A VLSI Architecture for Image Registration in Real Time

Image registration is an ubiquitous task occurring in countless image analysis applications. A dedicated implementation of image registration algorithms is the best approach to meet the intensive computation requirements of implementing image registration schemes in real time. This paper presents an efficient VLSI architecture for real-time implementation of image registration algorithms using an exhaustive search method. Normalized cross correlation function, mean square error, and blue screen technique algorithms are implemented for image registration. The architecture is based on a data flow design that allows sequential inputs but performs parallel processing. Based on the architecture, a programmable chip can be designed for image registration. Chips can be cascaded to achieve better performance and sizes of both the search and the reference image which can vary with time from a small to a very large value.