Convolution on Splash 2

Convolution is a fundamental operation in many signal and image processing applications. Since the computation and communication pattern in a convolution operation is regular, a number of special architectures have been designed and implemented for this operator. The Von Neuman architectures cannot meet the real-time requirements of applications that use convolution as an intermediate step. We combine the advantages of systolic algorithms with the low cost of developing application speciic designs using eld programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to build a scalable convolver for use in computer vision systems. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated theoretically and experimentally with many other convolution algorithms reported in the literature. The implementation of convolution operation on Splash 2, an attached processor based on Xilinx 4010 FPGAs, is reported with impressive performance gains.