IPXS: Image Processing XS Tools

News: Develop your IPXS projects using the ultimate HDL, Handel-C, and DK1.

IPXS News

Now you can develop your IPXS projects with Handel-C using the "DK1 support IPXS library". Using this unique language the description  an  IPXS project may be as simple as in this example.

"Handel-C is an ISO-C based language with extensions for hardware design. It is not a traditional hardware description like Verilog or VHDL, as it is more concerned with capturing the functionality of an algorithm rather than describing the actual implementation of the algorithm in the underlying hardware. The Celoxica DK1 development environment is a complete design entry, simulation and logic synthesis tool, based on the Handel-C language, that produces and EDIF netlist output ready for third party FPGA place and route tools."

For getting " DK1 support IPXS library" go to download area.

IPXS Overview

IPXS is an educational environment for facilitating the work of the students in the implementation and verification of image processing algorithms. IPXS is based on  XS40 FPGA board from  Xess Corp. . With these tools, the students can concentrate on the hardware design of the algorithm core, leaving for the interface the communications between the host and the FPGA board as well as the planning of the accesses to the video memory. Using IPXS the "time to market" of a image processing project is reduced to a few hours.

Acknowledgments: This work has been supported by the Xess Corp.

IPXS has been developed thanks to the enthusiastic effort of a group of students (IPXS Team) headed by prof. Sergio Cuenca at Depto. of Tecnología Informática y Computación in the Universidad de Alicante (Alicante, Spain). We hope you enjoy it.

IPXS main features:

• Windows 95/98 and NT compatible.
• Different port addresses supported.
• Test and configure the XS board from the GUI.
• Different image format supported (bmp, pgm, hex). 
• Write and read images to/from the video memory (board SRAM) with a button click.
• Memory drivers libraries (hardware drivers) for easily developping of image processing projects 
• Manual control of image processing using the winport panel (GUI to write and read the parallel port registers).
• Automatic control of image processing using the memory drivers (only 5%-15% occupation rate).
• New parameter-passing utility. You can easily send up to 25 parameters (8 bits) to your image processing hardware. These bytes can be algorithm parameters (i.e.: convolutions weights) or commands (i.e: opcode to decide between different tasks).
• New frame-grabber utility. Capture and process real images using the XS40 and the cheap M4088 B/W camera.
• Easy algorithm verification with C or Pascal routines.
• Example projects included.

IPXS Overview: 

IPXS has been exhibited at DCIS'99 Conference (Design of Circuits and Integrated Systems Conference, Palma de Mallorca 16-19 november 1999). You can get the pamphlet of the exhibition in the download area.

IPXS has two main parts:

• IPXS program: windows application thah allows the user work with 256 gray level image files. You can select the depth (nº bits/pixel) of the image, write and read the video memory (XS40 board SRAM). Additionally you can configure and test the XS40 board using the original xstest and xsload programs.

• IPXS memory drivers library: this library include some hardware macros which performs the data transfers between the host and the board. Additionally some of them generate the addresses and the memory control signals during the image processing. With this drivers you can develop typical image processing algorithms as filters, convolutions, morphologic operations, etc,...

IPXS tutorials 

• Head: Sergio Cuenca Asensi (prof.)
• Vicente Esteve Soler (stud.)
• Abel Gonzalez Onrubia
• Emilio Tendero Esteve 
• Jose Mª Guerrero Romero