Video Formats and Interfaces

Convert between frame-based video and pixel streams

Hardware video processing algorithms operate on serial data. For information on the serial protocol used in Vision HDL Toolbox™, see Streaming Pixel Interface.

You can simulate hardware-friendly streaming-pixel designs alongside frame-based designs. For instance, use frame-based algorithms, such as those designed using Computer Vision Toolbox™ or Image Processing Toolbox™, to verify a hardware-optimized design. Use the Frame To Pixels and Pixels To Frame blocks to convert video between frame-based and streaming-pixel formats.

Blocks

Frame To Pixels	Convert frame-based video to pixel stream
Pixels To Frame	Convert pixel stream to frame-based video
Pixel Control Bus Creator	Create control signal bus for use with Vision HDL Toolbox blocks
Pixel Control Bus Selector	Select signals from control signal bus used by Vision HDL Toolbox blocks
Measure Timing	Measure timing of pixel control bus input
HV Counter	Count active dimensions of pixel stream
Pixel Stream Aligner	Align two streams of pixel data
ROI Selector	Select a region of interest (ROI) from pixel stream
Image Resizer	Change dimensions of image in pixel stream (Since R2023a)
Pixel Stream FIFO	Buffer input stream to create image lines that have contiguous valid pixels

Objects

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Streaming Video Interfaces

`visionhdl.FrameToPixels`	Convert frame-based video to pixel stream
`visionhdl.PixelsToFrame`	Convert pixel stream to frame-based video
`visionhdl.MeasureTiming`	Measure timing of pixel control structure input
`visionhdl.HVCounter`	Counts active pixel dimensions of streaming video
`visionhdl.PixelStreamAligner`	Align two streams of pixel data
`visionhdl.ROISelector`	Select region of interest (ROI) from pixel stream
`visionhdl.ImageResizer`	Change dimensions of image in a pixel stream (Since R2023a)

Functions

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Utilities

`pixelcontrolsignals`	Extract signals from pixel-streaming control signal structure
`pixelcontrolstruct`	Create pixel-streaming control signal structure
`pixelcontrolbus`	Create pixel-streaming control bus instance
`getparamfromfrm2pix`	Get frame format parameters

Topics

Pixel-Stream Modeling

Streaming Pixel Interface
Pixel stream control signal protocol used by Vision HDL Toolbox blocks and objects.
Configure Blanking Intervals
How to diagnose and fix problems related to the number of inactive pixels between lines and frames.

Frame-Based Modeling

Getting Started with Frame-Based Image Filter
Design a hardware-targeted image filter using frame-based functions.
Frame-Based Modeling of Video Processing for Hardware
Design a frame-based edge detection algorithm and generate sample-based HDL code from the design.
Frame-Based Video Pipeline
Design a frame-based video processing pipeline in MATLAB^® and generate sample-based HDL code from the design.
Frame-Based Video Pipeline in Simulink
Design a frame-based video processing pipeline in Simulink^® and generate sample-based HDL code from the design.

In Simulink

Configure the Simulink Environment for HDL Video Processing
Set up a Simulink model for HDL image and video processing.
Integrate Vision HDL Blocks into Camera Link System
This example shows how to design a Vision HDL Toolbox™ algorithm for integration into an existing system that uses the Camera Link® signal protocol.
Pixel Control Bus
Data type details of the pixelcontrol bus.

In MATLAB

Pixel Control Structure
Data type details of the pixel control structure.
Convert Camera Control Signals to pixelcontrol Format
This example shows how to convert Camera Link® signals to the pixelcontrol structure, invert the pixels with a Vision HDL Toolbox™ object, and convert the control signals back to the Camera Link format.

Featured Examples

Image Pyramid

Generate multi-level image pyramid pixel streams from an input stream. This model derives multiple pixel streams by downsampling the original image in both the horizontal and vertical directions using Gaussian filtering. This type of filter avoids aliasing artifacts. The implementation uses an architecture suitable for FPGAs.

Open Model

Change Image Size

Downsample a multicomponent image by using the Image Resizer block. The example also shows how to implement custom bicubic and Lanczos-2 interpolation algorithms for FPGAs by using basic Simulink blocks.

Open Model

Runtime Image Resizing

Configure and use the Image Resizer block with variable input and output image sizes.

Open Script

Filter Multipixel Video Streams

Design filters that operate on a multipixel input video stream. Use multipixel streaming to process high-resolution or high-frame-rate video with the same synthesized clock frequency as a single-pixel streaming interface. Multipixel streaming also improves simulation speed and throughput because fewer iterations are required to process each frame, while maintaining the hardware benefits of a streaming interface.

Open Model

MultiPixel-MultiComponent Video Streaming

Work with a multipixel-multicomponent pixel stream. Multipixel-multicomponent streaming enables real-time processing of high-resolution or high-frame-rate color video streams.

Open Model

Buffer Bursty Data Using Pixel Stream FIFO Block

Interface with bursty pixel streams, such as those from DMA and Camera Link® sources, using the Pixel Stream FIFO block.

Open Model

Edge Detection and Image Overlay

Detect and highlight object edges in a video stream. The behavior of the pixel-stream Sobel Edge Detector block, video stream alignment, and overlay, is verified by comparing the results with the same algorithm calculated by the full-frame blocks from the Computer Vision Toolbox™.

Open Model

Edge Detection and Image Overlay with Impaired Frame

Introduce impairments in order to test a design with imperfect video input.

Open Model