A CMOS Sensor Based Camera Design
Figure 13 is a typical CMOS sensor based camera design. The incoming camera pixel stream is converted into RGB triples using adaptive bi-linear interpolation. Color correction is then applied to the RGB triple to remove the lens color distortion. The camera video is then triple-frame buffered allowing it to be transmitted at standard DVI pixel clock and sync timings.
Figure 13. Typical CMOS Sensor Based Camera Design
Summary
FPGAs are an ideal platform for various video and imaging applications given the underlying high-performance signal processing fabric and the ability to create custom designs. With the advent of CMOS sensors in a range of imaging applications, both pixel processing for the sensor data and video processing can be implemented on the same FPGA.
Solutions like the Video Image Processing IP suite (VIP) from Altera enable complex video processing such as scaling and deinterlacing, while custom reference designs detailed above can be used as a starting point to implement the pixel level processing at the front-end.
About the authors:
Suhel Dhanani is a Senior Manager in the software, embedded and DSP marketing group. Mr. Dhanani is responsible for DSP product marketing. He has over 15 years of industry experience in semiconductors — with both large companies such as Xilinx and VLSI Technology as well as with Silicon Valley startups including Anadigm and Tabula. Mr. Dhanani has completed a graduate certificate in Management Science from Stanford University and holds M.S.E.E. and M.B.A. degrees from Arizona State University. He can be reached via newsroom@altera.com
Andy Robertson is founder and Director of Bitec. With over 20 years experience in the electronics and computing industry, he has a wide range of experience across various market segments including automotive, rail, and aerospace. Mr. Robertson graduated with First Class Honours from Southampton University in the UK and holds both a Masters from UMIST, UK and a PhD from La Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Madrid, Spain. He can be reached at andy.robertson@bitec-dsp.com
