Friday, February 22, 2019

Sony Hiring More Image Sensor Engineers in Japan, Expanding Polarization Sensors Lineup

Reuters: Sony Corp swill assign 40% of its new engineer hires in Japan over the next two years to the chip business which includes image sensors, as it looks for growth from new applications in everything from cars to phones. Sony plans to hire 320 new engineers annually in Japan this year and the next, up from 250 in 2018. The figures do not include those to be hired by overseas units.

The allocation is in line with the company’s plans to invest 600b yen ($5.4b) in image sensor business over the three years through March 2021, or half of the group’s planned capital expenditures.

The company cut its annual profit outlook for imaging sensors this month to 130b yen, accounting for just 15% of the Sony Corp.’s overall profit, due to weakening global demand for smartphones.

In another news, Sony adds a second polarization sensor to its portfolio - a 12MP, 1.1-inch IMX253MZR/MYR:

Posted by Vladimir Koifman at 10:44

6 comments:

  1. Albert Theuwissen - Harvest ImagingFebruary 22, 2019 at 12:32 PM

    Hi Sony, the more imaging engineers you hire the better ! And don't forget : they all need decent training in digital image capture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2019 at 6:36 PM

      we all need to make money right Albert? :)

      Delete
  2. RobFebruary 22, 2019 at 5:59 PM

    The polarization sensor would be useful underwater and for self-driving vehicles. Many invertebrates, including insects, spiders, cephalopods, and stomatopods, have evolved to detect polarization information with high-dynamic-range photosensitive cells and utilize this information in visually guided behavior.

    The articles: "Dynamic polarization vision in mantis shrimps" https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12140 and "Bioinspired polarization vision enables underwater geolocalization": http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/4/eaao6841 along with its associated YouTube video: "Mantis Shrimp Inspired Camera Enables Glimpse Into Hidden World": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jb7DtWFgAQ shows underwater footage from this type of imaging.

    Land based footage from a self-driving car is shown in this article: "Self-driving cars see better with cameras that mimic mantis shrimp vision": https://www.sciencenews.org/article/self-driving-cars-see-better-cameras-mimic-mantis-shrimp-vision and associated YouTube video: "See how a new type of polarization camera illuminates a foggy street | Science News": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoALiNpEiJA .

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2019 at 5:24 PM

    Everything comes with a cost. Polarization filters substantially cut number of photons reaching photodiodes thus decrease sensitivity and SNR. If someone would invent polarizing filters on demand, ex. switch it on when needed and switch off in ow light conditions...

    ReplyDelete
  4. James MihaychukMarch 9, 2019 at 12:24 AM

    FRAMOS has an article describing how 4D Technology applies the IMX250MZR sensors for metrology applications.
    https://www.framos.com/en/news/case-study-4d-technology-micro-polarizer-technology-makes-impossible-measurements-possible

    ReplyDelete
  5. Daniel KatzJune 27, 2020 at 12:52 AM

    Anyone here interested in Wavelets?

    Please, check out my Master dissertation about PCBs inspection using Fast Wavelet Transform:

    http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/bitstream/REPOSIP/338849/1/Bonello_DanielKatz_M.pdf

    Thank you ;)

    ReplyDelete

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