Manual optimization of a CUDA kernel can be an arduous task, even for the simplest of kernels. The CUDA programming model is such that a high performance may only be achieved if memory accesses in the kernel follow certain patterns; further, fine-tuning of the kernel execution and loop configuration may result in a dramatic increase in performance. The number of possible such configurations mak...

Retinex is an image restoration method that can restore the image’s original appearance. The Retinex algorithm utilizes a Gaussian blur convolution with large kernel size to compute the center/surround information. Then a log-domain processing between the original image and the center/surround information is performed pixel-wise. The final step of the Retinex algorithm is to normalize the resul...

Recent increases in the programmability and performance of GPUs have led to a surge of interest in utilizing them for general-purpose computations. Tools such as NVIDIA’s Cuda allow programmers to use a C-like language to code algorithms for execution on the GPU. Unfortunately, parallel programs are prone to subtle correctness and performance bugs, and Cuda tool support for solving these remain...

The Common Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) introduced in 2007 by NVIDIA is a recent programming model making use of the unified shader design of the most recent graphics processing units (GPUs). The programming interface allows algorithm implementation using standard C language along with a few extensions without any knowledge about graphics programming using OpenGL, DirectX, and shading lan...