Motion vision sensor architecture with asynchronous self-signaling pixels

A custom CMOS imager with integrated motion computation is described. The architecture is based on correlating in time moving edges. Edges are located in time by a custom sensor; and correlated in a coprocessing module. The sensor architecture is centered around a compact pixel with analog signal processing and digital self-signaling capabilities. The sensor pixels detect moving edges in the image and communicate their position using an address-event protocol associated to temporal stamps. The coprocessing module correlates the edges and computes the velocity vector map. The motion sensor could be used in applications such as self-guided vehicles, mobile robotics and smart surveillance systems. The article details the motion sensor architecture, the simulated performance, the VLSI implementation and some preliminary results on fabricated prototypes.

[1]  Christof Koch,et al.  Vision Chips: Implementing Vision Algorithms with Analog VLSI Circuits , 1994 .

[2]  R. Etienne-Cummings,et al.  A new temporal domain optical flow measurement technique for focal plane VLSI implementation , 1993, 1993 Computer Architectures for Machine Perception.

[3]  Eric A. Vittoz,et al.  Analog VLSI signal processing: Why, where, and how? , 1994, J. VLSI Signal Process..

[4]  Christof Koch,et al.  Analog VLSI motion discontinuity detectors for image segmentation , 1996, 1996 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems. Circuits and Systems Connecting the World. ISCAS 96.

[5]  John Wawrzynek,et al.  Silicon Auditory Processors as Computer Peripherals , 1992, NIPS.

[6]  Marc Tremblay,et al.  COMPUTATIONAL MOTION SENSORS FOR AUTOGUIDED VEHICLES , 1997 .

[7]  Marc Tremblay,et al.  A Focal Plane Architecture for Motion Computation , 1996, Real Time Imaging.

[8]  T. Delbruck.  Silicon retina with correlation-based, velocity-tuned pixels , 1993 .

[9]  Rahul Sarpeshkar,et al.  An analog VLSI velocity sensor , 1995, Proceedings of ISCAS'95 - International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[10]  Lisa G. McIlrath,et al.  Computing 3-D motion in custom analog and digital VLSI , 1994 .

[11]  Carver A. Mead,et al.  Analog VLSI Phototransduction by continuous-time, adaptive, logarithmic photoreceptor circuits , 1995 .

[12]  Misha A. Mahowald,et al.  An Analog VLSI System for Stereoscopic Vision , 1994 .

[13]  Tobi Delbrück,et al.  Silicon retina with correlation-based, velocity-tuned pixels , 1993, IEEE Trans. Neural Networks.