Hierarchical and Pyramidal
Architectures 
Image processing is a very heavy computational task, and achieving
reasonable throughput is unlikely on conventional architectures.
A
good platform to deal with images is the Papia2, a
processor array able to reconfigure itself as a pyramid; the Papia2
array allows a one-to-one mapping between processors and image pixels.
A low level and a high level simulator have been developed for the
machine, which isn't physically available yet. The low-level simulator
can execute Papia2 instructions and is used to code and
test basic routines. The high-level simulator is devoted to
the realization of more complex algorithms using a high level
language.
The programming environment embeds a source-level
debugger to trace running programs and a visualization module to
monitor machine status in the form of evolving images.
With the
'imget' metaphor, active images capable of modifying their contents, it
is possible to offer a high level access to the Papia2
array. Application development can thus ignore hardware details and
deal only with image transformations.
Back to IST Home Page