A new version of the Camera Link HS standard has been announced at The Vision Show in Boston.
Version 1.2 pushes the standard to speeds of 25 Gb/s on an FPGA using 25 Gb/s transceivers over fibre with SFP28, QSFP28, or MPO connectors.
No changes to the IP core are necessary, and the new 25G products are backward compatible with existing 10G products.
The forthcoming CLHS speed update was made possible through the low-cost CLHS IP core, which is available from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) for $1,000.
“The standard is designed to take advantage of the ever-increasing speeds of proven telecom technology, and the IP cores enable smooth transitions from 3G to 10G and now to 25G,” said Bob McCurrach, A3 Director of Standards Development.
As well as supporting fibre connections, the specification revision validates CLHS as having up to 100 Gb/s (4 x 25 Gb/s) available bandwidth using a single MPO connector.
“Since CLHS was first introduced in 2012, the 64b/66b encoded X Protocol has been in production and has a long history of field-tested stability,” said Mike Miethig, Chair of the CLHS technical committee and Technical Manager at Teledyne Digital Imaging.
He added: “Furthermore, the technical committee has a clear road map to 50 Gb/s and beyond. Again, we think this can be achieved with minimal changes to the standard and the IP core.”
