Hough transform implementation on a reconfigurable highly parallel architecture

A highly parallel hardware architecture for Hough Transform (HT)-based parametric curve and end-points extraction is described. It's based on CAM (Content Addressable Memory) concept. Through using advanced VLSI technology, to classical CAM implementations, three main features are provided: Parallel write, parallel search and single/multi hit response flag. Moreover the high number of CAM words available per chip synchronized with a high frequency clock has the merit to keep low both the hardware amount and the execution time, while featuring the ability to extract efficiently curve parameters and their corresponding end-points. To evaluate its performance, experimental results for segment extraction are presented: By using two CAM chips, segment extraction of an image 256/spl times/256 is achieved in real-time.