Application-Specific Instruction Set Processors for Video Processing

Abstract

Dataflow is a well known computational model and is widely used for expressing the functionality of digital signal processing (DSP) applications, such as audio and video data stream processing, digital communications, and image processing. These applications usually require real-time processing capabilities and have critical performance constraints. Dataflow provides a formal mechanism for describing specifications of DSP applications, imposes minimal datadependency constraints in specifications, and is effective in exposing and exploiting task or data level parallelism for achieving high performance implementations.To demonstrate dataflow-based design methods in a manner that is concrete and easily adapted to different platforms and back-end design tools, we present in this report a number of case studies based on the lightweight dataflow (LWDF) programming methodology. LWDF is designed as a "minimalistic" approach for integrating coarse grain dataflow programming structures into arbitrary simulation-or platform-oriented languages, such as C, C++, CUDA, MATLAB, SystemC, Verilog, and VHDL. In particular, LWDF requires minimal dependence on specialized tools or libraries. This feature -together with the rigorous adherence to dataflow principles throughout the LWDF design framework -allows designers to integrate and experiment with dataflow modeling approaches relatively quickly and flexibly into existing design methodologies and processes. Dataflow IntroductionModel-based design has been explored extensively over the years in many domains of embedded systems. In model-based design, application subsystems are represented in terms of functional components that interact through formal models of computation (e.g., see [1]). By exposing and exploiting high level application structure that is often difficult to extract from platform-based design tools, model-based approaches facilitate systematic integration, analysis, synthesis, and optimization that can be used to exploit platform-based tools and devices more effectively.Dataflow is a well known computational model and is widely used for expressing the functionality of digital signal processing (DSP) applications, such as audio and video data stream processing, digital communications, and image processing (e.g., see [2,3,4]). These applications usually require real-time processing capabilities and have critical performance constraints. Dataflow

Adaptive tracking of people and vehicles using mobile platforms

“…In order to test and experiment with our tracking application design, we implement the actors in LIDE-C, which is the C-language version of the DSPCAD Lightweight Dataflow Environment [21,22]. LIDE is a software tool that facilitates model-based design and implementation of signal processing systems in terms of dataflow graphs.…”