Efficient FPGA implementation of DWT and modified SPIHT for lossless image compression

In this paper, we present an implementation of the image compression technique set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) in programmable hardware. The lifting based Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) architecture has been selected for exploiting the correlation among the image pixels. In addition, we provide a study on what storage elements are required for the wavelet coefficients. A modified SPIHT (Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees) algorithm is presented for encoding the wavelet coefficients. The modifications include a simplification of coefficient scanning process, use of a 1-D addressing method instead of the original 2-D arrangement for wavelet coefficients and a fixed memory allocation for the data lists instead of the dynamic allocation required in the original SPIHT. The proposed algorithm has been illustrated on both the 2-D Lena image and a 3-D MRI data set and is found to achieve appreciable compression with a high peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR).