Programmable DSP platform for digital still cameras

This paper presents a programmable DSP platform for Digital Still Cameras based on the Texas Instruments TMS320C54x family. One major advantage of this platform is that, after capturing an image from a CCD sensor, processing the raw image, and compressing the image for storage is performed on the Digital Signal Processor (DSP). This provides a short shotto-shot delay and a high degree of flexibility. The system realized also allows instant viewing and selective storing of captured images. This paper outlines the various processing stages necessary to take the raw CCD data and produce a JPEG compressed bit stream and highlighting the advantages of DSPs for this application. The programmable nature of this platform allows for the exploration of different image processing and compression techniques. The low power nature of the digital signal processor provides long battery life.