VERTIPH : a visual environment for real-time image processing on hardware : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Systems Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Johnston, Christopher Troy

VERTIPH : a visual environment for real-time image processing on hardware : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Systems Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

dc.contributor.author	Johnston, Christopher Troy
dc.date.accessioned	2010-03-31T01:31:31Z
dc.date.available	NO_RESTRICTION	en_US
dc.date.available	2010-03-31T01:31:31Z
dc.date.issued	2009
dc.description.abstract	This thesis presents VERTIPH, a visual programming language for the development of image processing algorithms on FPGA hardware. The research began with an examination of the whole design cycle, with a view to identifying requirements for implementing image processing on FPGAs. Based on this analysis, a design process was developed where a selected software algorithm is matched to a hardware architecture tailor made for its implementation. The algorithm and architecture are then transformed into an FPGA suitable design. It was found that in most cases the most efficient mapping for image processing algorithms is to use a streamed processing approach. This constrains how data is presented and requires most existing algorithms to be extensively modified. Therefore, the resultant designs are heavily streamed and pipelined. A visual notation was developed to complement this design process, as both streaming and pipelining can be well represented by data flow visual languages. The notation has three views each of which represents and supports a different part of the design process. An architecture view gives an overview of the design's main blocks and their interconnections. A computational view represents lower-level details by representing each block by a set of computational expressions and low-level controls. This includes a novel visual representation of pipelining that simplifies latency analysis, multiphase design, priming, flushing and stalling, and the detection of sequencing errors. A scheduling view adds a state machine for high-level control of processing blocks. This extended state objects to allow for the priming and flushing of pipelined operations. User evaluations of an implementation of the key parts of this language (the architecture view and the computational view) found that both were generally good visualisations and aided in design (especially the type interface, pipeline and control notations). The user evaluations provided several suggestions for the improvement of the language, and in particular the evaluators would have preferred to use the diagrams as a verification tool for a textual representation rather than as the primary data capture mechanism. A cognitive dimensions analysis showed that the language scores highly for thirteen of the twenty dimensions considered, particularly those related to making details of the design clearer to the developer.	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1219
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.publisher	Massey University	en_US
dc.rights	The Author	en_US
dc.subject	Visual programming language	en_US
dc.subject	Field Programmable Gate Array	en_US
dc.subject	Human-computer interaction	en_US
dc.subject.other	Fields of Research::280000 Information, Computing and Communication Sciences::280300 Computer Software::280303 Programming languages	en_US
dc.title	VERTIPH : a visual environment for real-time image processing on hardware : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Systems Engineering at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US
massey.contributor.author	Johnston, Christopher Troy
thesis.degree.discipline	Computer Systems Engineering	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	Massey University	en_US
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral	en_US
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral	en
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosphy (Ph.D.)	en_US