Arcatron Delivers with Rabbit-Powered Control Panel

When leading-edge control technology firm Arcatron was asked last year to come up with a product that would help propel Sierra Video Systems to the next level of video router control, Arcatron looked to Rabbit Semiconductor for a cost-effective processor that would support multiple functions and facilitate rapid development. "Sierra Video is expanding their presence in the broadcast market, and they needed a control panel that was on par with or better than what some of the more well-known companies are producing," says Bob Ginger, president of Phoenix-based Arcatron. Since 1988, Arcatron has been developing integrated audio, video, and control system solutions. Last spring, Sierra Video梥pecialists in video routers and digital terminal gear梕nlisted Arcatron to develop a router control panel that would be both powerful and easy to use. Development would have to be fast to meet client needs. When Ginger and his team started to research microprocessor options, up popped Rabbit. "The RabbitCore RCM2020 core module looked very intriguing as a way to get to market quickly," he says. "There were several things that intrigued us about it: One was the everything-on-one-board kind of idea, and the other was the built-in operating system that offered many task-scheduling possibilities." The bulk of development occurred over four months last summer. With the RabbitCore 2000 Series just then hitting the market, Ginger was eager to get his hands on the powerful new modules. "We were anxiously awaiting the core modules when they were first being introduced," says Ginger. "We developed a prototype using the Rabbit development kit, and then we designed our own controller card. That way, the core module simply plugged into the card, and we just developed on our hardware." Using Dynamic C?during initial development was a positive experience for Arcatron. "For a very inexpensive development system, [Dynamic C] did quite a bit," says Ginger. "We also wrote in a lot of in-line assembly routines." Aside from the prospects of compact functionality and smooth development, Ginger says the RabbitCore抯 plentiful I/O and four RS-232 serial ports were key selling points. "We needed a lot of I/O because we抮e using lots of knobs and switches and displays桰/O-intensive kinds of applications," he says. "We抮e also using three of the serial ports on this product, including one we use internally for some serial communications on the controller card itself." The remaining serial port serves as an auxiliary for the user. The Rabbit抯 upgradability was the icing on the cake: "We had to do some upgrades on the firmware, and we抳e implemented circuitry on the board that emulates what the programming cable has梉in the form of] a dip switch so it can remotely load programs," says Ginger. Released in March, the Arcatron-designed SCP200 Control Panel is now helping Sierra Video capitalize on some promising market trends. While routers lie at the heart of every television studio and movie production house, they also are being used across a growing number of industries. Burgeoning demand is putting more and more video applications in places like boardrooms, classrooms, churches, and even flight simulators and submarines. "So far, everything we抳e heard about the SCP200 is positive," says Ginger. "People really like the product because it抯 flexible and very user-friendly. I designed it as the router panel I always wished existed." Fully adaptable, the state-of-the-art router interface features programmable control buttons (Picture Button keycaps provide programmable text and graphics for each button), virtual mapping, single-button takes and presets, level breakaway, salvos, and macros, in addition to standard crosspoint selection. The panel can be fully customized to fit any facility抯 specific needs via an easy-to-use Windows program. "There抯 a lot of user programmability with the panel," says Ginger. "At a broadcast plant, for example, they can create a lot of things that make their job easier when they抮e switching video around." And to make his job easier, Ginger says he plans to implement the Rabbit as Arcatron抯 common processor platform. "We抮e planning on converting our existing media control panel products over to the Rabbit very shortly, and we抳e got several products under development that we intend to put the Rabbit into."