Real-time systolic array processor for 2-D spatial filtering

The use of systolic arrays (SA) to implement two-D local state-space (LSS) digital filters for real-time image processing is presented. The simple modular structure of the SA is ideal for VLSI implementation. The array used is composed of ROM/adder (or multiplier/adder) cells and is shown to be 100% efficient. The size of the array is equal to the overall size of the system matrix and is much smaller than arrays where the number of cells equals the number of image pixels. Still, this array is capable of processing a 512×512 image in less than 1/30 seconds allowed in real-time applications for second-order filters. The use of ROMs along with the inherent good performance of LSS filters under the effect of finite-length registers, makes this implementation desirable. The array is also far less expensive than other proposed real-time two-D digital filter implementations