GPU Implementation of Image Convolution Using Sparse Model with Efficient Storage Format

Abstract

With the growth of data parallel computing, role of GPU computing in non-graphic applications such as image processing becomes a focus in research fields. Convolution is an integral operation in filtering, smoothing and edge detection. In this article, the process of convolution is realized as a sparse linear system and is solved using Sparse Matrix Vector Multiplication (SpMV). The Compressed Sparse Row (CSR) format of SPMV shows better CPU performance compared to normal convolution. To overcome the stalling of threads for short rows in the GPU implementation of CSR SpMV, a more efficient model is proposed, which uses the Adaptive-Compressed Row Storage (A-CSR) format to implement the same. Using CSR in the convolution process achieves a 1.45x and a 1.159x increase in speed compared to the normal convolution of image smoothing and edge detection operations, respectively. An average speedup of 2.05x is achieved for image smoothing technique and 1.58x for edge detection technique in GPU platform usig adaptive CSR format.