Jim Campbell: Tools Demystifying “custom electronics”

1. Jim Campbell: ToolsDemystifying “custom electronics” Video camera Monitor FPGA LED panel Oscilloscope Computer

2. Jim Campbell: Tools Video camera Digital video is captured in MiniDV format. Signal is fed to custom electronics, where it is stored for processing and playback Monitor Simple video monitor used to preview video and select areas to be represented with LEDs

3. Jim Campbell: Tools FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array The heart of the “custom electronics,” these boards are similar to our own BASIC stamps larger but more primitive; could be used to create a BASIC stamp Available off-the-shelf from Xilinix Circuitry controlled by Hardware Description Language Campbell uses Verilog to prototype and program Verilog language similar to C, but easier A concurrent language, it does not matter where a line of code is in the program Don’t have much memory; Campbell doesn’t need a lot for his video

4. Jim Campbell: Tools LED screen Usually RGB, white or red light emitting diodes Different colors produced from different inorganic minerals RGB just a combination of three individual diodes Campbell first produced his own panels, now has panels produced

5. Jim Campbell: Tools Oscilloscope Creates a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences (voltages, etc.) over time Campbell uses oscilloscope for prototyping, troubleshooting Computer Programming FPGAs Capturing raw video to be processed and stored by FPGA board

6. Jim Campbell: Basic Process Video captured from computer Sent to FPGA Previewed on monitor Pixels chosen Stored on computer Verilog used to program FPGA for LED screen playback

7. Jim Campbell: Alternates In gallery, spare hardware and backups of all data are kept on hand For outdoor lighting with lightbulbs, basic principles are the same, except using computer-controlled dimmers