Design, Implementation, and Performance of a Scalable Multi-Camera . . .

We describe a system for interactive, real time, multi-camera video capture and display. The system uses largely general purpose, programmable hardware, and as a result is flexible and expandable. The computational framework and data storage is provided by the iWarp parallel computer, which we describe in light of the performance requirements of real time video. Video display is accomplished using a High Performance Parallel Interface network to write to a high resolution frame buffer. Video can be displayed as it is captured, with only a single frame latency. We provide interactivity with a VCR-like graphical interface running on a host workstation, which in turn controls the operation of the capture system. As a whole, this system allows a user to interactively monitor, capture, and replay video with the ease of use of a VCR, yet with flexibility and performance that is unavailable in all but the most expensive digital VCRs. We describe the implementation in detail, and discuss possi..