A real-time H.264/AVC VLSI encoder architecture

Evolving applications related to video technologies require video encoder and decoder implemented with low cost and achieving real-time performance. In order to meet this demand and targeting especially the applications imposing low VLSI area requirements, the present paper describes a VLSI H.264/AVC encoder architecture performing at real-time. The encoder uses a pipeline architecture and all the modules have been optimized with respect to the VLSI cost. The encoder design complies with the reference software encoder of the standard, follows the baseline profile level 3.0 and it constitutes an IP-core and/or an efficient stand-alone solution. The architecture operates at a maximum frequency of 100 MHz and achieves maximum throughput of 30 frames/s with frame size 1,024 × 768. Results and performance measurements of the entire encoder have been validated on FPGA and VLSI 0.18 μm occupying a total area of 3.9 mm2.