Project Overview

This project focuses on the development and validation of a real-time FPGA-based processing pipeline for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).

The main objective was to transfer the computationally intensive OCT signal-processing chain from software to dedicated FPGA hardware, enabling faster processing while preserving the structural information required for biomedical imaging.

My Contribution

I designed and implemented the FPGA processing architecture and performed the validation of the hardware-generated OCT images against the reference software implementation.

The work included the integration and optimization of the main OCT processing stages for FPGA execution, together with analysis of image quality and processing performance.

Processing Pipeline

The implemented processing chain includes the main operations required to generate OCT depth profiles and images, including:

• Background and signal preprocessing

• Spectral data preparation

• Resampling and signal conditioning

• Windowing

• Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)

• Magnitude calculation

• A-scan generation

• B-scan image reconstruction

Hardware Implementation

The processing architecture was developed for FPGA execution with emphasis on:

• Real-time data processing

• Parallel and pipelined computation

• Efficient use of FPGA resources

• Reduced processing latency

• Hardware/software result consistency

Validation

The FPGA-generated OCT data were compared with the corresponding software-processed results using both image-based and quantitative evaluation.

The implementation preserved the main structural features of the OCT images while providing a substantial improvement in processing speed.

The results showed approximately 4× faster processing compared with the reference implementation used in the study.

Biomedical Application

The system was developed within a biomedical OCT research project investigating tissue characterization and the identification of suspicious regions.

The work also included analysis of OCT image morphology, signal quality, optical coupling conditions, and the effect of the probe–tissue interface on image acquisition.

Current Status

The FPGA implementation has been experimentally validated, and a scientific manuscript describing the architecture, implementation, and results is currently in preparation.

Technologies

FPGA · Digital Signal Processing · FFT · Real-Time Processing · Embedded Systems · OCT · Biomedical Imaging · Image Reconstruction