Int. J. Circ. Th. and Appl. Vol. 24:357-367, 1996

A programmable VLSI architecture based on multilayer
CNN paradigms for real-time visual processing.

Luigi Raffo
DIEE - University of Cagliari, Piazza d'Armi, 09123 Cagliari, ITALY
Silvio P. Sabatini and Giacomo M. Bisio
DIBE - University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 11a, 16145 Genova, ITALY

A new digital VLSI architecture has been presented for the implementation
of discrete-time multilayer CNNs. At functional level, the architecture is
organized as 12 layers of $64 \times 64$ cells, which interact as specified by
a set of 3-D generalized templates. At structural level, the application of
cloning templates occurs in a set of processing units programmed by
instruction masks, generated on the basis of the algorithm to be emulated.
It is demonstrated that this architecture is applicable to multilayer
algorithms for visual processing, and also to standard CNNs, including those
that use sequences of templates or that work in parallel.
Simulations evidence the high efficiency of this implementation.