An image pre-processing system employing neuromorphic 100 x 100 pixel silicon retina

Abstract

A 100/spl times/100 pixel analog silicon retina was fabricated. The two functions of the silicon retina were verified: a Laplacian-Gaussian-like spatial filtering and a subtraction of consecutive frames. The analog silicon retina fabricated in the present study has matured from a development prototype to full-scale practical usefulness. Furthermore, we have designed a pre-processing system that consists of the silicon retina and FPGA. The system has compact hardware and low power dissipation and therefore is suitable for robotic vision.