Three-dimensional Perspective Transformer at Video Rates

We propose to develop an image processing system capable of performing 3D-perspective image transformations at video rates. System hardware will include multiple graphics accelerators interfaced to a commercial graphics workstation. System software will employ both efficient incremental computation of perspective transformations to implement image warping, and high-quality filtering to eliminate visual artifacts. All algorithms will be parallelized and fully implemented on the chosen multiprocessor system in order to achieve real-time performance.In addition to more conventional inverse mapping, forward mapping techniques will also be investigated for performing the necessary spatialtransformations. The final choice of algorithms will be based upon an analysis of both the computational efficiency and the perceptual acceptability of the graphics obtained in an air-to-ground targeting application. Past perspective transformations performed using a dedicated graphics accelerator can be expected to provide a cost effective solution to the computational problems that are routinely encountered invarious applications such as mission rehearsal, part-task training, flight simulation, scientific visualization, virtual reality systems, video entertainment systems, and medical imaging.