Vision chips, or smart visual sensors, are those sensors that have integrated image acquisition and parallel processing, often at the pixel level, using dedicated analog and digital circuits.
Vision Chips presents a systematic approach to the design and analysis of vision chips using analog VLSL.
- It presents algorithmic level implementation issues, from both the VLSI and computer vision points of view.
- It reviews the VLSI technologies and general analog VLSI design methodologies, in the context of suitability for vision chips.
- It describes chip-level architectural issues, including tessellation structures, pixel-processor interaction, and data read-out.
- It presents detailed analysis of building-blocks necessary in vision chips, including photodetectors, photocircuits, and spatial and temporal processing circuits.
- It addresses other important design issues, such as testing, digital noise, and mismatch.
In addition Vision Chips reviews some of the past and existing implementations of smart vision sensors. It contains condensed information on more than fifty vision chips, designed by research laboratories all over the world. Novel and interesting features of each vision chip have been highlighted through informative diagrams and concise descriptions.
This book is a valuable asset for researchers in the area, engineers working on the design of vision sensors, graduate students working in analog VLSI and vision, and computer vision and biological vision researchers and scientists.
This chapter presents a set of introductory material, which in addition to providing a general view on the topic, highlights the importance of research in this area. It also presents a short history of the design of smart vision sensors, and points out some of the fundamental issues in the design of such sensors. 1. 1 A General Overview Machine vision is one of the main branches of artificial intelligence. The richness of information present in images makes them the first choice as an input to an artificial system which tries to interact with its environment. A large proportion of the brain of many advanced species is dedicated to visual information processing, which illustrates the importance of visual information in biological systems. Biological visual systems have evolved over millions of years, and each specie has developed a specialized visual system tailored for the essential tasks of survival, such as catching a prey, or escaping a predator. Implementing electronic hardware for image processing, therefore, may benefit from the underlying fundamental aspects of biological vision, though in no respect should this be regarded as a solid framework for electronic vision systems. Traditionally, computer vision algorithms are performed on images captured by conventional cameras, and processing is accomplished by means of general purpose digital computers. More advanced systems utilize dedicated hardware to speed up the processing stage.
Vision Chips presents a systematic approach to the design and analysis of vision chips using analog VLSL.
- It presents algorithmic level implementation issues, from both the VLSI and computer vision points of view.
- It reviews the VLSI technologies and general analog VLSI design methodologies, in the context of suitability for vision chips.
- It describes chip-level architectural issues, including tessellation structures, pixel-processor interaction, and data read-out.
- It presents detailed analysis of building-blocks necessary in vision chips, including photodetectors, photocircuits, and spatial and temporal processing circuits.
- It addresses other important design issues, such as testing, digital noise, and mismatch.
In addition Vision Chips reviews some of the past and existing implementations of smart vision sensors. It contains condensed information on more than fifty vision chips, designed by research laboratories all over the world. Novel and interesting features of each vision chip have been highlighted through informative diagrams and concise descriptions.
This book is a valuable asset for researchers in the area, engineers working on the design of vision sensors, graduate students working in analog VLSI and vision, and computer vision and biological vision researchers and scientists.
This chapter presents a set of introductory material, which in addition to providing a general view on the topic, highlights the importance of research in this area. It also presents a short history of the design of smart vision sensors, and points out some of the fundamental issues in the design of such sensors. 1. 1 A General Overview Machine vision is one of the main branches of artificial intelligence. The richness of information present in images makes them the first choice as an input to an artificial system which tries to interact with its environment. A large proportion of the brain of many advanced species is dedicated to visual information processing, which illustrates the importance of visual information in biological systems. Biological visual systems have evolved over millions of years, and each specie has developed a specialized visual system tailored for the essential tasks of survival, such as catching a prey, or escaping a predator. Implementing electronic hardware for image processing, therefore, may benefit from the underlying fundamental aspects of biological vision, though in no respect should this be regarded as a solid framework for electronic vision systems. Traditionally, computer vision algorithms are performed on images captured by conventional cameras, and processing is accomplished by means of general purpose digital computers. More advanced systems utilize dedicated hardware to speed up the processing stage.