Development of a cost effective lvds interface test system with ethernet communication

Today LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) is used extensively in diverse industrial areas like communication networks, laptop computers, office imaging systems, industrial vision systems, test and measurement systems, medical solutions, and automotive. In addition to these, high data throughput of LVDS standard makes it suitable for transmission of high speed digital video signals over inexpensive copper wires and FPD (Flat Panel Display) Link became the first use of LVDS standard for LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) TV (Television) sets.In this thesis work it is aimed to design a low cost system to capture, decode and analyze LVDS image data from a signal generator (in this case it is the mainboard of an LCD TV).The research comprises of image data capture card hardware design, embedded microcontroller software design and PC (Personal Computer) application software design parts. Communication between image data capture card and PC is implemented using Ethernet protocol.By realizing proper signal translation in hardware design and necessary data decoding methods in software design the same system architecture can be used to acquire and analyze any kind of differential signal.