Fast multi-core based multimodal registration of 2D cross-sections and 3D datasets

Background: Solving bioinformatics tasks often requires extensive computational power. Recent trends in processor architecture combine multiple cores into a single chip to improve overall performance. The Cell Broadband Engine (CBE), a heterogeneous multi-core processor, provides power-efficient and cost-effective highperformance computing. One application area is image analysis and visualisation, in particular registration of 2D cross-sections into 3D image datasets. Such techniques can be used to put different image modalities into spatial correspondence, for example, 2D images of histological cuts into morphological 3D frameworks. Results: We evaluate the CBE-driven PlayStation 3 as a high performance, cost-effective computing platform by adapting a multimodal alignment procedure to several characteristic hardware properties. The optimisations are based on partitioning, vectorisation, branch reducing and loop unrolling techniques with special attention to 32-bit multiplies and limi...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Michael Scharfe, Rainer Pielot, Falk Schreiber
• Keywords: BMCBI 2010, Image Analysis, Images, Multimodal Registration