Hardware design of vector code correlation method for high-speed template matching

Template matching has been applied to the image processing of the fields such as security and robot vision to recognize a target from images. The method used in those fields requires the high-speed processing and robustness to illumination change or occlusion. To accommodate this, we employ a method, named the vector code correlation (VCC) that codes the gradient of intensity change, but the method on software is not enough in aspect of image processing time. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to achieve the template matching in real-time by designing hardware to implement the VCC method at high speed. The hardware design consists of five modules doing pipeline processing and is able to realize in relatively small scale. In the present paper, experimental results of 60 fps obtained with the designed hardware and its configuration are shown.