VLSI DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN IMAGE SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS

IMAGE SEGMENTATION IS A CRUCIAL STEP IN IMAGE ANALYSIS AND IS REQUIRED BEFORE ANY HIGH-LEVEL SYMBOLIC MANIPULATION CAN BE DONE USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CARRY OUT VERY LARGESCALE INTEGRATION (VLSI) DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF IMAGE SEGMENTATION ALGORITHMS USEFUL FOR ANALYZING INDUSTRIAL, BIOMEDICAL AND MILITARY IMAGES. DURING PHASE I ONE OR MORE CHIPS WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR THE SEGMENTATION OF GRAY SCALE IMAGES AT THE TV FRAME RATE (30 FRAMES/SEC). INITIALLY THE CHIP WILL IMPLEMENT A GRADIENT RELAXATION TECHNIQUE FOR SEGMENTATION OF IMAGES. THE RELAXATION TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE USEFUL IN ANALYZING INDUSTRIAL BIOMEDICAL AND MILITARY IMAGES. CHIP DEVELOPMENT INVOLVES LOGIC DESIGNS, CIRCUIT LAYOUT AND SIMULATION. THIS WILL BE DONE USING CMOS3-MICROMETER TECHNOLOGY AND THE PATH PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC (PPL) METHODOLOGY DEVELOPED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH. ONCETHE DESIGN IS COMPLETE THE CHIP WILL BE FABRICATED USING MOSIS FACILITIES AND TESTING WILL BE DONE AND RESULTS OF THEPHASE I STUDY WILL BE REPORTED. IN PHASE II OF THE PROGRAM WE SHALL EXTEND THE ALGORITHMS TO INCLUDE CONNECTED COMPONENTS AND TO USE EDGE AND COLOR INFORMATION FOR THE SEGMENTATION OF A WIDE VARIETY OF IMGAGES.