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FPGA vs. PIC for image processing from CMOS camera

B

bignateyk

Lifer
CMOS camera

I will be using this camera for some basic object recognition and collision avoidance. Would an FPGA (virtex 2, spartan) be easier to develop with than a PIC microcontroller?

I will be using PIC micros to control other sensors and servos, but the idea of any serious image processing done on a PIC kind of scares me.
 
Not that I have nany idea what I am talking about. But should't a DSP be better suited for image processing than either of those options?
At least it would be faster and AFAIK it should be possible to control a DSP from a PIC.

 
I speak as one who hasn't tried it; but the idea of doing image processing on a PIC makes me nervous as well.

Take a look at http://www.microchip.com/stellent/group...ic_sg/documents/devicedoc/en012562.pdf

Microchip offers a line of higher end microcontrollers with some built in DSP functions. They aren't screaming demons by comparison to larger embedded CPUs; but they are quite similar to other PICs, so should offer more power without too much more complexity.

Edit: I'm forgetful. They call these chips "dsPIC".
 
You could use an FPGA to do the image processing, and it would be pretty fast. FPGAs like the Virtex 2 Pro have 18x18 multipliers for DSP stuff.

FPGAs can also contain regular processors (hard or soft), so you can still do things with software (or sw/hw) if you want.

There are also high level languages for FPGAs (Handel-C, ImpulseC, etc) that can speed the development process if you are crunched for time.

An FPGA could crunch through that data very fast. I'm not really sure how fast the before mentioned PIC runs, but FPGAs can also take advantage of parallel execution if your application allows for it. 50-100MHZ is not unreasonable depending on the complexity of your FPGA design.
 
thanks for the responses. I will look into some DSP's, but for now I am leaning toward an FPGA since we have some lying around and I am familiar with programming them.
 
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