A FPGA-based parametrizable system for high-resolution frequency-domain image filtering

Signal and image processing applications require high computational power with the ability to experiment different algorithms involving matrix transforms. Reconfigurable hardware devices in the form of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have been proposed to obtain high performance at an economical price. However, the users must program FPGAs at a very low level and must have a detailed knowledge of the architecture of the device being used. In trying to reconcile the dual requirements of high performance and the ease of development, this paper reports the design and realization of the Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) using a FPGA-based environment, which enables system designer to meet different system requirements (i.e., chip area, speed, memory, etc.) for a range of signal processing and imaging applications. The use of the proposed environment has been proven by the developing a high-level FPGA-based parametrizable image processing system for frequency-domain filtering application. The system achieves real-time image filtering performance exceeding those of currently available solutions by an order of magnitude in frame rate and input image size.