Lattice Semiconductor Corporation presents the implementation of its ECP5 FPGA in embedded vision applications for edge-type intelligent surveillance and automotive applications.Reinforcing Lattice's commitment to the industrial and automotive markets, the ECP5 family of low-power, small-form-factor FPGAs enables CPU acceleration for license plate recognition and image enhancement in intelligent traffic cameras. Furthermore, Lattice's ECP5 FPGAs allow for image stitching and 3D fusion integration for 360° surround-view systems in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), including traffic flow monitoring, traffic violation identification, smart parking, and toll collection, are a key part of the vision for tomorrow's smart cities. Such systems require intelligent traffic cameras that can accurately detect many aspects of a vehicle, such as license plates, even in challenging environments, to perform local video analytics, rather than sending raw video streams to the cloud. Shanghai Microsharp Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (Microsharp) is one such company offering intelligent traffic cameras with up to a 95 percent license plate recognition rate.
"When we were looking for a partner to collaborate on our intelligent traffic camera, we were seeking a scalable, low-power solution to ensure flawless, real-time license plate image capture," says Ting Zhou, CEO of Microsharp. "Lattice's ECP5 FPGA was a natural fit, allowing us to leverage the product's energy-efficient image processing and enhancement capabilities to accelerate the development of our intelligent camera."
The 360-degree vision system is a popular ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) technology in the automotive industry, often used for parking assistance. These systems typically capture the surroundings using at least four cameras facing different directions around the car to generate a composite view for the driver and assist with parking and low-speed maneuvers. NEX-ADAS 360° 3D Surround Vision Monitoring technology from Shenzhen Moorechip Technologies Limited (Moorechip) synthesizes images from four cameras to create a sophisticated and realistic 3D view of a vehicle's surroundings.
"Lattice's ECP5 FPGA family offers the flexible connectivity and low form factor requirements needed to support our ADAS 360 surround display system, providing high-quality, advanced technologies to differentiate our products from others on the market," said Andrew Liu, Managing Director of Moorechip. "We look forward to continuing our work with Lattice on future intelligent systems that leverage their embedded vision solutions.".
“ECP5 FPGAs are ideal for flexible connectivity and local acceleration due to their low power consumption and small form factor,” said Deepak Boppana, director of product marketing at Lattice Semiconductor. “As edge intelligence continues to grow, our solutions, including the new Embedded Vision Development Kit, will help accelerate the adoption of mobile influence technology in systems such as robotics, drones, machine vision, smart surveillance cameras, and ADAS.”.
