Himax says in its Q4 2011 earnings call: "CMOS image sensor, while in its first year of commercial shipment, already accounted for a significant portion of our non-driver sales last year. We currently offer 3 mega pixel, 2 mega pixel, 1.3 mega pixel, HD, VGA and qVGA products, focusing on handset, laptop and tablet applications. We plan to release new sensor products this year to further strengthen our product portfolio and to penetrate into new markets such as TV Cam, PC Cam, drive recorder, surveillance and automotive applications. CMOS image sensor is and will continue to be a fastgrowing area for us. While we are a new comer to the market, our sensors have been highly praised by many to have outperformed those offered by the incumbent players in terms of image quality. Consequently we have numerous design-wins from customers ranging from camera module makers, contract manufacturers to system integrators with world leading brand names. 2011 was the year when we put our name clearly in the map. We are confident that 2012 will be a year of strong sales growth in this product area."
Unfortunately, no numbers on image sensor business was released. However, revenues from Himax’s non-driver businesses, which include CMOS image sensors and wafer optics, LCOS micro image projectors, touch panel controllers and timing controllers combined were $21.7M or 12.8% of the company's total revenues in Q4 2011.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
PRNU and FPN Measurement
Albert Theuwissen published the next article in his excellent "How to Measure..." series. This one talks about PRNU and FPN, explaining the difference between the two.
Monday, February 13, 2012
NIT Presents Stereo WDR Camera
New Imaging Technology introduces a stereoscopic camera reference design based upon its global shutter HDR sensor NSC1001 with DR of more than 140dB. The reference design is intended for robotic and automotive applications.
Youtube video shows the camera capabilities:
Youtube video shows the camera capabilities:
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Image Sensors in Astrophotography
Piotr Maliński posted a nice article on image sensors and cameras in astrophotography. The post discusses cameras and sensors requirements for different types of astrophotography.
Basler on Machine Vision Camera Trends
Basler presents the trends in industrial and machine vision cameras - mainly transistion from CCD to CMOS, frog GigE to USB3, and lowering prices. Pdf file is here, Youtube video is below:
Friday, February 10, 2012
Gesture Recognition News
Image Sensors 1012 site published Q&A session with Daniël Van Nieuwenhove, SoftKinetic's CTO. Some quotes:
Q: Will we eventually see this replace all other forms of user interfacing?
A: Replacing all forms of user interfacing it will definitely not. We are convinced the technology will disrupt some established user interfaces, and in many cases will enrich the currently used approaches. We also see user interactions emerging, where previously there were none: digital signage is a good example of such a market.
Q: From a technical standpoint, what are your main challenges in developing this technology further?
A: The technology has a huge potential, but is young and a rough diamond today, and therefore contains plenty of challenges. We have the different aspects of the end-to-end solution combined in Softkinetic, going from sensor to camera production to middleware and application development. This represents huge opportunities, but also huge challenges. One of our main advantages, but also challenges, is optimizing and integrating this whole chain optimally in the different platforms such as TV and PC. The most bizarre one is probably the challenge to remain focused and, amongst the large amount of options, direct the technology where it merits the most.
EETimes-Europe: Meanwhile Continental AG demos gesture control in its concept car at Chicago Auto Show these days.
Q: Will we eventually see this replace all other forms of user interfacing?
A: Replacing all forms of user interfacing it will definitely not. We are convinced the technology will disrupt some established user interfaces, and in many cases will enrich the currently used approaches. We also see user interactions emerging, where previously there were none: digital signage is a good example of such a market.
Q: From a technical standpoint, what are your main challenges in developing this technology further?
A: The technology has a huge potential, but is young and a rough diamond today, and therefore contains plenty of challenges. We have the different aspects of the end-to-end solution combined in Softkinetic, going from sensor to camera production to middleware and application development. This represents huge opportunities, but also huge challenges. One of our main advantages, but also challenges, is optimizing and integrating this whole chain optimally in the different platforms such as TV and PC. The most bizarre one is probably the challenge to remain focused and, amongst the large amount of options, direct the technology where it merits the most.
EETimes-Europe: Meanwhile Continental AG demos gesture control in its concept car at Chicago Auto Show these days.
Heliotis Presents its 3D Vision Camera with Micron Resolution
This Youtube video shows Heliotis presentation of its 3D camera for industrial applications with micron resolution, delivered by Christian Lotto. The camera features Heliotis smart-pixel custom designed sensor with 300x300 resolution and 5000 fps speed. Each pixel provides quadrature demodulation of interferometric pattern, envelope extraction, low-pass filtering and downsampling - sort of lock-in amplifier in each pixel.
The pdf version of the presentation is available here.
The pdf version of the presentation is available here.
Thursday, February 09, 2012
More Market Data from iSuppli
iSuppli published more market data from its latest Q1 2012 report:
Shipments last year of CMOS sensors accounted for 92% of all area image sensors—an overwhelming share that translated into some 2.1 billion units, up 31% from 1.6 billion in 2010.
With the remaining 8 percent of the market, CCD sensor shipments in 2011 fell to 180.3 million units, down 2% from 184.5 million in 2010. In 2010, the CMOS share of the sensor market was 90% vs. 10% for CCD.
The pattern of CMOS dominance will continue through the years in the face of CCD’s irreversible decline. By 2015, CMOS shipments will amount to 3.6 billion units or 97% market share, compared to CCD shipments of just 95.2 million, or 3%, as shown in the figure below:
Markets:
Mobile handsets remain the dominant application for CMOS sensors, representing 79% of total CMOS shipments in 2011. Videoconferencing is the second-biggest application market in terms of CMOS shipments, due to the inclusion of cameras in notebook computers. CMOS sensors also found increasing use in two growing markets—the security space through network video surveillance systems; and in automotive systems through the use of back-up cameras and in such applications as lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection and infrared night vision.
In comparison, CCDs are finding acceptance in the industrial markets and in digital still cameras. But even here, CCD use is declining. Among high-end DSLRs, for instance, CCD use will shrink from 12% in 2011 to just 1% by 2014. And because the camera space is weakening as a whole while consumers gravitate toward smartphones, overall CCD consumption will decline further, IHS believes.
BSI Adoption:
Even though BSI cost approximately 20% more than FSI in 2011, the superior BSI sensor will continue to make inroads into phones. Projected to be in 56% of smartphones and higher-end feature handset camera phones during 2012, BSI sensors will be present in 92% of the same class of handsets by 2015 as prices come down.
Top Players:
Among companies competing in the space, Sony, was the top player for overall image sensors during the Q42012 2011, followed by OmniVision, Aptina, Sharp and Samsung.
Shipments last year of CMOS sensors accounted for 92% of all area image sensors—an overwhelming share that translated into some 2.1 billion units, up 31% from 1.6 billion in 2010.
With the remaining 8 percent of the market, CCD sensor shipments in 2011 fell to 180.3 million units, down 2% from 184.5 million in 2010. In 2010, the CMOS share of the sensor market was 90% vs. 10% for CCD.
The pattern of CMOS dominance will continue through the years in the face of CCD’s irreversible decline. By 2015, CMOS shipments will amount to 3.6 billion units or 97% market share, compared to CCD shipments of just 95.2 million, or 3%, as shown in the figure below:
Markets:
Mobile handsets remain the dominant application for CMOS sensors, representing 79% of total CMOS shipments in 2011. Videoconferencing is the second-biggest application market in terms of CMOS shipments, due to the inclusion of cameras in notebook computers. CMOS sensors also found increasing use in two growing markets—the security space through network video surveillance systems; and in automotive systems through the use of back-up cameras and in such applications as lane-departure warning, blind-spot detection and infrared night vision.
In comparison, CCDs are finding acceptance in the industrial markets and in digital still cameras. But even here, CCD use is declining. Among high-end DSLRs, for instance, CCD use will shrink from 12% in 2011 to just 1% by 2014. And because the camera space is weakening as a whole while consumers gravitate toward smartphones, overall CCD consumption will decline further, IHS believes.
BSI Adoption:
Even though BSI cost approximately 20% more than FSI in 2011, the superior BSI sensor will continue to make inroads into phones. Projected to be in 56% of smartphones and higher-end feature handset camera phones during 2012, BSI sensors will be present in 92% of the same class of handsets by 2015 as prices come down.
Top Players:
Among companies competing in the space, Sony, was the top player for overall image sensors during the Q4
Rumor: Nokia 803 to Feature World's Largest Mobile Phone Sensor
Infomobile: Nokia 803 phone to land in May 2012, said to pack the largest camera sensor the mobile world has ever seen. Nokia 803 is supposed to be a successor of famous N8 featuring Toshiba 12MP sensor.
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