visionhdl.Dilation

Morphologically dilate binary pixel stream

Description

The visionhdl.Dilation System object™ morphologically dilates a binary pixel stream. This operation replaces each pixel with the local maximum of the neighborhood around the pixel. The object operates on a stream of binary pixel intensity values.

To morphologically dilate a binary pixel stream:

1. Create the visionhdl.Dilation object and set its properties.

2. Call the object with arguments, as if it were a function.

To learn more about how System objects work, see What Are System Objects?

Creation

Syntax

dilator = visionhdl.Dilation

dilator = visionhdl.Dilation(Name,Value)

Description

dilator = visionhdl.Dilation creates a System object that morphologically dilates a binary pixel stream.

dilator = visionhdl.Dilation(Name,Value) sets properties using one or more name-value arguments. For example, 'Neighborhood',getnhood(strel('disk',4)) specifies a 4-by-4 disk-pattern neighborhood.

Properties

Unless otherwise indicated, properties are nontunable, which means you cannot change their values after calling the object. Objects lock when you call them, and the release function unlocks them.

If a property is tunable, you can change its value at any time.

For more information on changing property values, see System Design in MATLAB Using System Objects.

Neighborhood — Pixel neighborhood

[0,1,0;1,1,1;0,1,0] (default) | vector or matrix of binary values

Pixel neighborhood, specified as a vector or matrix of binary values.

The object supports neighborhoods of up to 32-by-32 pixels. To use a structuring element, set the Neighborhood property to getnhood(strel(shape)), where shape is specified by the input arguments to the strel (Image Processing Toolbox) function.

LineBufferSize — Size of line memory buffer

2048 (default) | positive integer

Size of the line memory buffer, specified as a positive integer. Choose a power of two that accommodates the number of active pixels in a horizontal line. If you specify a value that is not a power of two, the buffer uses the next largest power of two.

The object allocates (n – 1)-by-LineBufferSize memory locations to store the pixels, where n is the number of lines in the Neighborhood property value.

PaddingMethod — Method for padding boundary of input image

'Constant' (default) | 'None'

Method for padding the boundary of the input image, specified as one of these values.

• 'Constant' — The object pads the image with zeros. These values prevent dilation at the boundaries of the active frame.

• 'None' — Exclude padding logic. The object does not set the pixels outside the image frame to any particular value. This option reduces the hardware resources that are used by the object and reduces the blanking that is required between frames. However, this option affects the accuracy of the output pixels at the edges of the frame. To maintain pixel stream timing, the output frame is the same size as the input frame. To avoid using pixels calculated from undefined padding values, mask off the n/2 pixels around the edge of the frame for downstream operations. n is the size of the operation kernel. For more details, see Increase Throughput by Omitting Padding.

For more information about these methods, see Edge Padding.

Usage

Syntax

[pixelout,ctrlout] = dilator(pixelin,ctrlin)

Description

[pixelout,ctrlout] = dilator(pixelin,ctrlin) returns the next binary pixel value, pixelout, resulting from morphologically dilating the neighborhood around each input binary pixel, pixelin.

This object uses a streaming pixel interface with a structure for frame control signals. This interface enables the object to operate independently of image size and format and to connect with other Vision HDL Toolbox™ objects. The object accepts and returns a scalar pixel value and control signals as a structure containing five signals. The control signals indicate the validity of each pixel and its location in the frame. To convert a pixel matrix into a pixel stream and control signals, use the visionhdl.FrameToPixels object. For a description of the interface, see Streaming Pixel Interface.

Input Arguments

pixelin — Input pixel

0 or false | 1 or true

Input pixel, specified as a logical value of 0(false) or 1 (true).

You can simulate System objects with a multipixel streaming interface, but you cannot generate HDL code for System objects that use multipixel streams. To generate HDL code for multipixel algorithms, use the equivalent Simulink^® blocks.

Data Types: logical

ctrlin — Control signals accompanying input pixel stream

pixelcontrol structure

Control signals accompanying the input pixel stream, specified as a pixelcontrol structure containing five logical data type signals. The signals describe the validity of the pixel and its location in the frame. For more details, see Pixel Control Structure.

Data Types: struct

Output Arguments

pixelout — Output pixel

0 | 1

Output pixel that is transformed by a morphological operation, returned as a logical value.

Data Types: logical

ctrlout — Control signals accompanying output pixel stream

pixelcontrol structure

Control signals accompanying the output pixel stream, returned as a pixelcontrol structure containing five logical data type signals. The signals describe the validity of the pixel and its location in the frame. For more details, see Pixel Control Structure.

Data Types: struct

Object Functions

To use an object function, specify the System object as the first input argument. For example, to release system resources of a System object named obj, use this syntax:

release(obj)

Common to All System Objects

step	Run System object algorithm
release	Release resources and allow changes to System object property values and input characteristics
reset	Reset internal states of System object

Examples

Morphologically Dilate an Image

Load a source image from a file. Select a portion of the image that matches the desired test size. This source image contains pixel intensity values of uint8 data type. Apply a threshold to convert the pixel data to binary values.

frmOrig = imread('rice.png');
frmActivePixels = 64;
frmActiveLines = 48;
frmInput = frmOrig(1:frmActiveLines,1:frmActivePixels);
frmInput = frmInput>128;
figure
imshow(frmInput,'InitialMagnification',300)
title 'Input Image'

Create a serializer System object™ and define inactive pixel regions. Set the number of inactive pixels following each active line to at least double the horizontal size of the neighborhood. Set the number of lines following each frame to at least double the vertical size of the neighborhood.

frm2pix = visionhdl.FrameToPixels(...
      'NumComponents',1, ...
      'VideoFormat','custom', ...
      'ActivePixelsPerLine',frmActivePixels, ...
      'ActiveVideoLines',frmActiveLines, ...
      'TotalPixelsPerLine',frmActivePixels+20, ...
      'TotalVideoLines',frmActiveLines+10, ...
      'StartingActiveLine',3, ...     
      'FrontPorch',10);

Create a morphological dilation System object.

 dilator = visionhdl.Dilation(...
      'Neighborhood',getnhood(strel('disk',3)));

Serialize the test image by calling the serializer object. pixin is a vector of intensity values. ctrlin is a vector of control signal structures.

[pixin,ctrlin] = frm2pix(frmInput);

Prepare to process the pixel stream by preallocating output vectors.

[~,~,numPixelsPerFrame] = getparamfromfrm2pix(frm2pix);
pixout = false(numPixelsPerFrame,1);
ctrlout  = repmat(pixelcontrolstruct,numPixelsPerFrame,1);

For each pixel in the padded frame, compute the morphed value. Monitor the control signals to determine the latency of the object. The latency of a configuration depends on the number of active pixels in a line and the size of the neighborhood.

foundValIn = false;
foundValOut = false;
for p = 1:numPixelsPerFrame  
    if (ctrlin(p).valid && foundValIn==0)
        foundValIn = p;
    end
    [pixout(p),ctrlout(p)] = dilator(pixin(p),ctrlin(p));
    if (ctrlout(p).valid && foundValOut==0)
        foundValOut = p;
    end
end
objLatency_cycles = foundValOut - foundValIn

objLatency_cycles = 
184

Create a deserializer System object with a format that matches the serializer format. Convert the pixel stream to an image frame by calling the deserializer object. Display the resulting image.

pix2frm = visionhdl.PixelsToFrame(...
      'NumComponents',1, ...
      'VideoFormat','custom', ...
      'ActivePixelsPerLine',frmActivePixels, ...
      'ActiveVideoLines',frmActiveLines, ...
      'TotalPixelsPerLine',frmActivePixels+20);
[frmOutput,frmValid] = pix2frm(pixout,ctrlout);
if frmValid
    figure
    imshow(frmOutput,'InitialMagnification',300)
    title 'Output Image'
end

Algorithms

This object implements the algorithms described on the Dilation block reference page.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

This System object supports C/C++ code generation for accelerating MATLAB^® simulations, and for DPI component generation. For more information about acceleration, see Accelerate Pixel-Streaming Designs Using MATLAB Coder. For more information about DPI component generation, see Considerations for DPI Component Generation with MATLAB (HDL Verifier).

HDL Code Generation

Generate VHDL, Verilog and SystemVerilog code for FPGA and ASIC designs using HDL Coder™.

To generate HDL code from Vision HDL Toolbox System objects, see Design Hardware-Targeted Image Filters in MATLAB.

Version History

Introduced in R2015a

R2020a: Option to omit padding

You can now configure the object to not add padding around the boundaries of the active frame. This option reduces the hardware resources used by the object and reduces the blanking interval required between frames but affects the accuracy of the output pixels at the edges of the frame. To use this option, set the PaddingMethod property to 'None'.

R2020a: Multipixel streaming

The object now supports multipixel streams. For multipixel streaming, the object supports input and output column vectors of 4 or 8 pixels. The ctrl argument remains scalar, and the control signals in the pixelcontrol structure apply to all pixels in the vector.

You can simulate System objects with a multipixel streaming interface, but you cannot generate HDL code for System objects that use multipixel streams. To generate HDL code for multipixel algorithms, use the equivalent Simulink blocks.

R2018b: Improved line buffer

The internal line buffer in this object now handles bursty data, that is, noncontiguous valid signals within a pixel line. This implementation uses fewer hardware resources due to improved padding logic and native support for kernel sizes with an even number of lines. This change affects the visionhdl.LineBuffer object and objects that use an internal line buffer.

The latency of the line buffer is now reduced by a few cycles for some configurations. You might need to rebalance parallel path delays in your designs. A best practice is to synchronize parallel paths in your designs by using the pixel stream control signals rather than by inserting a specific number of delays.