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Image Smoothing Based on FPGA

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DOI: 10.33899/edusj.2013.89910

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 ‫‪ J. Edu. & Sci., Vol. (26), No. (3) 2013 ‬‬

‫‪Image Smoothing Based On FPGA‬‬

‫‪Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso‬‬ ‫‪Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar‬‬

‫‪Department of Computer Science‬‬
‫‪College of Computer Sciences and Mathematics‬‬
‫‪University of Mosul‬‬

‫‪Received‬‬ ‫‪Accepted‬‬
‫‪04 / 06 / 2013‬‬ ‫‪12 / 09 / 2013‬‬

‫اﻟﻣﻠﺧص‬
‫ﯾظﻬر اﻟﻣﻧطق اﻟﻘﺎﺑل ﻟﻠﺑرﻣﺟﺔ ﻛﺣل ﻓﻌﺎل ﻟﻠﻌدﯾد ﻣن ﺗطﺑﯾﻘﺎت ﻣﻌﺎﻟﺟﺔ اﻟﺻور‪ ،‬وﻣﻊ اﻟ زﯾﺎدة‬
‫ﻓﻲ ﺣﺟم اﻟﺻور ﻓﺎن اﻟﺑرﻣﺟﯾﺎت )‪ (software‬أﺻﺑﺣت أﻗل ﻓﺎﺋدة ﻓﻲ ﻣﻌﺎﻟﺟﺔ اﻟﺻور ﻟذﻟك‬
‫اﺻﺑﺣت ﺗﻘﻧﯾﺔ ﻣﺻﻔوﻓﺔ اﻟﺑواﺑﺎت اﻟﺣﻘﻠﯾﺔ اﻟﻘﺎﺑﻠﺔ ﻟﻠﺑرﻣﺟﺔ ‪ FPGA‬اﻟﻬدف اﻟﻔﻌﺎل ﻟﺗطﺑﯾق‬
‫اﻟﺧوارزﻣﯾﺎت اﻟﺗﻲ ﺗﻧﺎﺳب ﺗطﺑﯾﻘﺎت ﻣﻌﺎﻟﺟﺔ اﻟﺻور واﺳﺗﺧدﻣت ﻫذﻩ اﻟﺗﻘﻧﯾﺔ ﻓﻲ اﻟﻌدﯾد ﻣن ﺗطﺑﯾﻘﺎت‬
‫ﻣﻌﺎﻟﺟﺔ اﻟﺻور‪.‬‬
‫ﺗﻧﻌﯾم اﻟﺻور ﻫﻲ واﺣدة ﻣن ﻫذﻩ اﻟﺗطﺑﯾﻘﺎت واﻟﺗﻲ ﺗﺳﺗﺧدم ﻟﺗﻘﻠﯾل ﺗﺄﺛﯾر ﺿوﺿﺎء ﻧﻘطﺔ ﻓﻲ‬
‫اﻟﺻورة‪.‬‬
‫ﺗم ﻓﻲ ﻫذا اﻟﺑﺣث اﺳﺗﺧدام ﻟﻐﺔ ﺗوﺻﯾف اﻟﻌﺗﺎد ﻟﻠدواﺋر اﻟﻣﺗﻛﺎﻣﻠﺔ ذات اﻟﺳرﻋﺎت اﻟﻣرﺗﻔﻌﺔ‬
‫ﺟدا ‪ VHDL‬وﻫﻲ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ اﻟﺗﻲ ﺗﺻف ﻫﯾﻛﻠﯾﺔ اﻟﺗﺻﻣﯾم ﻓﻲ ‪ FPGA‬ﻟﺗﻣﺛﯾل اﺛﻧﯾن ﻣن اﻟﻣرﺷﺣﺎت‬
‫اﻟﻣﺳﺗﺧدﻣﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺗﻧﻌﯾم اﻟﺻور وﻫﻣﺎ )ﻣرﺷﺢ اﻟوﺳﯾط ‪ median filter‬وﻣرﺷﺢ اﻟﻣﻌدل ‪average‬‬
‫أﯾﺿﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻫذا اﻟﺑﺣث ﺗطﺑﯾق ﻫذﻩ اﻟﻣرﺷﺣﺎت ﻋﻠﻰ ‪ FPGA‬وﻗد أﺛﺑﺗت اﻟﻧﺗﺎﺋﺞ‬
‫ً‬ ‫‪ (filtering‬وﺗم‬
‫ﺳرﻋﺔ ﻋﺎﻟﯾﺔ ﻓﻲ اداء اﻟﺧوارزﻣﯾﺎت اﻟﺗﻲ ﺗﻌﺗﻣد ﻋﻠﻰ اﻻﺟﻬزة واﻟﺑرﻣﺟﯾﺎت ﻣﻘﺎرﻧﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﺑرﻣﺟﯾﺎت‬
‫ﻟوﺣدﻫﺎ اذ ظﻬر ﻓرق ﻛﺑﯾر ﺟدا ﻓﻲ ﺳرﻋﺔ اﻟﺗﻧﻔﯾذ ﺑﺎﻻﻋﺗﻣﺎد ﻋﻠﻰ اﻻﺟﻬزة اﻟﻣﺎدﯾﺔ اﻟﺗﻲ أظﻬرت‬
‫ﺳرﻋﺔ ﺗﻧﻔﯾذ ﺑﻣﻘﯾﺎس ‪ 10-9‬ﻣن اﻟﺛﺎﻧﯾﺔ ﺑﯾﻧﻣﺎ ﺑﺗطﺑﯾق اﻟﺧوارزﻣﯾﺎت ﺗﻘﺎس ﺑﺎﻟﺛواﻧﻲ ‪.‬‬
‫ﺗم ﺗطﺑﯾق اﻟﺑرﻣﺟﯾﺎت ﻓﻲ ﻫذا اﻟﺑﺣث ﺑﺎﺳﺗﺧدام ﻟﻐﺔ ‪ MATLAB 2010‬اﻟﺑرﻣﺟﯾﺔ وﻛذﻟك‬
‫ﻟﻐﺔ ‪ VHDL‬ﻟﻠﺗﻌﺎﻣل ﻣﻊ ﺟﻬﺎز ‪ FPGA‬اﻟﻣﺳﺗﺧدم واﻟذي ﻛﺎن ﻣن ﻧوع ‪Xilinx XC3S500E‬‬
‫‪.Spartan-3E‬‬

‫‪Abstract‬‬
‫‪Programmable logic is emerging as an attractive solution for many‬‬
‫‪digital image processing applications. As image sizes and bit depths grow‬‬

‫‪38‬‬
Image Smoothing Based On FPGA.

larger, software has become less useful in the image processing, Field
Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology has become a viable target
for the implementation of algorithms suited to image processing
applications, the unique architecture of the FPGA has allowed the
technology to be used in many such applications encompassing all
aspects of image processing.
Image smoothing is one of image processing applications, it often
done to reduce the effect of pixel noise in images. This paper presents
VHDL architectures (that allow description of the structure design of
FPGA) to implement two of image smoothing filters:
a) averaging filters
b) median filters
This research is also applying the filters on FPGA. The results
proves high-speed performance of the algorithms that rely on hardware
and software compared to software alone, as it appeared very big
difference in the speed of execution, depending on the hardware devices
that showed the speed of the implementation of the scale of nanosecond,
while the software application of algorithms is measured in seconds.
The software was implemented in this research using MATLAB
2010 language code as well as the VHDL language to deal with use of
FPGA device, which was of a kind (Xilinx XC3S500E Spartan-3E).

1. Introduction
Image processing is considered to be one of the most rapidly
evolving areas of information technology, with growing applications in
all fields of knowledge. It constitutes a core area of research within the
computer science and engineering disciplines given the interest of
potential applications ranging from image enhancing, to automatic image
understanding, robotics and computer vision. The performance
requirements of image processing applications have continuously
increased the demands on computing power, especially when there are
real time constraints. Image processing applications may consist of
several low level algorithms applied in a processing chain to a stream of
input images. In order to accelerate image processing, there are different
alternatives ranging from parallel computers to specialized Application
Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) architectures. The computing
paradigm using reconfigurable architectures based on Field
Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) promises an intermediate trade-off
between flexibility and performance [1].
Various techniques have been developed in Image Processing
during the last four to five decades. Most of the techniques are developed
for enhancing images obtained from unmanned spacecrafts, space probes
and military reconnaissance flights. Image Processing systems are

39
Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso & Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar

becoming popular due to easy availability of powerful personnel

computers, large size memory devices, graphics software etc. [2].
Filtering is fundamental operation in image processing, it can be
used for image enhancement, noise reduction, edge detection, and
sharpening, the concept of filtering has been applied in the frequency
domain, where it rejects some frequency components while accepting
others. In the spatial domain, filtering is a pixel neighborhood operation.
Commonly used spatial filtering techniques include: (median filtering,
average filtering, Gaussian filtering, etc.) [3]. The filtering function
sometimes is called filter mask, or filter kernel. They can be broadly
classified into two different categories: linear filtering and order-statistic
filters. The common elements of a filter are the neighborhood including
the pixel itself. Typically the neighborhood is a rectangular of different
size, for example 3×3, 5×5… and smaller than the image itself [4][5].
Neighborhood of pixels is also called windowing operators that are
use a window to calculate their output. For example, windowing operator
may perform an operation like finding the average of all pixels in the
neighborhood of a pixel. The pixel around which the window is found is
called the origin. Figure 1, shows a 3×3 pixel window and the
corresponding origin.

Figure 1; 3×3 Pixel window and origin [6]

The work in this paper is based on the usage of gray scale image
smoothing using these pixel windows to calculate their output. Although
a pixel window may be of any size and shape, a square 3x3 size was
chosen for this application because it is large enough to work properly
and small enough to implement efficiently on hardware.

2. Related work
Image smoothing algorithms are particularly suitable for
implementation on FPGA, due to the parallelisms that may be exploited.
Due to use of microcontroller or microprocessor instruction level
parallelism is achieved. Research has been conducted to improve speed
by designing system block by block.
Suhaib A. Fahmy suggested An hardware implementation of a
median filter and use FIFO buffer to sort the samples for the window over

40
Image Smoothing Based On FPGA.

which the median must be found [7], Anthony Edward Nelson also use
FIFO buffer to sort the samples for the window over which the median
must be found [6].
In this work pointer is using to reach the positions in RAM instead
of using the first in first out implementation (FIFO) which is reduce the
complexity of the algorithms implementation, also it reduce the size of
the algorithms.

3. The Implementation of the Filters in the Proposed Work:

3.1 Smoothing/Averaging Filters
To smooth an image might do a N×N pixel moving window average
of image - e.g. with the 3×3 filter below. Place centre pixel of window
over given pixel; multiply pixels of image with pixels in window, sum
results and copy as value of output pixel. Then shift window one place to
right or down and repeat; the operation is called convolution [8].
The average filtering is also called mean filtering, where the output
pixel value is the mean of its neighborhood. Thus, the filtering mask is as
show in equation (1) [4]:

……(1)

The design of the averaging filter algorithm in VHDL was difficult

problem. This was because the averaging filter algorithm uses adders,
and dividers to calculate its output. On FPGAs, use of mathematics tends
to slow down performance.
Addition is instantiated using simple (+) signs in the VHDL code.
The VHDL synthesis tool provides mapping to efficient hardware
mathematics designs for it.
Hardware dividers on FPGAs are quite large and slow, we use the
bit shifting method of division. Since this is only possible with powers of
two, a divide by 8 was implemented instead of a divide by 9, as was
planned in the algorithm’s design; Figure 2 shows a sketch representation
of the mathematics of the hardware averaging filter; wile figure 3 shows
the schematic design for the average filtering (the implementation of
array, registers, adder and divider); figure 4 shows the simulation time
result of average filtering in VHDL, and figure 5 shows the image after
applying the average filtering in MATLAB and in VHDL. Finally, figure
6 shows the histogram for image after average filtering in MATLAB,
VHDL and the histogram difference between the two images.

41
 Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso & Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar

RAM
or
Read data in VHDL
Array Image data
Data

W11 W12 W13 W21 W22 W23 W31 W32 W33

r r r r r r r r r

a10 a1 a12 a13 r14

a20 a21 r22

a3 r31

a4
axx Adder

Shift divide
rxx register

Dout

Figure 2: Graphic representation of the averaging filter in VHDL

Figure3; The schematic design for the average filtering

42
 Image Smoothing Based On FPGA.

Variable used for

inputs and outputs
port in the design

Variable used as a
signal in the design

Figure 4; The simulation result of average filtering

a b c
Figure 5; (a) original images, (b) images after average filtering in MATLAB, (c)
images after average filter in VHDL

Figure 6; (a) histogram for baby face image after average filtering in MATLAB,
(b)histogram for image after average filtering in VHDL, (c)the different between
two images.

43
Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso & Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar

3.2 Smoothing/Median Filters

A median filter is a non-linear digital filter which is able to
preserve sharp signal changes and is very effective in removing impulse
noise (or salt and pepper noise) [9].
An impulse noise has a gray level with higher or lower value that is
different from the neighborhood point[10]. Linear filters have no ability
to remove this type of noise without affecting the distinguishing
characteristics of the signal. Median filters have remarkable advantages
over linear filters for this particular type of noise [11]. Therefore median
filter is very widely used in digital signal and image/video processing
applications. A standard median operation is implemented by sliding
window of odd size (e.g. 3×3 window) over an image. At each window
position the sampled values of signal or image are sorted, and the median
value of the samples replaces the sample in the center of the window as
shown in Figure 7.

Figure7; Graphic Depiction of median Filter Operation [6]

The structure in Figure 8 represents hardware design for sorting

algorithm in VHDL.
Every rxx box is a register and every cxx box is a compare unit,
consisting of a simple decision.
This design is accomplished quite simply in VHDL by using the
following if/else statement [6]:
if wx1 < wx2 then
cx1_L <= wx1;
cx1_H <= wx2;
else
cx1_L <= wx2;
cx1_H <= wx1;
end if;

44
Image Smoothing Based On FPGA.

RAM
or
Read data in VHDL
Array Image data
Data

W11 W12 W13 W21 W22 W23 W31 W32 W33

r r r r r r r r r

r11
C 11 C 12 C 13 C14

C 21 C22 C 23 C 24 r21

C 31 C32 C 33 C34 r31

r 41 C 41 C 42 C43 r42 r43

r4a1 C4a1 C 4a2 r4a2 r 4a3 r4a4 r4a5

C51 r51 r52 r 53 r54 r55 r 56 r 57

r61 C61 r62 r 63 r64 r65 r 66 r 67

.......
.......

Figure 8; Hardware design for sorting algorithm in VHDL

Figure 9 shows the schematic design for the median filter (the
implementation of array, registers, adder and divider).

Figure 9; schematic design for the median filter

45
 Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso & Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar

Figure 10 shows the simulation time result of median filter in VHDL.

Variable used for

inputs and outputs
port in the design

Variable used as a
signal in the design

Figure 10; the simulation result of median filter

Figure 11 shows the image after applying the median filter in

MATLAB and in VHDL, Figure 12 shows the histogram for image after
median filter in MATLAB, VHDL and the histogram difference between
the two images.

a b c
Figure 11; (a) original image, (b) image after median filter in MATLAB,
(c) image after median filter in VHDL.

a b

c
Figure 12; (a) histogram for baby face image after median filter in MATLAB,
(b)histogram for image after median filter in VHDL, (c)the different between two images.
46
Image Smoothing Based On FPGA.

Figure 13 shows the image after applying the median filter for
removing salt and pepper noise in MATLAB and in VHDL, Figure 14
shows the histogram for image after median filter in MATLAB, VHDL
and the histogram difference between the two images.

a b c
Figure 13; (a) image with salt and pepper noise, (b) image after median filter in
MATLAB, (c) image after median filter in VHDL.

a b

(c)
Figure 14; (a) histogram for baby face image after median filter for removing
salt and pepper in MATLAB, (b)histogram for image after median filter in
VHDL, (c)the different between two images.

4. Conclusion and Result Discussion:

This work presents the implementation of two filters for image
smoothing, (average filtering and median filter), on FPGA Xilinx

47
 Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso & Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar

XC3S500E Spartan-3E, the two filters are implemented using VHDL by

using windowing operators that are use a window to calculate the outputs.
The resulted image gets from VHDL are compared with the results
get from MATLAB and found the RMSE, PSNR, MSE, and Correlation
between the images, and the results show that the two images are almost
the same.

Table 1; The difference value between images that filtered using average filter by
MATLAB & VHDL
Image PSNR RMSE Correlation
Face image 68.4212 0.0967 0.9519
Face image1 68.7041 0.0936 0.8839
GIS image 67.2315 0.1109 0.9008
GIS image1 69.4856 0.0856 0.9411
Nature image 67.5590 0.1068 0.9516
Nature image1 69.7484 0.0830 0.9672
Medical image 71.0941 0.0711 0.9801
Medical image 73.5624 0.0535 0.9931

Table 2; The difference value between images that filtered using median filter by
MATLAB & VHDL
Filter Image PSNR RMSE Correlation
Median(smooth) Face image 67.2398 0.1108 0.9431
Median(smooth) Face image 67.8161 0.1037 0.8872
Median(salt and pepper noise) Face image 67.0149 0.1137 0.9400
Median(salt and pepper noise) Face image 67.8231 0.1036 0.8914
Median(smooth) GIS image 66.8718 0.1156 0.9157
Median(smooth) GIS image 68.2591 0.0985 0.9405
Median(salt and pepper noise) GIS image 69.2993 0.0874 0.9721
Median(salt and pepper noise) GIS image 68.2391 0.0988 0.9408
Median(smooth) Nature image 69.3592 0.0868 0.9725
Median(smooth) Nature image 69.7207 0.0833 0.9715
Median(salt and pepper noise) Nature image 69.2993 0.0874 0.9721
Median(salt and pepper noise) Nature image 69.3917 0.0865 0.9696
Median(smooth) Medical image 68.7867 0.0927 0.9681
Median(smooth) Medical image 70.1362 0.0794 0.9849
Median(salt and pepper noise) Medical image 69.2500 0.0879 0.9705
Median(salt and pepper noise) Medical image 70.1627 0.0791 0.9847

As shown in table 1 and 2, the Peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is

high it generally indicates that the reconstruction is of higher quality, the
mean square error (MSE) is small between two images that’s mean the
best explaining the variability in the observations, and the correlation
value is closest to one that’s mean there are little different between the
images.

48
Image Smoothing Based On FPGA.

The implementation results on FPGA for the two filters are

representing in the table 3.

Table 3; The implementation results on FPGA using the two proposed filters
Average filtering Median filter
Number of slices 1515 out of 4656 32% 1093 out of 4656 23%
Number of slice flip flops 1054 out of 9312 11% 991 out of 9312 10%
Number of 4 input LUTS 7995 out of 9312 85% 4575 out of 9312 49%
No. Used as logic 1851 1455
No. Used as rams 6144 3120
Number of bonded IOBS 20 out of 232 8% 10 out of 232 4%
Number of Block RAM 1 out of 20 5% 1 out of 20 5%
Number of GCLKS 1 out of 24 4% 1 out of 24 4%

Many point could be concluded from the proposed work that is:

1. The hardware implementation gives the application higher efficiency

and lower time as shown in table (4).

Table 4; the time needs for processing in MATLAB & VHDL

Filter Time in MATLAB Time in VHDL
(Sec) (ns)
Median 1.3890 7.422
Averaging 0.2810 7.721

2. The resultant images that are obtained from implementing the

algorithms on different images (face image, nature, GIS, medical
images, text and car numbers) using VHDL was more clear than one
that have been processed using MATLAB, because the values in
MATLAB may be real numbers (because of division) while in
VHDL, the values are integers (the division here is shift right).

3. For high-speed, windowing algorithms are desired, the FPGA

technology is ideally suited to the task. In fact, with the aid of the
window generator, a whole series of image processing techniques is
available to the designer, many of which can be synthesized for high-
speed applications.

49
 Dr. Maha A. R. Hasso & Farah Saad Al-Mukhtar

5. References
[1] Benkrid, K., (2001); "High Level Programming for FPGA based
Image and Video Processing using Hardware Skeletons".
Proceedings of the Symposium on Field Programmable Custom
Computing Machines, pp. 219-226, ISBN: 0-7695-2667-5, April
2001, IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC.
[2] Mahdi Shaneh, Arash Golibagh Mahyari, (2011); "Image Enhancement
using α-Trimmed Mean ε-Filters". World Academy of Science,
Engineering and Technology 59 2011.
[3] Gajanand Gupta, (2011); "Algorithm for Image Processing Using
Improved Median Filter and Comparison of Mean, Median and
Improved Median Filter". International Journal of Soft Computing
and Engineering (IJSCE), ISSN: 2231-2307, Volume-1, Issue-5,
November 2011.
[4] Huiyu Zhou, Jiahua Wu and Jianguo Zhang, (2010); "Digital Image
Processing Part I", ISNB 978-87-7681-541-7.
[5] A. Erhardt – Ferron, (2000); "theory and applications of digital
image processing". university of applied sciences Offenburg,
copyright 2000 A. Erhardt-Ferron.
[6] Anthony Edward Nelson, (2000); "Implementation Of Image
Processing Algorithms On FPGA Hardware". M. Sc. Thesis in
Electrical Engineering, Vanderbilt University.
[7] Suhaib A. Fahmy, Peter Y. K. Cheung and Wayne Luk,(2005);
"Novel Fpga-Based Implementation Of Median And Weighted
Median Filters For Image Processing". 0-7803-9362-7 ©2005
IEEE.
[8] Li Xu, Cewu Lu, Yi Xu, Jiaya Jia, (2011); "Image Smoothing via
L0 Gradient Minimization". ACM Transactions on Graphics, Vol.
30, No. 6, Article 174, Publication date: December 2011.
[9] Subhojit Sarker, Shalini Chowdhury, Samanwita Laha, Debika Dey,
(2012); "use of non-local means filter to denoise image corrupted
by salt and pepper noise". Signal & Image Processing: An
International Journal (SIPIJ) Vol.3, No.2, April 2012.
[10] Ery Arias, Castro, David L. Donoho, (2009); "DOES MEDIAN
FILTERING TRULY PRESERVE EDGES BETTER THAN
LINEAR FILTERING?". The Annals of Statistics 2009, Vol. 37,
No. 3, 1172–1206 DOI: 10.1214/08-AOS604, © Institute of
Mathematical Statistics, 2009.
[11] ATMEL, (2008); "AVR223: Digital Filters with AVR". Rev.
2527B-AVR-07/08. © 2008 Atmel Corporation.

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