THE GIOTTO SYSTEM - A PARALLEL COMPUTER FOR IMAGE-PROCESSING

This paper presents the GIOTTO system, a parallel computer based on a scalable single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) array of processors specially conceived for image processing, The system is characterized by a reduced-size array and a novel organization of the memory subsyst em: designed to support transparent processing of images larger than t he array. The system is designed to meet the computational requirement s of machine vision, together with the compactness, ease of integratio n and flexibility called for by industrial robotic environments, The p aper describes the system architecture in detail, focusing on original solutions conceived to endow the system with flexibility and performa nce, As proof of GIOTTO's suitability for robotic application, its use in a robot vision experiment is presented, showing the approach to th e vision problem, the parallel algorithms, and performance analysis. ( C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.