Low-power DSP system for real-time correction of fish-eye cameras in automotive driver assistance applications

The development of an embedded system for real-time correction of fish-eye effect is presented. The fish-eye lens is applied to driver assistance video systems because of its wide-angled view. A large field of view can reduce the number of cameras needed for video system and their cost, installation, maintenance and wiring issues. On the other hand, this lens causes inherent radial distortion to image that has to be corrected in real-time with a low-cost and low-power processing platform. This paper proposes a solution that can be easily adapted to different types of lens and camera, and meets real-time constraints with a power budget within 100 mW and a board size of few cm2. Starting from mathematical equations, given by the geometrical optics, a state-of-the-art correction method is presented, then optimizations are introduced at different levels: algorithmic level, where a real-time correction parameter calculation avoids extra non-volatile off-chip memory cards; data transfer level, where a new pixel pair management reduces memory access and storage burden; HW-SW implementation level, where a low-power board has been developed and tested in real automotive scenarios. Other applications of the developed system, such as multi-camera and multi-dimensional video systems, are finally presented.