Optoelectronic pipeline architecture for morphological image processing

An optoelectronic architecture for morphological image processing is presented. The architecture uses the pipelining principle, with its stages being implemented by use of optical fiber-based programmable logic arrays. These arrays are characterized by their high fan-in and fan-out factors, which make them suitable for implementing morphological operations with large structuring elements without decomposition. The pipeline has fewer stages and clock skew can be avoided, thus making the use of higher clock speeds and throughputs possible.