A vision system for 2D real-time vector motion estimation of a random-sized moving pattern

A 2D motion detection and estimation vision system is here presented. It performs real-time template matching on edges extracted from successive frames, acquired with an addressable CMOS camera. The x-y motion vector components are estimated counting the number of matched edges moving over less than one pixel within two subsequent frames. The algorithm has been implemented on an FPGA and uses a 20 times 20 pixel binary- image. The system computes up to 350 motion-vector-estimation/s on a random-sized pattern. The computation rate is mainly limited by the frame rate of the camera. The system was linked to a PC through an USB interface.