Real-time FPGA implementation of the Semi-Global Matching stereo vision algorithm for a 4K/UHD video stream

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a real-time FPGA implementation of the Semi-Global Matching (SGM) stereo vision algorithm. The designed module supports a 4K/Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels @ 30 frames per second) video stream in a 4 pixel per clock (ppc) format and a 64-pixel disparity range. The baseline SGM implementation had to be modified to process pixels in the 4ppc format and meet the timing constrains, however, our version provides results comparable to the original design. The solution has been positively evaluated on the Xilinx VC707 development board with a Virtex-7 FPGA device.