OPTOELECTRONIC PIPELINE ARCHITECTURE FOR MORPHOLOGICAL IMAGE-PROCESSING

An optoelectronic architecture for morphological image processing is p resented. The architecture uses the pipelining principle, with its sta ges being implemented by use of optical fiber-based programmable logic arrays. These arrays are characterized by their high fan-in and fan-o ut factors, which make them suitable for implementing morphological op erations with large structuring elements without decomposition. The pi peline has fewer stages and clock skew can be avoided, thus making the use of higher clock speeds and throughputs possible. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.