Fast Location of Thermal Target with Low Offset and Spatial Filter of Winner-Take-All Circuit

2010 ◽  
Vol 97-101 ◽  
pp. 4371-4374
Author(s):  
Jun Qi Wang ◽  
Shu Jung Chen ◽  
Chih Hsiung Shen
Keyword(s):  
Sensor Array ◽  
Cmos Technology ◽  
Spatial Filter ◽  
Thermal Image ◽  
Background Intensity ◽  
Low Offset ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Thermal Object ◽  
Infrared Tracking ◽  
Take All

A new modified infrared tracking sensor array with spatial filter is proposed, which identifies the locations and sizes of thermal object efficiently with the winner-take-all (WTA) circuit and a low offset correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit. The winner-take-all (WTA) circuit is used in combination with active readout circuit for thermopile array. In this circuit, thermal image intensity has been chosen for the input saliency map. The removal process is performed by zeroing the values of the thermal image background intensity levels, so only the potential thermal objects of interest are compared by the WTA. The offset reduction with CDS technique enhances the sensitivity of winner-take-all (WTA) circuit and shows a sharp selectivity which makes it possible to pick up only one winner pixel from each thermal object. In order to simulate and present the infrared thermal sensor array in this paper, the sensor array is integrated by using a 2P4M 0.35μm standard CMOS technology. This proposed architecture shows a high resolution with two orders higher than the circuits without CDS. The results have shown that integrated thermopile array with WTA and CDS can approach a high level of development, reliability and easy for high accuracy infrared tracking applications.

Current Mode Maximum and Minimum Circuit

2014 ◽  
Vol 577 ◽  
pp. 478-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Wang ◽  
Yi Cheng Zeng ◽  
Zhi Jun Li
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Circuit ◽  
Current Mode ◽  
Cmos Technology ◽  
Maximum Output ◽  
Input Frequency ◽  
Design Technique ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Ann ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All

A new current mode circuit which can maintain the maximum output and minimum output at the same time is presented in this paper. The design technique is achieved by the combination of trans linear loop, winner take all (WTA) circuit and loser take all (LTA) circuit. Therefore, the proposed circuit can be more practical than conventional circuits and can be easily designed in 0.5 μm CMOS technology for CSMC. Analysis and simulations of WTA and LTA circuit have been shown to display the usability of the proposed circuit, where the input frequency range is around 10 MHz. The proposed circuit can also play a neuron role in artificial neural network (ANN) implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

scholarly journals A 4K-Input High-Speed Winner-Take-All (WTA) Circuit with Single-Winner Selection for Change-Driven Vision Sensors

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 437
Author(s):  
Fernando Pardo ◽  
Càndid Reig ◽  
José A. Boluda ◽  
Francisco Vegara
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Poor Response ◽  
Cmos Technology ◽  
Single Element ◽  
Time Scaling ◽  
Vision Sensors ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Single Pixel ◽  
Take All

Winner-Take-All (WTA) circuits play an important role in applications where a single element must be selected according to its relevance. They have been successfully applied in neural networks and vision sensors. These applications usually require a large number of inputs for the WTA circuit, especially for vision applications where thousands to millions of pixels may compete to be selected. WTA circuits usually exhibit poor response-time scaling with the number of competitors, and most of the current WTA implementations are designed to work with less than 100 inputs. Another problem related to the large number of inputs is the difficulty to select just one winner, since many competitors may have differences below the WTA resolution. In this paper, a WTA circuit is presented that handles more than four thousand inputs, to our best knowledge the hitherto largest WTA, with response times below the microsecond, and with a guaranty of just a single winner selection. This performance is obtained by the combination of a standard analog WTA circuit and a fast digital single-winner selector with almost no size penalty. This WTA circuit has been successfully employed in the fabrication of a Selective Change-Driven Vision Sensor based on 180 nm CMOS technology. Both simulated and experimental results are presented in the paper, showing that a single pixel event can be selected in just 560 ns, and a multipixel pixel event can be processed in 100 us. Similar results with a conventional approach would require a camera working at more than 1 Mfps for the single-pixel event detection, and 10 kfps for the whole multipixel event to be processed.

Interest Groups and Elections

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-357
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Organizational Forms ◽  
Super Pacs ◽  
New Organizational Forms ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Take All

The relationships between interest groups, political parties, and elections have always been dynamic, but in recent years change has accelerated in ways that have favored some interests over others. This chapter considers these developments as the result of a variety of factors, the most critical of which are the growth of polarization, a new legal landscape for campaign finance, and new organizational forms. The chapter goes on to suggest, that as bipartisanship has ebbed, elections have become winner-take-all affairs and interest groups are pushed to choose sides. The chapter further suggests that the rise of super PACs is especially notable as wealthy individuals have become increasingly important, single sources of campaign money, supplanting in part traditional interest groups, especially conventional PACs. It concludes that even as sums spent by super PACs and other interest groups have skyrocketed, the impact of their direct spending on persuading voters remains uncertain.

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