Moving Object Tracking Application: Fpga And Model Based
Implementation Using Image Processing Algorithms.
Abstract— With increased resource size, powerful DSP
blocks and large on-chip memory, Field Programmable Gate
Array (FPGA) devices play a major role as hardware
platforms for implementing compute intensive video image
processing applications. In this paper, image processing
algorithms are used for tracking a moving video object. The
image processing algorithms used are (a) Noisy video
generation with random motion (b) Video image median
filter (c) Video image back ground removal (d) Video image
thresholding (e) Video image edge detection (f) Video image
height and width calculation (g) Video image center
computation (h) Video image and center image overlay. The
image processing algorithms are developed initially by
Model Based Design Approach using Simulink models of
MATHWORK’s MATLAB Tool. Then these algorithms are
implemented on ALTERA CYCLONE-II FPGA device using
TERASIC DE2 FPGA hardware kit and ALTERA
QUARTUS-II software tool. The input video image is taken
from a NTSC/PAL camera and processed in real time using
the algorithms on the FPGA and the resulted tracked video
image output is displayed on a VGA monitor.
Keywords—fpga; simulink; video image processing;
tracking
I. INTRODUCTION
Moving object tracking is one of the fundamental
components of computer vision; it can be very beneficial
in applications such as unmanned aerial vehicle,
surveillance, automated traffic control, biomedical image
analysis, intelligent robots etc.The problem of object
tracking is of considerable interest in the scientific
community and it is still an open and active field of
research. That’s why; this paper is a good step for a
beginner to move towards moving object tracking
application.
Image processing is one of the major applications in
embedded domain, which requires high effort in
computation. In today’s world most sensing applications
require some form of digital signal processing. The two
major contenders for signal processing hardware platforms
are Digital Signal Processing (DSP) processor and Field
Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). DSP processor offers
high compute intensive, serial processing for complete
System on a Chip (SOC) embedded product development,
where as FPGA offers highly flexible, parallel processing
for a System on Programmable Chip (SoPC) development
for proof of concept at formative stage of the system
design, leading to manufacturable prototype at a later stage
before the final Application Specific Integrated Chip
(ASIC) implementation. The FPGA contains logic
components that can be programmed to perform complex
mathematical functions making them highly suitable for
the implementation of matrix algorithms. Therefore,
FPGAs are an ideal choice for implementation of real time
image processing algorithms.
For a beginner it should be necessary to approach the
problem at hand through model based approach using
various modeling tools like MATLAB, LABVIEW and
SILAB etc. MATLAB offers drag and drop Simulink
modules to translate DSP algorithms to logical hardware
entities to understand about, how signal and image
processing algorithms work. Simulink model
implementation is a good step for a learner on their
respective domain to work. This paper covers the
implementation of image processing algorithms for
moving object tracking applications using Simulink model
and FPGA. An intermediate stage between Simulink
modeling and final FPGA implementation could be
System Generator modeling for Xilinx FPGA, to arrive at
ready HDL (VHDL or VERILOG) code generation for a
Xilinx specific FPGA devices and hardware kits.
In present work the Simulink logic entities are
translated to image processing modules and introduced
into the video chain established on TERASIC DE2 FPGA
hardware evaluation kit [7]. The video source is from
PAL/NTSC compatible camera and the output display is
on 640X480 resolution VGA monitor. The functional
implementation of all processes are done using ALTERA
QUARTUS-II tool.
Section-II describes Related Works, Section-III
describes Moving Object Tracking Algorithms, Section-IV
describes Implementation of Algorithms, Section-V
describes Experimental Results and Section- VI describes
Conclusion and Future Scopes.
Sofia Nayak
Shashank Sekhar Pujari
P.G. Department of Embedded System Design
Sambalpur University Institute of Information Technology
Jyoti Vihar, Burla-768019, Odisha, India.
nayaksofia1989@gmail.com
pujarishashank@gmail.com
2015 International Conference on Computing Communication Control and Automation
978-1-4799-6892-3/15 $31.00 © 2015 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICCUBEA.2015.185
932