A multicore DSP HEVC decoder using an actorbased dataflow model and OpenMP

Video coding is one of the most demanding applications, in terms of computational cost, for portable multimedia terminals. In the last years, the new video coding standards, like High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), and the increasing resolutions of video codecs have overtaken the capacities of the single core processors in embedded systems. In consequence, multicore architectures are used in current multimedia systems. Besides, new methodologies and frameworks are arising to speed-up the design cycle. In this paper, a methodology based on the Reconfigurable Video Coding CAL Actor Language (RVC-CAL) and the OpenMP API has been used to implement an HEVC decoder based on a multicore DSP. A RVC-CAL description of the HEVC decoder has been used as starting point. The Open RVC-CAL compiler framework (Orcc) has been used to generate C-code from the RVC-CAL specification. This code and the OpenMP library have been ported to the multicore DSP environment. Decoders running on 1, 2, 3 and 4 cores have been tested. Also, the multi DSP based HEVC decoder has been compared with other implementations based on multicore GPPs.