Parimics' Approach
Parimics has chosen to use a novel approach to image analysis. While other image analysis architectures involved general-purpose CPUs and dedicated software or generalized MPP MIMD-based computers and other special-purpose processors to process all layers of image analysis, Parimics has decided to use a dedicated hardware approach to each individual layer of image analysis, upon which we use our dedicated and special-purpose software. This allows for higher performance and greater ease of software implementation for our partners and customers. It also allows for hard real-time capabilities without additional special software or other complicated add-ons. This patented method has been evaluated by many industry observers and was deemed the only way to achieve real-time image analysis at any reasonable level of power consumption.
Most image analysis begins with cleaning up the picture so that all subsequent operations will render the desired results. This pre-processing in a VGA-sized image will take around ~1M instructions in an x86-type architecture. In Parimics' chipset, this same sequence of operations will take 3 instructions and therefore 3 cycles. For a more common image size of quad VGA (XGA or HD) it will still take 3 instructions for Parimics, and 4M instructions for general purpose processors. Vectorizing that data and determining linear and non-linear motion components for all objects in the field of vision will take less than 300 cycles even using a 256-point FFT in Parimics' chipset. In contrast, on a general-purpose processors it will take several millions of instructions for VGA-sized images.
Why is deterministic behavior and real-time capability important? Simple - imagine your automotive guidance system greets you with a blue screen of death when you need it most because there were too many objects in the field of vision. A weather forecast for tomorrow is worthless if you receive it the day after tomorrow. That is why we think that the most important sense we can give a robot must be both deterministic and real-time capable.
Please contact us for more information and more in-depth white papers. An NDA will be required for those.
