A Robust Analog VLSI Motion Sensor Based on the Visual System of the Fly

Sensing visual motion gives a creature valuable information about its interactions with the environment. Flies in particular use visual motion information to navigate through turbulent air, avoid obstacles, and land safely. Mobile robots are ideal candidates for using this sensory modality to enhance their performance, but so far have been limited by the computational expense of processing video. Also, the complex structure of natural visual scenes poses an algorithmic challenge for extracting useful information in a robust manner. We address both issues by creating a small, low-power visual sensor with integrated analog parallel processing to extract motion in real-time. Because our architecture is based on biological motion detectors, we gain the advantages of this highly evolved system: A design that robustly and continuously extracts relevant information from its visual environment. We show that this sensor is suitable for use in the real world, and demonstrate its ability to compensate for an imperfect motor system in the control of an autonomous robot. The sensor attenuates open-loop rotation by a factor of 31 with less than 1 mW power dissipation.     

模拟集成电路二维Stack生成及模块合并算法

在模拟集成电路设计中,关于X轴和y轴同时对称的Stack,以及模块之间的合并,对于增加器件之间的匹配和控制寄生是至关重要的.描述了模拟集成电路二轴对称Stack生成算法和模块合并算法.通过对于对称欧拉图和对称欧拉路径的研究,得出了多项理论结果.在此基础上,提出了时间复杂度为O(n)的伪器件插入算法、对称欧拉路径构造算法和二轴对称Stack生成算法.生成的Stack,不但关于X轴和y轴对称,而且具有公共质心(commoncentroid)的结构.还描述了模块合并算法,给出了计算最大合并距离的公式.该算法本质上是独立于任何拓扑表示的.实验结果验证了算法的有效性.     

汇集点的计算方法研究

利用图像坐标计算交比,就可能出现计算故障或者引起计算精度的下降,采用N矢量表示视平面上的点和直线,建立交比的N矢量计算公式;在此基础上,研究了纯平移运动汇集点的N矢量计算方法,该公式只需要知道纯平移运动一个空间点在3个时刻t1、t2、t3的投影点或者该点的N矢量m、N速度 ()tm 以及加速度 ()tm ,都可求出动点的汇集点。最后,通过举例分析和实验验证,证明该算法实用、可靠。     

Estimating camera and object translation in the presence of camera rotation

This paper deals with stereo camera-based estimation of sensor translation in the presence of modest sensor rotation and moving objects. It also deals with the estimation of object translation from a moving sensor. The approach is based on Gabor filters, direct passive navigation, and Kalman filters.Three difficult problems associated with the estimation of motion from an image sequence are solved. (1) The temporal correspondence problem is solved using multi-scale prediction and phase gradients. (2) Segmentation of the image measurements into groups belonging to stationary and moving objects is achieved using the Mahalanobis distance. (3) Compensation for sensor rotation is achieved by internally representing the inter-frame (short-term) rotation in a rigid-body model. These three solutions possess a circular dependency, forming a cycle of perception. A seeding process is developed to correctly initialize the cycle. An additional complication is the translation-rotation ambiguity that sometimes exists when sensor motion is estimated from an image velocity field. Temporal averaging using Kalman filters reduces the effect of motion ambiguities. Experimental results from real image sequences confirm the utility of the approach.Financial support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada is acknowledged.     

An Efficient VLSI Architecture for Motion Compensation of AVS HDTV Decoder

In the part 2 of advanced Audio Video coding Standard （AVS-P2）, many efficient coding tools are adopted in motion compensation, such as new motion vector prediction, symmetric matching, quarter precision interpolation, etc. However, these new features enormously increase the computational complexity and the memory bandwidth requirement, which make motion compensation a difficult component in the implementation of the AVS HDTV decoder. This paper proposes an efficient motion compensation architecture for AVS-P2 video standard up to the Level 6.2 of the Jizhun Profile. It has a macroblock-level pipelined structure which consists of MV predictor unit, reference fetch unit and pixel interpolation unit. The proposed architecture exploits the parallelism in the AVS motion compensation algorithm to accelerate the speed of operations and uses the dedicated design to optimize the memory access. And it has been integrated in a prototype chip which is fabricated with TSMC 0.18-#m CMOS technology, and the experimental results show that this architecture can achieve the real time AVS-P2 decoding for the HDTV 1080i （1920 - 1088 4 ： 2 ： 0 60field/s） video. The efficient design can work at the frequency of 148.5MHz and the total gate count is about 225K.     

Biologically Inspired Visual Motion Detection in VLSI

Visual motion detection is a fundament component of vision, and plays a vital role in scene analysis and understanding for behaving organisms. In computer vision, motion detection requires considerable resources to obtain real-time results. Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) technology offers a convenient substrate upon which both photosensitive elements and motion extracting circuits can be implemented, thus allowing real-time motion detection. This paper presents two approaches for implementing real-time visual motion detection in VLSI. The two approaches mimic the two primary methods found in biological organisms. Insect motion detection employs local correlation and is implemented very close to the photoreceptors. In contrast, primate motion detection is performed in cortex, using spatiotemporally oriented neural filters. The analysis, construction and results of the hardware models of insect and primate visual motion detection are presented.     

无线网络化传感器中的AES VLSI设计

提出了一种高性价比的先进密码算法（AES）加／解密系统超大规模集成电路〈VLSI）实现方案。为了减少硬件开销,采用模块复用技术对AES的2个核心运算部件（字节代换和列混合）进行了硬件可逆设计;为了提高加／解密速度,采用了轮间和轮内相结合的流水线结构;设计了一种轮密钥扩展结构,解决高速加／解时轮密钥分配的同步问题。实验结果表明：该设计不仅能够正确实现高速的AES加／解密运算,而且,与其他同类设计相比,具有更高的性价比。     

两种运动估值器的VLSI结构设计和研究

分别提出了菱形搜索和分层搜索两种运动估计算法的VLSI结构设计方法，前者采用较大的运算阵列，一次完成两个宏块间的匹配运算，后者将一次匹配运算分割成多个相同的运算单元，这些单元使用同一个较小的运算阵列分步完成。对两种算法及其结构进行了比较，列举几种测试序列下的实验结果和综合后芯片的一些参数的对比情况，综合采用在Synopsys软件JaNChartered 0．6um CMOS单元库进行综合。     

基于数学形态学的运动估计及VLSI设计

提出的基于数学形态学的运动估计算法,采用四场的SAD比较进行运动估计,并且对运动向量进行数学形态学滤波处理(先进行腐蚀,再进行扩散处理),削弱噪声影响,提高运动估计的精度.在VLSI实现中采用外挂SDRAM作为帧存储器,存储前两场图像数据和运动信息.本算法和VLSI设计经过FPGA验证,取得了很好的效果,并且已经被成功地应用于基于SMIC 0.18 μm CMOS工艺的数字视频处理芯片中.     

Focus of Expansion estimation by an error backpropagation neural network

In this work we consider the application context of planar passive navigation in which the visual control of locomotion requires only the direction of translation, and not the full set of motion parameters. If the temporally changing optic array is represented as a vector field of optical velocities, the vectors form a radial pattern emanating from a centre point, called the Focus of Expansion (FOE), representing the heading direction. The FOE position is independent of the distances of world surfaces, and does not require assumptions about surface shape and smoothness. We investigate the performance of an artificial neural network for the computation of the image position of the FOE of an Optical Flow (OF) field induced by an observer translation relative to a static environment. The network is characterized by a feed-forward architecture, and is trained by a standard supervised back-propagation algorithm which receives as input the pattern of points where the lines generated by 2D vectors are projected using the Hough transform. We present results obtained on a test set of synthetic noisy optical flows and on optical flows computed from real image sequences.     

VLSI设计中一种新型的功能验证方法

本文在研究了传统的VLSI设计中采用的功能验证方法后,分析了各种方法的特点和不足之处。提出了一种新型的适合于大规模集成电路功能验证的新方法,详细介绍了这种功能验证方法的度量进度机制和验证完备性判断依据,并给出了这种新方法的操作流程和关键点。     

卫星导航系统模拟电路故障注入方法研究

针对卫星导航系统电路故障中的模拟畸变TMB故障的机理进行了理论分析和仿真,着重研究伪码的相关函数和功率谱。基于现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)和调制方式的特性,提出了伪码先振荡后量化的设计方式,重点探讨了其在FPGA上的实现方法,并对关键的IIR滤波器的实现进行了分析。结合自研的卫星导航系统模拟器平台实现故障注入,对故障信号的相关函数和定位结果进行测试。结果表明,在该设计系统中随着振荡频率和衰减系数的增大,对系统的定位影响越小。     

Intelligent Robot Vision Sensors in VLSI

Traditional approaches for solving real-world problems using computer vision have depended heavily on CCD cameras and workstations. As the computation power of workstations doubles every 1.5 years, they are now better able to handle the large amount of data presented by the cameras; yet real-time solutions for physical interaction with the real-world continues to be very hard, and relegated to large and expensive systems. Our approach attempts to solve this problem by using computational sensors and small/inexpensive embedded processors. The computational sensors are custom designed to reduce the amount of data collected, to extract only relevant information and to present this information to the simple processor, microcontrollers (Cs) or DSPs, in a format which reduces post-processing latency. Consequently, the post-processors are required to perform only high level computation on features rather than data. These systems are applied to problems such as target acquisition and tracking for image stabilization and autonomous data driven autonavigation for mobile robots. We present an example of a system that uses a pair of computational sensors and a C to solve a toy autonavigation problem.The computational sensors, however, have wide applications in many problems that require image preprocessing such as edge detection, motion detection, centroid localization and other spatiotemporal processing. This paper also presents a general-purpose computational sensor capable of extracting many visual information components at the focal plane.     

一种专注度培养系统的设计与实现

新冠肺炎疫情爆发后,远程教育由于其独特优势而逐渐成为热潮。但由于缺乏监管,学生学习专注度下降的问题突出。为提高远程教育的质量,运用计算机视觉、语音识别等人工智能技术,设计了一种针对远程教育的个性化专注度培养系统,可实现网课与自习模式下的专注度监测,具有设置网课和自习定时提醒、进行实时监督与反馈、提供专注度评价等功能。测...     

一种估计模拟分解滤波器组系数偏差的算法

模拟器件工艺偏差是制约混合滤波器组模拟数字转换器系统信号重构精度的主要原因,准确地得到模拟分解滤波器组传递函数是完成信号重构的首要条件.为解决上述问题,本文提出一种估计传递函数系数偏差的算法.该算法根据输入信号的信息以及信号通过模拟滤波器组后的采样数据,便可以准确地估计出偏差范围在±20%的模拟滤波器传递函数系数的偏差值.实验中分别采用2阶和3阶模拟滤波器传递函数模型,其谐振频率的估计值与理想偏差值的标准偏差分别为1.10%和0.56%.将估计值应用于单通路滤波混合滤波器组系统进行仿真,输出信号可以达到14位精度,完成了系统重构功能,仿真验证了该算法的可行性.     

On problem transformability in VLSI

The two basic performance parameters that capture the complexity of any VLSI chip are the area of the chip,A, and the computation time,T. A systematic approach for establishing lower bounds onA is presented. This approach relatesA to the bisection flow, . A theory of problem transformation based on , which captures bothAT ² andA complexity, is developed. A fundamental problem, namely, element uniqueness, is chosen as a computational prototype. It is shown under general input/output protocol assumptions that any chip that decides ifn elements (each with (1+)lognbits) are unique must have =(nlogn), and thus, AT²=(n ²log² n), andA= (nlogn). A theory of VLSI transformability reveals the inherentAT ² andA complexity of a large class of related problems.This work was supported in part by the Semiconductor Research Corporation under contract RSCH 84-06-049-6.     

一种新的用于H.264/AVC的运动估计VLSI结构

提出了一种新的用于H.264/AVC的分数运动估计VLSI结构.首先改进分数运动估计算法的迭代顺序,将1/2像素精度和1/4像素精度的串行搜索改为同时进行,设计出一种空间上具有更高并行度的VLSI结构;另外该结构不需要输入和输出1/2插值数据,因此减少了存储带宽需求.该结构计算H.264/AVC中一个宏块1/4像素精度的41个运动向量需要1344个时钟周期.在0.18 μm CMOS工艺下作了逻辑综合和仿真,结果表明时钟频率为147MHz时,面积为276k门,能够满足SDTV(1280×720)@30Hz的视频编码需要.相比现有结构,该结构降低了存储访问带宽需求,提高了数据吞吐率.     

一种改进的VLSI电路有效布局算法

采用重心矩形约束[1]进行VLSI布局会出现以下问题：(1)布局边界的浪费,出现不可利用的小区域;(2)放置模块时可能会出现模块放置在实际有效区域内却因为重心约束成为非法放置。为了解决该问题,本文提出了一种改进文献[1]的VLSI布局启发式算法：通过设计模块的优先顺序进行合理布局,并辅助于边界矩形来解决重心矩形约束出现的问题;对模块布局放置的多个可能位置进行比较,并将其放置在优先度最高的适当区域。用Banchmark（ami33,ami49）和文献[1]的数据进行测试,结果表明新算法：（1）算法简洁高效,运行时间短;（2）布局结果明显好于文献[1]。     

Extracting Structure from Optical Flow Using the Fast Error Search Technique

In this paper, we present a globally optimal and computationally efficient technique for estimating the focus of expansion (FOE) of an optical flow field, using fast partial search. For each candidate location on a discrete sampling of the image area, we generate a linear system of equations for determining the remaining unknowns, viz. rotation and inverse depth. We compute the least squares error of the system without actually solving the equations, to generate an error surface that describes the goodness of fit across the hypotheses. Using Fourier techniques, we prove that given an N × N flow field, the FOE, and subsequently rotation and structure, can be estimated in operations. Since the resulting system is linear, bounded perturbations in the data lead to bounded errors.We support the theoretical development and proof of our technique with experiments on synthetic and real data. Through a series of experiments on synthetic data, we prove the correctness, robustness and operating envelope of our algorithm. We demonstrate the utility of our technique by applying it for detecting obstacles from a monocular sequence of images.     

A VLSI Implementation of the Graphics Standard GKS

The main advantage when using a standardized graphics system is quite obvious: the application programs become portable. Integrating such a system - and GKS (Graphical Kernel System) is the only one being standardized internationally - into VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) chips, this graphics system may become an integral part of graphical devices. This guarantees a uniform interface of such devices to GKS applications. Devices of many different kinds will become compatible not only with respect to plugging but even in their logical behaviour, eliminating all device dependencies from the host software.
We have started to design the GKS-chip which will be able to be used in a great variety of devices (vector and raster type). The GKS-chip will bring the computational power to support real time picture updates, limited only by the maximally attainable output data rate.