FPGA-Implemented Transforms

1. May 05-31 FPGA-Implemented Transforms Airplane lands by taking digital pictures that are manipulated by the system into a recognizable landing strip RUNWAY RADON FPGA ABSTRACT PROJECT REQUIREMENTS Applications based on transforms require high computational power, which gives rise to the need to experiment with efficient algorithms. Reconfigurable hardware devices in the form of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have been proposed as a way of obtaining high performance, more efficient implementation, and maximum speed. The goal of this project is to design FPGAs that will be used as a component in more complex projects, such as an aircraft-to-runway alignment system, or the design of a musical system that can transcribe the notes played in real-time, or any other system in which real-time processing of discrete transforms is desired. • Design Objectives • The design should fulfill the functional requirements listed below • Functional Requirements • Hardware design – able to calculate transforms and inverse transforms in real-time • A building block – the design should be a building block for larger systems that need to process transforms in real-time • Design Constraints • FPGA size limitation– limited by the computation time, size of signals to be processed, and the gate count • Transform computation time– limited by the process time to compute transforms quickly and efficiently • Finances– limited by the finances the team has access to • Time– must be completed within two semesters time • Milestones • Project definition • Project plan • Poster • Design of chosen transform algorithm • Implementation of algorithm • Final documentation of product INTRODUCTION • Problem Statement • Software calculations of transforms are very time consuming due to their use of complex trigonometric functions, design of an FPGA to calculate in real-time transforms will greatly improve speed • Operating Environment • Limited to the specifications of the chosen Xilinx™ FPGA for the particular transform operation • Intended Users and Intended Uses • Design can be used as a component in larger systems such as an aircraft-to-runway alignment system, or a musical system that can transcribe the notes played • Assumptions • Implementing real-time transform calculation engines in hardware is possible • Xilinx™ produces an FPGA with the needed gate count to implement such algorithms • Limitations • Algorithms must compute transforms efficiently to achieve real-time status • The number of I/O pads available for data is set for each FPGA • Knowledge of transform algorithms, VHDL, and specific Xilinx™ functions • End Product and Deliverables • Design methodology–a method for designing real-time transform engines • Sub-block VHDL code –implementations of generic blocks needed for transform calculations • Synthesize VHDL code and final FPGA - implementation of at least one transform engine • Final report–documentation of the design methodology used, the VHDL sub-block designs, and the overall implemented transform design RADON TRANSFORM ESTIMATED RESOURCES AND SCHEDULE Personal Effort Financial Requirements Project Schedule PROPOSED APPROACH • Approach • Research and study various transforms • Study Xilinx™, FPGAs, VHDL, and balanced computing • Suitable transformation of algorithm for hardware implementation • Technologies Considered • Xilinx™ software, because of available client resources • Radon transform and Fourier transform • Testing Considerations • Unit testing – test each fundamental block of system • Integration testing – units will be tested as they are integrated together • System tests – show the overall functionality of system • Acceptance testing – show system conforms to the customer’s requests Other Requirements RUNWAY IMAGE TEAM INFORMATION SUMMARY From avionics to music, digital signal processing is becoming an important part of everyday life, but the current technology to calculate transforms is trailing the demand for speed. Through research and study, efficient algorithms can be built to solve transforms in a way that can be implemented into the design of a chip. Once efficient algorithms have been discovered, designing an FPGA chip that can optimize the calculation of transforms would have wide spread results. The end product of this design will be a hardware chip used for calculating transforms that will efficiently improve current industry technology. • Team members Sean Casey EE / CprE Christopher Miller EE / CprE Chii-Aik Fang EE Ibrahim Ali EE • Advisor and Client Arun K. Somani Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering