Real-time MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 CABAC entropy coder

We present the real-time FPGA implementation of the CABAC (context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding) entropy coder. CABAC is the entropy coding tool specified in the main profile of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, the newest international standard for video compression. We design and implement the CABAC entropy encoder and decoder as an integral part of the real-time video coding system that conforms to the H.264 standard. Our goal is to achieve a real-time processing of SD (standard definition) video streams while maintaining low hardware complexity and a low power consumption level. Our design and implementation is suitable for portable consumer electronic devices such as digital mobile TV and digital camcorders.