Video image stereo matching using phase-locked loop techniques

A hardware system for performing video image stereo matching is proposed which utilizes phase-locked loop techniques to eliminate the intensive computations characteristic of many stereo matching algorithms. An initial evaluation of the technique is presented. The proposed hardware system is simulated in software on a VAX-II/730 minicomputer and is used to determine the disparity between a stereo pair of digitized video images. Potential hardware design problems and their possible solutions are discussed. The proposed stereo image matching technique promises to provide stereo disparity information at standard video frame rates using currently available integrated circuits.