Hardware designers typically must perform extensive behavioral testing
of a new concept before proceeding with an implementation. Due to the
enormous processing time required to simulate a complex image-process
ing system, executing a VHDL model with a representative data set even
on a fast workstation is not practical. Days, even weeks, are commonl
y needed to simulate the processing of a full-sized image. And since s
ome applications process sequences of images, designers may need sever
al hundred image simulations to adequately analyze only a few seconds
of data. Because of this, they may be forced into a trade-off between
how much testing can be afforded versus an acceptable risk in allowing
a silicon iteration. The authors discuss an alternative, automated ap
proach: transforming the structural representation (or transforming a
behavioral model) into a real-time implementation. With their VTSplash
custom computing platform, a designer can proceed from a behavioral d
escription of the image-processing task to a functioning prototype tha
t can perform the task at full speed (rapid prototyping). Reconfigurat
ion from one image-processing task to another takes just seconds. The
authors explore the utility of custom computing machinery for accelera
ting the development, testing, and prototyping of a diverse set of ima
ge-processing applications. They describe several implemented image-pr
ocessing tasks and conclude with task performance evaluation.