLAB.

Spartan 3E is found to be no use  in my case...but vertex 2p???

[eilert]

Hi,

with ECG you probably mean Electrocardiography, don't you?

Creating some VGA output with a FPGA isn't that difficult. You find many examples and links in the forum.

Apart from displaying some (almost static) waveform on a VGA monitor, is the FPGA intended to do something else?

I mean, if you are using matlab for data capture anyway, you can use a simple plot function to see the results on the screen.

What's the idea behind using the FPGA as a "serial graphics adapter" via the RS232 port?

Spartan3 and Virtex2 have the same basic arcitecture, only that the V2Pro may have a hardwired PowerPC CPU core which you don't need for a simple VGA adapter and it might be a little faster as well.

If you look at some S3E development board you will see that a lot of them have VGA connectors. Mostly with very simple hardware (e.g. a bunch of resistors) so the number of colors is limited. But it sounds like you are going to design a new board so you are free to use some real Video-DAC and have 256 colors or more.

Tell us more about your design project.

Have a nice synthesis

  Eilert

[fradaric]

Hii,

My project aims at electrocardiogram analysis for neonates. So for the first step we are plannng to do analysis in FPGA with the help of matlab(ecg datas acquired through matlab serial port coding with a boud rate 9600) then analysis like peak/period detection can be performed in FPGA. so I need to disply these analysis reports and Ecg wavefroms in a VGA port. My ECG data coming from the sending from matalab is 8 bit wide. Spartan 3E has got 3 pins RGB, how can I do it ?

I hope the final system should look like an oscilloscope showing ECG data.

Thats it

[eilert]

Hi,

some helpful Websites with examples are

opencores.org

and

fpga4fun.com

These have free IP cores and working examples for similar projects (which means graphics output via FPGA not the ECG stuff).

Also, if you are using the S3E Starter Board, look at the reference Design examples.

There should be one for the VGA output as well as the UART and AD-Converter.

Have a nice synthesis

  Eilert

[fradaric]

Hii,

I found nothing can be done with S3E  since my data is 8 bit wide........  FPGA for fun and other websites provides IP cores which can be used for VGA demo, those are not helpful for my design..

[eteam00]

I found nothing can be done with S3E  since my data is 8 bit wide

Perhaps the S3E board is not suitable for your purposes.  Perhaps....   and perhaps not.

What does the 8-bit data represent?  Is this a single pixel of 8-bit (256-level) grey scale video?  Is this 8 pixels of 1-bit (2-level) monochrome video?

What is the ECG display resolution?  If you need a 640x480 output display, and the S3E board is capable of 1280x960 output resolution (2x in H axis and 2x in V axis), then you can map each 640x480 pixel to a 2x2 pixel block, effectively giving you a 32-colour palette instead of an 8-colour palette.  This approach transforms a 1280x960x3-bit output display into a 640x480x5-bit output display.

-- Bob Elkind

[eilert]

Hi,

Bob asked the right question. What is this 8 bit data?

I suspect it's your sampled ECG data.

Now, there won't be any core that takes a stream of samples and automatically transforms it into a useful picture.

That task is up to you, because only you know the meaning of the data.

VGA-IP cores can just fre you from the task of creating sync signals and adressing pixels (regardless of their color depth).

Color values can be adapted in many ways. Bob already explained one approach to increase the number of colours. But I think you are not concerned about having too less colours. Actually your device could work with a monochrome output quite well.

The S3E500-FPGA can create VGA Output quite well, so it's not a matter of the silicon.

That the S3E Starter Board just offers some simple resistor network instead of a full blown Video-DAC could be overcome by creating an addon board that you can plug to the big expansion port of the S3E.

But then you also have to develop real PCB based circuitry, rather than just a virtual FPGA design that can be changed easily. that doesn't simplify things.

The task of converting your ECG data into a useful picture is up to you.

Only you know the meaning of your data and the picture you want to create from it.

There are many possible ways for doing this. Start designing.

The people here in the forum can give hints and make suggestions etc, but don't expect them to do your work.

Have a nice synthesis

  Eilert

[fradaric]

My data is continuous samples of ECG signal, the same data available in the MIT physionet data store. I just need to show it in a display like the sine waves we are making in a simple oscilloscope.

[fradaric]

Hii,

Actually my confusion is how data is input to the S3E VGA since the data pins are RGB ,   My ECG data is continuous samples of ECG obtained from the MIT Physionet ECG repository. I just need to plot it in VGA....like a red sine wave in a black screen....

[eteam00]

Actually my confusion is how data is input to the S3E VGA since the data pins are RGB ,   My ECG data is continuous samples of ECG obtained from the MIT Physionet ECG repository. I just need to plot it in VGA....like a red sine wave in a black screen....

The data will need to be stored, mapped into temporally spaced frames, plotted, and rasterised.

Suggestion:  First define the process steps for plotting and rasterising a single frame.  Then understand how you want successive frames displayed to the operator.

These are two separate problems.  Plotting and rasterising is simple and straightforward.  Defining the optimal 'look and feel' of the display is much more difficult, as there are many possible -- and very different -- solutions.

-- Bob Elkind