A novel algorithm and its VLSI architecture for connected component labeling

A novel line-based streaming labeling algorithm with its VLSI architecture is proposed in this paper. Line-based neighborhood examination scheme is used for efficient local connected components extraction. A novel reversed rooted tree hook-up strategy, which is very suitable for hardware implementation, is applied on the mergence stage of equivalent connected components. The reversed rooted tree hook-up strategy significant reduces the requirement of on-chip memory, which makes the chip area smaller. Clock domains crossing FIFOs are also applied for connecting the label core and external memory interface, which makes the label engine working in a higher frequency and raises the throughput of the label engine. Several performance tests have been performed for our proposed hardware implementation. The processing bandwidth of our hardware architecture can reach the I/O transfer boundary according to the external interface clock in all the real image tests. Beside the advantage of reducing the processing time, our hardware implementation can support the image size as large as 4096*4096, which will be very appealing in remote sensing or any other high-resolution image applications. The implementation of proposed architecture is synthesized with SMIC 180nm standard cell library. The work frequency of the label engine reaches 200MHz.