A Mini project Report on

IMAGE PROCESSING USING XILINX SYSTEM

GENERATOR IN FPGA
Submitted to

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION

ENGINEERING
MAHAVEER INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
(Approved by AICTE & Affiliated to JNTUH)
In the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In

ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

By
R.SAIRAM 15E31A0443

P.NARSIMHA REDDY 15E31A0438

P.NAVEEN REDDY 15E31A0440

P.RAGHAVENDRA 15E31A0442

SK.AMAIR HUSSAIN 15E31A0447

Kripal K.Venkateswarlu Dr.V.Gunasekhar Reddy

Asst. Professor Asst. Professor Professor & HOD

Guide Project coordinator

 DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
ENGINEERING

MAHAVEER INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Vyasapuri, Bandlaguda, Post: Keshavagiri, Hyderabad-500005

CONTENTS

Page No

Abstract
i

Acknowledgement
ii

List of figures
iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: PROJECT BLOCK DIAGRAM

CHAPTER 4: HARDWARE

CHAPTER 5: PROJECT DESCRIPTION

CHAPTER 6: RESULTS

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 IMAGE PROCESSING USING XILINX SYSTEM
GENERATOR (XSG) IN FPGA (IMAGE CONTRAST
STRETCHING)

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the conceptual description of hardware & software simulation for
image processing using Xilinx System Generator (XSG). This paper provides the
theory and practical aspects of technique, which provide a set of Simulink model for
several hardware operations using various Xilinx that could be implemented on
various FPGA. This paper presents an efficient architecture for various image
processing algorithms for image negatives, image enhancement , contrast stretching,
Image Edge Detection, image Brightness Control, Range Highlighting
Transformation, Parabola transformation for grayscale and color images by using
fewest possible System Generator Blocks. Performances of theses architectures
implemented in FPGA.

Key Word— Image Processing, Xilinx System Generator, Field Programmable

Gate Array (FPGA), Simulink and transformation.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is indeed a great pleasure and immense satisfaction for us to express our deep
sense of gratitude, to our project Guide Ms.kripal, Asst. Professor and Section-A
Project coordinator Mr.K.Venkateswarlu, Asst. Professor in Electronics and
Communication Engineering department, for his guidance in the completion of
the project.

We convey our sincere gratitude to Dr.jaswal, Professor and Head of the

department of Electronics and Communication Engineering for his
encouragement in completion of the project.

It is our privilege to express our sincere thanks to Dr.K.S.S.S.N.Reddy

principal, MIST for extending support and for providing necessary infrastructure
and for permitting us to do the project work in our college.

We also express our sincere thanks to the Management of Mahaveer

Institute of Science and Technology for their support in completing this project
in the Institution.
 INTRODUCTION

Over the past decades, the field of image processing has undergone a rapid
evolution. Image processing has varied applications, computer vision, digital
photography, Traffic load computation etc. Current trends in digital camera
technology have led to an increase in larger number of pixels being adjusted into
smaller spaces. This result in an overall descends in the visual quality of images.

This paper particularly determinates on developing appropriate method to

perform hardware implementation of various image processing algorithms that can be
used in some applications. Image quality can be enhanced by creating image
processing algorithms using Xilinx system generator such as, contrast stretching, edge
detection etc. these algorithms were mainly discussed in this paper. This paper aims
at, Implementing algorithms in MATLAB using Xilinx system generator (XSG) for
specific role, Generation of HDL code using Xilinx system generator token, Hardware
implementation of given algorithms on FPGA.

System Generator is part of the ISE® Design Suite and provides Xilinx DSP
Block set such as adders, multipliers, registers, filters and memories for application
specific design. These blocks leverage the Xilinx IP core generators to deliver
optimized results for the selected device. Previous experience with Xilinx FPGAs or
RTL design methodologies is not required when using System Generator. Designs are
captured in the DSP friendly Simulink modeling environment using a Xilinx specific
Block set. All of the downstream FPGA implementation steps including synthesis and
place and route are automatically performed to generate an FPGA
programming file. Advantage of using Xilinx system generator for hardware
implementation is that Xilinx Block set provides close integration with MATLAB
Simulink that helps in co-simulating the FPGA module with pixel vector provided by
MATLAB Simulink Blocks. The System Generator block defines which type of
FPGA board will be used, as well as provide several additional options for clock
speed, compilation type and analysis. With a library of over 90 DSP building blocks,
System Generator allows for faster prototyping and design from a high-level
programming stand point. Some block such as the M-code and Black box allow for
direct programming in MATLAB M-code, C code, and Verilog to simplify
integration with existing projects or customized block behavior. System Generator
projects can also easily be placed directly onto the FPGA as an executable bit stream
file as well as generating Verilog code for additional optimizations or integration with
existing projects within the Xilinx ISE environment.

In this paper, we study digital images and its processing techniques,

specifically point processing algorithms. The handling of digital images is a subject of
widespread interest. Image processing is used to modify pictures to improve them
(enhancement, restoration), extract information (analysis, recognition) and change
their structure (composition, image editing). FPGAs are increasingly used in modern
imaging applications namely image filtering, medical imaging, image compression
and wireless communication. The need to process the image in real time, leads to
implement them in hardware, which offers parallelism, thus significantly reduces
the processing time.

The drawback of most of the methods is that they use a high level language for
coding, which requires thousands of coding lines for image processing applications
which is inefficient as it takes much time. In order to solve this problem, a tool called
Xilinx System Generator(XSG), with graphical interface under the MATLAB-
Simulink is used which makes it very easy to handle with respect to other software for
hardware description. FPGA is a form of highly configurable hardware while DSPs
are specialized form of microprocessors. System Generator is the modeling tool in
which designs are captured in the DSP friendly Simulink modeling environment using
Xilinx specific Block set.

Point processes are the simplest and basic image processing operations. Point
operations are the simplest, they contain some of the most powerful and widely used
of all image processing operations. They are especially useful in image pre-
processing, where an image is required to be modified before the man job is
attempted. Important point Processing operations are arithmetic operations, XOR
operations, histograms with equalization, and Contrast stretching and intensity
transformations along with the implementations which are done using XSG.
 The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section -2 Discusses about Xilinx
System Generator [10] and section-3 discusses about the Design Flow of Image
Processing using the XSG [3]. Section-4 & 5 is all about the Image Processing block
And Image Processing technique using XSG, Image Preprocessing & post Processing
technique[6] and other image Processing Techniques are Image Enhancement, Image
negative[6], Image Edge Detection[12], image Brightness Control, Image Contrast
Stretching[10], Range Highlighting Transformation, Parabola transformation[4].
Section-6 Discusses about Hardware Implementation. Section-7 Discusses about
hardware Co-simulation which includes (a) A Compilation Target and (b) Clocking
Tab,(c) Calling the Code generator[10] and last Section-8 Discusses the Conclusion.

Image file formats

They are standardized means of organizing and storing digital images.

Image files are composed of digital data in one of these formats that can
be rasterized for use on a computer display or printer. An image file format may store

data in uncompressed, compressed, or vector formats. Once rasterized, an image

becomes a grid of pixels, each of which has a number of bits to designate its color
equal to the color depth of the device displaying it.

Image file size

The size of raster image files is positively correlated with the number of pixels
in the image and the color depth (bits per pixel). Images can be compressed in various
ways, however. A compression algorithm stores either an exact representation or an
approximation of the original image in a smaller number of bytes that can be
expanded back to its uncompressed form with a corresponding decompression
algorithm. Images with the same number of pixels and color depth can have very
different compressed file size. Considering exactly the same compression, number of
pixels, and color depth for two images, different graphical complexity of the original
images may also result in very different file sizes after compression due to the nature
of compression algorithms. With some compression formats, images that are less
complex may result in smaller compressed file sizes. This characteristic sometimes
results in a smaller file size for some lossless formats than loss formats. For example,
graphically simple images (i.e. images with large continuous regions like line art or
animation sequences) may be lossless compressed into a GIF or PNG format and
result in a smaller file size than a loss JPEG format.

For example, a 640 * 480 pixel image with 24-bit color would occupy almost a
megabyte of space:

640 * 480 * 24 = 7,372,800 bits = 921,600 bytes = 900 kB

With vector images the file size increases only with the addition of more vectors.

Image file compression

There are two types of images compression algorithms: lossless and loss
compression algorithms reduce file size while preserving a perfect copy of the
original uncompressed image. Lossless compression generally, but not always, results
in larger files than loss compression. Lossless compression should be used to avoid
accumulating stages of re-compression when editing images.

Loss compression algorithms preserve a representation of the original uncompressed

image that may appear to be a perfect copy, but it is not a perfect copy. Often loss
compression is able to achieve smaller file sizes than lossless compression. Most loss
compression algorithms allow for variable compression that trades image quality for
file size.

Major graphic file formats

Including proprietary types, there are hundreds of image file types. The PNG,
JPEG, and GIF formats are most often used to display images on the Internet. Some
of these graphic formats are listed and briefly described below, separated into the two
main families of graphics: raster and vector.

In addition to straight image formats, metafile formats are portable formats which can
include both raster and vector information. Examples are application-independent
formats such as WMF and EMF. The metafile format is an intermediate format. Most
applications open metafiles and then save them in their own native format. Page
description language refers to formats used to describe the layout of a printed page

containing text, objects and images. Examples are PostScript, PDF and PCL.
Raster formats

JPEG/JFIF
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a loss compression method; JPEG-
compressed images are usually stored in the JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format) file
format. The JPEG/JFIF filename extension is JPG or JPEG. Nearly every digital
camera can save images in the JPEG/JFIF format, which supports eight-bit grayscale
images and 24-bit color images (eight bits each for red, green, and blue). JPEG
applies loss compression to images, which can result in a significant reduction of the
file size. Applications can determine the degree of compression to apply, and the
amount of compression affects the visual quality of the result. When not too great, the
compression does not noticeably affect or detract from the image's quality, but JPEG
files suffer generational degradation when repeatedly edited and saved. (JPEG also
provides lossless image storage, but the lossless version is not widely supported.)

Fig:01
JPEG 2000

JPEG 2000 is a compression standard enabling both lossless and lossy storage.
The compression methods used are different from the ones in standard JFIF/JPEG;
they improve quality and compression ratios, but also require more computational
power to process. JPEG 2000 also adds features that are missing in JPEG. It is not
nearly as common as JPEG, but it is used currently in professional movie editing and
distribution (some digital cinemas, for example, use JPEG 2000 for individual movie
frames).

Exif
The Exif (Exchangeable image file format) format is a file standard similar to the
JFIF format with TIFF extensions; it is incorporated in the JPEG-writing software
used in most cameras. Its purpose is to record and to standardize the exchange of
images with image metadata between digital cameras and editing and viewing
software. The metadata are recorded for individual images and include such things as
camera settings, time and date, shutter speed, exposure, image size, compression,
name of camera, color information. When images are viewed or edited by image
editing software, all of this image information can be displayed.

The actual Exif metadata as such may be carried within different host formats, e.g.
TIFF, JFIF (JPEG) or PNG. IFF-META is another example.

TIFF

The TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format is a flexible format that normally
saves eight bits or sixteen bits per color (red, green, blue) for 24-bit and 48-bit totals,
respectively, usually using either the TIFF or TIF filename extension. The tagged
structure was designed to be easily extendible, and many vendors have introduced
proprietary special-purpose tags – with the result that no one reader handles every
flavor of TIFF file] TIFFs can be lossy or lossless, depending on the technique chosen
for storing the pixel data. Some offer relatively good lossless compression for bi-
level(black & white) images. Some digital cameras can save images in TIFF format,
using the LZW compression algorithm for lossless storage. TIFF image format is not
widely supported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as a photograph
file standard in the printing business. TIFF can handle device-specific color spaces,
such as the CMYK defined by a particular set of printing press inks. OCR (Optical
Character Recognition) software packages commonly generate some form of TIFF
image (often monochromatic) for scanned text pages.

GIF
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is in normal use limited to an 8-bit palette, or
256 colors (while 24-bit color depth is technically possible). GIF is most suitable for
storing graphics with few colors, such as simple diagrams, shapes, logos, and cartoon
style images, as it uses LZW lossless compression, which is more effective when
large areas have a single color, and less effective for photographic or dithered images.
Due to GIF's simplicity and age, it achieved almost universal software support. Due
to its animation capabilities, it is still widely used to provide image animation effects,
despite its low compression ratio compared to modern video formats.

BMP
The PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format was created as a free, open-
source alternative to GIF. The PNG file format supports eight-bit palette images (with
optional transparency for all palette colors) and 24-The BMP file format (Windows
bitmap) handles graphic files within the Microsoft Windows OS. Typically, BMP
files are uncompressed, and therefore large and lossless; their advantage is their
simple structure and wide acceptance in Windows programs.
PNG
Bit true color (16 million colors) or 48-bit true color with and without alpha
channel - while GIF supports only 256 colors and a single transparent color.
Compared to JPEG, PNG excels when the image has large, uniformly colored areas.
Even for photographs – where JPEG is often the choice for final distribution since its
compression technique typically yields smaller file sizes – PNG is still well-suited to
storing images during the editing process because of its lossless compression.
PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF (though GIF is itself now patent-
free), and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, grayscale, and
true color images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel.
The Adam7 interlacing allows an early preview, even when only a small percentage
of the image data has been transmitted. PNG can store gamma and chromaticity data
for improved color matching on heterogeneous platforms.
PNG is designed to work well in online viewing applications like web browsers and
can be fully streamed with a progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing
both full file integrity checking and simple detection of common transmission errors.
Animated formats derived from PNG are MNG and APNG. The latter is supported
by Mozilla Firefox and Opera and is backwards compatible with PNG.
 PREVIOUS WORK

Simulink is a simulation and model-based design environment for dynamic and

embedded systems, integrated with MATLAB. Simulink, also developed by Math
Works, is a data flow graphical programming language tool for modeling, simulating
and analyzing multi-domain dynamic systems. It is basically a graphical block
diagramming tool with customizable set of block libraries.

It allows you to incorporate MATLAB algorithms into models as well as export the
simulation results into MATLAB for further analysis.

Simulink supports −

 system-level design
 simulation
 automatic code generation
 testing and verification of embedded systems
There are several other add-on products provided by Math Works and third-party
hardware and software products that are available for use with Simulink.

The following list gives brief description of some of them −

 State flow allows developing state machines and flow charts.

 Simulink Coder allows the generation of C source code for real-time

implementation of systems automatically.

 XPC Target together with x86-based real-time systems provide an

environment to simulate and test Simulink and State flow models in real-time
on the physical system.

 Embedded Coder supports specific embedded targets.

 HDL Coder allows to automatically generate synthesizable VHDL and

Verilog.

 SimEvents provides a library of graphical building blocks for modelling

queuing systems.

Simulink is capable of systematic verification and validation of models through

modelling style checking, requirements traceability and model coverage analysis.

Simulink Design Verifier allows you to identify design errors and to generate test
case scenarios for model checking.
Using Simulink
To open Simulink, type in the MATLAB work space −

Simulink
Simulink opens with the Library Browser. The Library Browser is used for building
simulation models.

On the left side window pane, you will find several libraries
categorized on the basis of various systems, clicking on each one
will display the design blocks on the right window pane.

Building Models
To create a new model, click the new button on the Library
Browser's toolbar. This opens a new untitled model window.
A Simulink model is a block diagram.

Model elements are added by selecting the appropriate elements from the Library
Browser and dragging them into the Model window.

Alternately, you can copy the model elements and paste them into the model
window.

Examples
Drag and drop items from the Simulink library to make your project.

For the purpose of this example, two blocks will be used for the simulation -
A Source (a signal) and a Sink (a scope). A signal generator (the source) generates an
analog signal, which will then be graphically visualized by the scope(the sink).
Begin by dragging the required blocks from the library to the
project window. Then, connect the blocks together which can be
done by dragging connectors from connection points on one block
to those of another.

Let us drag a 'Sine Wave' block into the model.

Select 'Sinks' from the library and drag a 'Scope' block into the
model.
Drag a signal line from the output of the Sine Wave block to the
input of the Scope block.

Run the simulation by pressing the 'Run' button, keeping all parameters
default (you can change them from the Simulation menu)
You should get the below graph from the scope.
Process digital images with computer algorithms

Digital image processing is the use of computer algorithms to create, process,

communicate, and display digital images. Digital image processing algorithms can be
used to:

Convert signals from an image sensor into digital images

Improve clarity, and remove noise and other artifacts

Extract the size, scale, or number of objects in a scene

Prepare images for display or printing

Compress images for communication across a network

The following images illustrate a few of these examples:

Removing noise using a Wiener Filter.

Counting circular objects in an image.

Effective techniques for processing digital images include using algorithms and tools
that provide a comprehensive environment for data analysis, visualization, and
algorithm development. Algorithm development is central to image
processing and computer vision because each situation is unique, and good solutions
require multiple design iterations. Math Works provides a comprehensive
environment to gain insight into your image and video data, develop algorithms, and
explore implementation tradeoffs.

With MATLAB® and Simulink® products for image processing and computer vision,
you can:

Acquire images and video from imaging hardware

Use graphical tools to visualize and manipulate images and video

Develop new ideas using libraries of reference-standard algorithms

Migrate designs to embedded hardware

PROJECT WORK

IV. SCHEMATIC OF IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUE

The entire operation for any image processing technique using Simulink and Xilinx
blocks mainly goes through three phases .

A. Image pre processing blocks:

As image is two dimensional (2D) arrangement, to meet the hardware requirement
the image should be preprocessed and given as one dimensional (1D) vector. The
model based design used for image pre processing is shown in Fig.3. To process 2D
image it is convertedinto 1D by using convert 2D to 1D block. Frame conversion
block sets output signal to frame based data and provided to unbuffer block which
converts this frame to scalar samples at a higher sampling rate.

Image pre processing blocks

B. Image processing technique using XSG:

All Xilinx blocks should be connected between Gateway In and Gateway Out.
Between those two blocks any technique can be designed. All Xilinx blocks work on
fixed point but the real world signal (image, voice signal, etc.) are floating point so
here the gateway in and gateway out blocks acts as translators for converting the real
world signal into the desired form.

Xilinx Blocks
C. Image post processing blocks:

The image post processing blocks which are used to convehrt the image output back
to floating point type are shown in Fig.5. For post processing it uses a buffer block
which converts scalar samples to frame output at lower sampling rate, followed by a
1D to 2D format signal block[5].

Image post processing blocks

EXECUTION PROCESS:

 Start
 All programs
 XILINX design tools
 XILINX system generator
 Right click on system generator
 Select run as administrator
 MATLAB as below
Select on system generator for configuring

Initializing the MAT LAB

Click on windows and select simulink

Click on library browser

Click on new file and a model appears and control line appears

Select the block lines

Select the block lines

Select the block lines

 Connect the required blocks of sub

Click on simulation and adjust configuration parameters

Select the image and browse it

Simulation process runs

 Result

SOFTWARE

II. XILINX SYSTEM GENERATOR:

System Generator is part of the ISE® Design Suite and provides Xilinx DSP Block
set such as adders, multipliers, registers, filters and memories for application specific
design. These blocks leverage the Xilinx IP core generators to deliver optimized
results for the selected device. Previous experience with Xilinx FPGAs or RTL design
methodologies is not required when using System Generator. Designs are captured in
the DSP friendly Simulink modeling environment using a Xilinx specific Block set.
All of the downstream FPGA implementation steps including synthesis and place and
route are automatically performed to generate an FPGA programming file. Advantage
of using Xilinx system generator for hardware implementation is that Xilinx Block set
provides close integration with MATLAB Simulink that helps in co-simulating the
FPGA module with pixel vector provided by MATLAB Simulink Blocks.
The System Generator block defines which type of FPGA board will be used, as well
as provide several additional options for clock speed, compilation type and analysis.
With a library of over 90 DSP building blocks, System Generator allows for faster
prototyping and design from a high-level programming stand point. Some blockssuch
as the M-code and Black box allow for direct programming in MATLAB M-code, C
code, and Verilog to simplify integration with existing projects or customized block
behavior. System Generator projects can also easily be placed directly onto the FPGA
as an executable bit stream file as well as generating Verilog code for additional
optimizations or integration with existing projects within the Xilinx ISE
environment[10]. System Generator is a DSP design tool from Xilinx that enables the
use of the Math Works model-based Simulink design environment for FPGA design.
Previous experience with Xilinx FPGA’s or RTL design methodologies are not
required when using System Generator. Designs are captured in the DSP friendly
Simulink modeling environment using a Xilinx specific block set. All of the
downstream FPGA implementation steps including synthesis and place and route are
automatically performed to generate an FPGA programming file.

The Xilinx DSP Block Set

Over 90 DSP building blocks are provided in the Xilinx DSP block set for Simulink.
These blocks include the common DSP building blocks such as adders, multipliers
and registers. Also included are a set of complex DSP building blocks such as forward
error correction blocks, FFTs, filters and memories. These blocks leverage the Xilinx
IP core generators to deliver optimized results for the selected device.
SUPPORT FOR MATLAB

Algorithmic MATLAB models can be incorporated into System Generator through

AccelDSP™. Accel DSP includes powerful algorithmic synthesis that takes floating-
point MATLAB as input and generates a fully scheduled fixed-point model for use
with System Generator. Features include floating- to fixed-point conversion,
Automatic IP insertion, design exploration and algorithmic scheduling. Also included
in System Generator is an M Code block that allows the use of non-algorithmic
MATLAB for the modeling and implementation of simple control operations.
System Integration Platform

System Generator provides a system integration platform for the design of DSP
FPGAs that allows the RTL, Simulink, MATLAB and C/C++ components of a DSP
system to come together in a single simulation and implementation environment.
System Generator supports a black box block that allows RTL to be imported into
Simulink and co-simulated with either ModelSim or Xilinx® ISE® Simulator.
System Generator also supports the inclusion of a MicroBlaze™ embedded processor
running C/C++ programs.
DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLATION

System Generator is part of the ISE® Design Suite and may be download from
the Xilinx web page. You may purchase, register, and download the System Generator
software

Windows-Based Hardware Recommendations

System Requirements and Recommendations:

Windows-Based Hardware Recommendations

Recommendation Notes

600 MB of hard disk space Minimum Requirement

Xilinx® Hardware Co-Simulation Required for the Hardware Co-

Platform Simulation Flow

2.00 GB of RAM

Linux-Based Hardware Recommendations

Recommendation Notes

4 GB of RAM

600 MB of hard disk space Minimum Requirement

Xilinx® Hardware Co-Simulation Required for the Hardware Co-

Platform Simulation Flow
Operating System and Software Requirements
Windows-Based Operating System and Software Requirements

Requirement Notes

Windows XP 32 bit Operating System

SP2 ( English Only )

Xilinx® ISE Design Suite Release 11.1

MathWorks MATLAB®, Simulink with MATLAB must be installed in a

Fixed-Point Toolbox Version 2008a or directory with no spaces (e.g.,
2008b C:\MATLAB\R2008b)

Fixed-Point Toolbox required for

signals greater than 53 bits

Linux-Based Operating System and Software Requirement

Requirement Notes

Red Hat Linux 4u7, 32 and 64

bit Operating System (English
Only)

Xilinx® ISE Design Suite

Release 11.1

MathWorks MATLAB®, MATLAB must be installed in a

Simulink with directory with no spaces (e.g.,
Fixed-Point Toolbox Version C:\MATLAB\R2008b)
2008a and 2008b Fixed-Point Toolbox required for signals
greater than 53 bits
III. DESIGN FLOW FOR IMAGE PROCESSING WITH XILINX
SYSTEM GENERATOR

System Generator works within the Simulink model based design methodology. Often
an executable spec is created using the standard Simulink block sets. This spec can

be designed using floating-point numerical precision and without hardware detail.

Once the functionality and basic dataflow issues have been defined, System Generator
can be used to specify the hardware implementation details for the Xilinx devices.
System Generator uses the Xilinx DSP block set for Simulink and will automatically
invoke Xilinx Core Generator™ to generate highly-optimized net lists for the DSP
building blocks. System Generator can execute all the downstream implementation
tools to product a bit stream for programming the FPGA. An optional test bench can
be created using test vectors extracted from the Simulink environment for use with
Model Simulink or the Xilinx ISE® Simulator. The System Generator of DSP is
shown in Fig.1
System Generator for DSP

For accomplishing Image processing task using Xilinx System Generator

needs two Software tools to be installed. One is MATLAB Version R2011a or higher
and Xilinx ISE 14.1. The System Generator token available along with Xilinx has to
be configured to MATLAB. This result in addition of Xilinx Block set to the Matlab
Simulink environment which can be directly utilized for building algorithmic model.

The algorithms are developed and models are built for image negative,
enhancement etc. using library provided by Xilinx Block set. The image pixels are
provided to Xilinx models in the form of multidimensional image signal or R|G|B
separate color signals in the form of vector in Xilinx fixed point format. These models
are simulated in Matlab Simulink environment with suitable simulation time and
simulation mode and tested.

The reflected results can be seen on a video viewer. Once the expected results
are obtained System Generator is configured for suitable FPGA board. FPGA board
that used here is Virtex5. I/O planning and Clock planning is done and the model is
implemented for JTAG hardware co-simulation. The System generator parameters are
set and generated. On compilation the netlist is generated and a draft for the model

and programming file in VHDL is created which can be accessed using Xilinx ISE.
The module is checked for behavioral syntax check, synthesized and implemented on
FPGA. The Xilinx System Generator itself has the feature of generating User
constraints file (UCF), Test bench and Test vectors for testing architecture.

Xilinx System Generator (XSG) has created primarily to deal with complex
Digital signal processing (DSP) applications, but it has other application of this theme
such as image processing also work with it. Bit stream compilation is done which is
necessary to create an FPGA bit file which is suitable for FPGA input. The Fig.2
shows the Design flow for Xilinx System Generator [3].

V. IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES USING XILINX

BLOCKS
In this section the basic image processing techniques namely image enhancement,
color to gray scale conversion, image negative and image edge detection are
implemented using Xilinx blocks and then they are implemented on VIRTEX5 FPGA

A. Image Enhancement

Image enhancement is basically improving the interpretability or perception of

information in images for human viewers and providing better input for other
automated image processing techniques. The image can be enhanced by adding a
constant value (90) to the corresponding R, G and B components . If the input image
is gray scale image only one component will be there instead of three components i.e.;
R, G and B. In this we shows that how image can be enhanced by adding a constant to
each pixel values. Image filtering can also be done using model based design different
filtering architecture can be defined and Xilinx block can be created. The Image
enhancement algorithm shown in Fig.6 and Fig.7 ,respectively for gray and color
image.

Algorithm for gray scale image enhancement

B. Image Negative

A negative image is a total inversion, in which light areas appear dark and vice versa.
A negative color image is additionally color-reversed, with red areas appearing cyan,
greens appearing magenta and blues appearing yellow. Reversing the intensity levels
of an image produces the equivalent of a photographic negative. This type of
processing is particularly suited for enhancing white or gray detail embedded in dark
regions of an image, especially when the black areas are dominant in size. Image
negative can be implemented by simply subtracting the R, G, B components from the
constant value 255 as shown in Fig.8. Similarly for a gray scale image only one
component will be there instead of R, G and B.

Image negative

The negatives digitized images are useful in many applications, such as medical
imaging and representation in photographs of a monochrome screen with films with
the idea of using the resulting negative slides as normal. Inverting the sample values
in image produces the same image that would be found in a film negative. In Matlab
this operation can be obtained by XOR function block or simple Inverter block.
 Original image output image

C. Image Edge Detection

Edge detection is one of the most commonly used operations in image analysis
and there are probably more algorithms in literature for enhancing and detecting
edges. An edge is point of sharp change in an image, a region where pixel locations
have abrupt luminance change i.e. a discontinuity in gray level values. There are
different edge detector operator masks to detect edges. They are Ordinary operator,
Roberts’s operator, 4-Neighbour operator, Prewitt operator and Sobel operator. To
perform the edge detection a convolution operation of the input image with any of the
above mentioned filter masks to be performed. The design flow of edge detection
using Xilinx System Generator is shown in Fig. 9(SED) and Fig.10(CED).

Original image output image

cdd

Sobel edge detection

canny edge detection using xilinx system generator
D. Image Brightness Control

The arithmetic operations include adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying

pixels by a constant value. Addition and subtraction can adjust the brightness of the
image . Shows the XSG blocks involved while adding and subtracting 40 from the
image. The algorithm for the image brightness control is shown in fig
E. Image Contrast Stretching

The contrast of an image is its distribution of light and dark pixels. To

stretch a histogram, contrast stretching is applied to an image to fill the full dynamic
range of the image. We can stretch out the gray levels in the center of the range by
applying piecewise linear function according to the equation. New pixel = (12/4) (old
pixel-5) + 2 .... (1) where new pixel is its result after the transformation. Fig.12 shows
the XSG blocks for the above contrast stretching to the finger print image and the
results respectively we demonstrate another piecewise linear function which is as
follows: j = ((255-193) / (255-160) ) (i-160) + 192 ..... (2) Where i is the original gray
level and j is its result after the transformation. Fig. Shows the XSG blocks for the
above contrast stretching to the finger print image and the results respectively
 F. Range highlighting Transformation

An intensity transform can also highlight a range of pixels while keeping

others constant. Fig. shows the Xilinx blocks implementation and the resulting image.
function z = new pixel one(x, y, c) if (x > y) & (x < c)(z-x); else z = 1;

G. Parabola Transformation

The two formulas for the parabola transformation are as follows: new pixel =
255 – 255 ((old pixel/128) -1)2.... (4) and new pixel = 255 ((old pixel/128) -1)2 .....(5)
Xilinx blocks are connected for the above equations and displayed in Fig. Both the
results are observed and produced .Similarly, polarize transformation, iso-intensity

contouring transformation and bit-clipping transformation can also be implemented.

The algorithm for parabola transformation
VI.HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION

The architectures explained above deal only with software simulation level.
For implementing this design in a FPGA board the entire module should be converted
to FPGA synthesizable one. For that purpose main module for any image processing
is converted for JTAG hardware co-simulation, this is done with the help of System
generator token. By clicking the used for board level implementation. After clicking
the generate button in the System generator block a hardware co-simulation block will
be generated. To perform the hardware software co-simulation, the hardware
cosimulation block added in the design and thereby we can see FPGA and
XSG/software output at a time. The entire architecture with the hardware and
software co-simulation design for the edge detection is shown in Fig.16.
VII. HARDWARE CO-SIMULATION

Once your hardware board is installed, the starting point for hardware co-simulation is
the System Generator model or subsystem you would like to run in hardware. A
model can be co-simulated, provided it meets the requirements of the underlying
hardware board. This model must include a System Generator token; this block
defines how the model should be compiled into hardware. The first step in the flow is
to open the System Generator token dialog box and select a compilation type under
Compilation. Steps Followed in Hardware Co-simulation System generator is
Configured as:

compilation Target

Parts: Defines the FPGA part to be used (Virtex5 XUPV5-LX110T).

Resulting library is created as follows

Hardware co-simulation block

Synthesis tool: Specifies the tool to be used to synthesize the design. Hardware
Description Language: Specifies the HDL language to be used for compilation i. e
Verilog. Create test bench: This instructs System Generator to create a HDL test
bench. Design is synthesized and implemented.

A. Clocking Tab
Clock pin location: Defines the pin location for the hardware clock.
B. FPGA clock period(ns): Defines the period in nanoseconds of the system clock
C. Calling the Code Generator
The code generator is invoked by pressing the Generate button in the
System Generator token dialog box.
RESULT:

Original image

Output image
 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

We conclude from this paper that this paper is a Xilinx System Generator is a
good platform to perform the Image Processing in Software and Hardware manner. It
is a Versatile tool to perform Image Processing and it provide rapid means to do
hardware implementation of complex technique used for processing images with
minimum resource and minimum delay. It provides simplicity and ease for Hardware
implementation. In this paper, a real-time image processing algorithms are
implemented on FPGA. Implementation of these algorithms on a FPGA is having
advantage of using large memory and embedded multipliers. This paper implemented
for high speed image enhancement applications using FPGA. The image enhancement
techniques such as brightness and contrast adjustment are important factors in medical
images. This paper explains implementation of Image Enhancement, Image negative,
Image Edge Detection, image Brightness Control, Image Contrast Stretching, Range
Highlighting Transformation, Parabola transformation.

Xilinx system generator is very helpful tool for software and hardware image
processing tasks. It provides means to do hardware implementation of image
processing algorithms with minimum resource and minimum delay. Thus, Matlab,
Simulink and Xilinx system generator tools are extremely important in today’s world
as technology grows rapidly, that is, large number of pixels is being crammed into
ever-smaller spaces. It provides easy hardware implementation.
FUTURE SCOPE

The same concept can be extended to various fields like video processing,
computer graphics, animations etc. The paper describes simulation part and suitable
results are observed. The same results can also be verified on FPGA by dumping the
code generated by system generator token.

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