OpenCV on Embedded Platform

Question

Can some suggest a test/development embedded platform to use with OpenCV. I would like to develop an embedded video analytics solution, but I don't know where to start. Some suggestion/ideas/hw starter kits?

Maybe some Pc-104 solutions with Intel Atom? Has someone made some test about performances on this platform or any other embedded platform?

Thanks

Answer 1

A Pentium/PC built OpenCV application will run on any Atom platform with the same OS unmodified. This is because Atoms natively run Pentium executables.

If you are looking for a more embedded solution, there are OpenCV ports for the BeagleBoard. SInce OpenCV is portable code, it can be compiled to most systems that provide a C/C++ compiler. I have successfully used OpenCV on ARM, MIPS and XScale processors.

As for mobile platforms, there are ports to the iPhone, Android and various Windows CE/Mobile/Embdeed versions.

Answer 2

If you're looking for a very small option, I strongly recommend the Gumstix Overo series. I use them for my Computer Vision research, and they work really well. There are a couple of options for processors, I'd recommend the Overo Tide module, which has 512 MB of RAM, and an onboard DSP for offloading some CV operations. Combine this with a Tobi expansion board and a few cables, and you've got a full embedded computer vision research platform for ~$350. They also sell a small camera, which I'm still getting around to trying out. What's nice about the Gumstix is you can just build OpenCV onboard, which saves you some of the headaches with BitBake type solutions.