Dedicated hardware processor and corresponding system-on-chip design for real-time laser speckle imaging.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Medical Imaging
• Optical Engineering

Background:

• Laser speckle imaging (LSI) is a noninvasive optical technique for generating 2D blood flow maps.
• Current LSI processing can be computationally intensive, limiting real-time applications.
• Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) offer potential for high-speed, dedicated image processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a hardware-friendly algorithm for real-time LSI processing.
• To design and implement a dedicated FPGA-based hardware processor for LSI.
• To create a system-on-chip (SOC) solution for integrated LSI processing.

Main Methods:

• Developed and optimized a hardware-specific algorithm for LSI on FPGAs.
• Designed a parallel computing architecture with a pipeline processing scheme for the LSI hardware processor.
• Integrated CCD controller, memory controller, LSI processor, and LCD controller into a single FPGA for an SOC solution.

Main Results:

• The FPGA-implemented LSI hardware processor achieves a maximum processing speed of 85 raw images (640x480 pixels) per second at 130 MHz.
• The SOC solution demonstrates the feasibility of a compact, integrated system for LSI.
• The developed hardware processor is suitable for real-time blood flow monitoring.

Conclusions:

• A novel FPGA-based hardware algorithm and processor enable efficient real-time LSI.
• The developed SOC solution provides a pathway for creating dedicated application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for LSI.
• This advancement facilitates noninvasive, high-speed blood flow imaging in various biomedical applications.