Digital image processing in professional applications places ever-higher demands, so that the computing power and power consumption of FPGA devices reach their limits. Approximate Computing refers to a set of methods that are performing calculations not exactly but only approximately. As a benefit, fewer resources are used in the FPGA, more functions can be implemented in the existing FPGA devices, and the energy efficiency of the calculations is improved.

Together with two industrial partners, ARRI and SmartRay, methods of approximate computing in FPGA devices for applications in digital cinema cameras and optical measurement devices will be investigated. Machine learning will be used for optimizing the approximation parameters.

The project is funded for three years by the Bavarian ICT program.