Abstract
We present a high-performance and low-power purehardware accelerator for decoding H.264/AVC video. We propose novel VLSI architectures for every stage of the decoding pipeline. We wrap the decoder core with an AMBA bus interface, integrate it into a multimedia SOC platform, and verify it with FPGA prototyping. In order to reduce external memory traffic, we propose a memory fetch unit to increase the length of burst access. Running at a 16 MHz, our FPGA decoder prototype can real-time decode D1 video (720x480) at 30 fps. We also propose several techniques to reduce both average and peak power consumption. Simulation result shows that our design consumes only 21.2 mW of average power. The proposed H.264/AVC video decoder is suitable for embedded multimedia systems for mobile applications. © 2009 IEEE.