Design of a hardware accelerator for real-time moment computation: A wavefront array approach

In image processing, pattern recognition, and computer vision, one of the most powerful techniques for feature extraction is to use moments. Real-time applications of this method, however, have been prohibited due to the intensive computation encountered in calculating the moments. One solution to this problem is to adopt specially designed hardware accelerators. This paper describes, from a practical standpoint, the design of a custom hardware accelerator for speeding up the moment computation. The design of the core functional units and the design of the overall system based on a wavefront array architecture are discussed. The moment accelerator can be easily configured into different sizes to meet diverse application requirements cost effectively. Testing results based on implementation using field-programmable gate array devices show that, at an affordable cost, the proposed hardware accelerator can deliver real-time speeds for moment computation. Elimination of this computational bottleneck makes it possible to use moments-based features in real-time industrial applications.