Hardware implementation and validation of a traffic road sign detection and identification system

Reconfigurability and parallel computing capability of field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices are highly exploited in real-time digital image and video processing applications. In this field, real-time traffic road signs detection systems present a huge interest since they help to assist drivers and decrease accidents. In this paper, we propose an FPGA-based hardware implementation of road signs detection and identification system. The proposed system can achieve real-time video constraints while assuring a high-level accuracy in terms of detection rate. The performance of the system in terms of processing latency was evaluated relatively to the reaction distance, the braking distance and the vehicle speed. The evaluation results show that our system can support real-time driving conditions until the speed of 110 km/h. To prove the validity of the proposed implementation, a hardware co-simulation strategy was applied. This is based on the use of Matlab/Xilinx system generator. A comparison of the co-simulation results shows the effectiveness of the developed architecture.