Averaging Filter SDLT Sample

An Averaging filter is a commonly used filter in the field of image processing and is mainly used for removing any noise in a given image. A noise in an image is any presence of pixel values which doesn’t blend well with the actual content of photo like salt-pepper grains on an image. Averaging filter makes use of the concept that any given pixel value will not change drastically from its immediate neighbors. In other words, the current value of a pixel depends more on its immediate neighbors. Averaging filter size decides how many immediate neighbors are considered for the computation of the current pixel values. Most commonly used filter size 3x3.

This sample demonstrates how to increase the performance of Averaging filter using Intel(R) SIMD Data Layout Templates (Intel(R) SDLT). Intel(R) SDLT library provides an Array of Structure interface to the user but stores the data in Structure of Array format in memory.

System Requirements:

Hardware:
- Any Intel® processor like 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i3, i5, or i7 processors and Intel® Xeon® E3 or E5 processor family
For Microsoft* Windows*:
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2013*, 2015*, or 2017* Professional Edition or above
- Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2019 Composer Edition for C++ Windows* or newer
  or
  Intel® System Studio 2019 Composer Edition for Windows* or newer
For Linux*:
- GNU* GCC 4.8 or newer
- Intel® Parallel Studio XE 2019 Composer Edition for C++ Linux* or newer
  or
  Intel® System Studio 2018 Composer Edition for Linux* or newer

Performance Data

Build Instructions

For Microsoft* Visual Studio users:

Open the solution .sln file
[Optional] To collect performance numbers (will run example 5 times and take average time):
- Project Properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocessor -> Preprocessor Definitions: add PERF_NUM
Choose a configuration (for best performance, choose a release configuration):
- Intel-debug and Intel-release: uses Intel C++ compiler
- Averaging Filter sample with Intel SDLT enabled builds only with Intel(R) C++ Compiler as of now on Windows*.

For Windows Command Line users:

Enable your particular compiler environment
For Intel C++ Compiler:
- Open the appropriate Intel C++ compiler command prompt
- Navigate to project folder
- Compile with Build.bat [perf_num]
  - perf_num: collect performance numbers (will run example 5 times and take average time)
- To run: Build.bat run

For Linux*/macOS* users:

Set the icc environment: source <icc-install-dir>/bin/compilervars.sh {ia32|intel64}
Navigate to project folder
For Intel C++ compiler:
- To compile: make [icpc] [perf_num=1]
  - perf_num=1: collect performance numbers (will run example 5 times and take average time)
- To run: make run