Reconfigurable FPGA architecture for computer vision applications in Smart Camera Networks

Luca Maggiani (1, 2) , Claudio Salvadori (1) , Matteo Petracca (1) , Paolo Pagano (2) , Roberto Saletti (3)

1 SSSUP - Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant'Anna [Pisa]
2 CNIT c/o Dept. of Electronics & Telecommunications
3 University of Pisa - Università di Pisa

Smart Camera Networks (SCNs) is nowadays an emerging research field which represents the natural evolution of centralized computer vision applications towards full distributed and pervasive systems. In such a scenario, one of the biggest effort is in the definition of a flexible and reconfigurable SCN node architecture able to remotely support the possibility of updating the application parameters and changing the running computer vision applications at run-time. In this respect, this paper presents a novel SCN node architecture based on a device in which a microcontroller manages all the network functionality as well as the remote configuration, while an FPGA implements all the necessary module of a full computer vision pipeline. In the paper the envisioned architecture is first detailed in general terms, then a real implementation is presented to show the feasibility and the benefits of the proposed solution. Finally, performance evaluation results prove the potential of hardware software codesign in reaching flexibility and reduced latency time.

Mots clés: Smart Camera Network; Computer Vision; Hardware Software Codesign; FPGA

Domaines: Electronique

Luca Maggiani, Claudio Salvadori, Matteo Petracca, Paolo Pagano, Roberto Saletti. Reconfigurable FPGA architecture for computer vision applications in Smart Camera Networks. Distributed Smart Cameras (ICDSC), 2013 Seventh International Conference on, IEEE, Oct 2013, Palm Springs, United States. ⟨10.1109/ICDSC.2013.6778212⟩. ⟨hal-01205914⟩