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Low brightness PCB image enhancement algorithm for FPGA

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Abstract

Aiming at the problem of low defect detection rate of PCB images captured by cameras in industrial scenarios under low-light environments, an MGIE (Mean–Gamma Image Enhancement) image brightness enhancement algorithm and the corresponding FPGA design scheme are proposed. Firstly, the RGB image is converted into the YCrCb color space, and the illumination component Y is separated. Then, the illumination component Y is enhanced by the MSR (Multi-Scale Retinex) algorithm based on multi-scale mean filtering, and the Gamma correction algorithm is used to adjust the brightness. Subsequently, the processed Y channel is fused with the Cr and Cb channels to obtain the final output. Secondly, after algorithm research, this paper elaborates on the algorithm design and deployment scheme based on FPGA. The MGIE IP core is designed in the HLS (High-Level Synthesis) environment, and optimization and acceleration are carried out by means of creating look-up tables and constructing PIPELINE. Significantly, this research is capable of real-time processing of images in video. Specifically, images are captured in real time by the OV5640 camera, and the processed images are immediately displayed on the LCD screen. The experimental results show that the MGIE algorithm has remarkable effectiveness in processing low-light PCB images, with a PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) reaching 17.34 and an SSIM (Structural Similarity Index Measure) reaching 0.79. After the end-to-end deployment, the processing speed of 1280 × 720 and 640 × 640 pixel images reaches 30fps/s and 70fps/s, respectively, meeting the needs of real-time processing.

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Funding

This article is funded by the Natural Science Foundation project of Shandong Province, ZR2021MD057, Shandong Province graduate education quality course construction project, SDYKC21063.

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J.H. and M.Z. designed the concept and the experimental approach. M.Z. developed the model and performed the experiments. M.Z. wrote the frst draf of the manuscript. J.D. reviewed the manuscript and corrected the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jin Han.

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Han, J., Zheng, M. & Dong, J. Low brightness PCB image enhancement algorithm for FPGA. J Real-Time Image Proc 22, 76 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11554-025-01635-9

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