ST ALS Senses Light Flicker

GlobeNewswire: STM releases a multispectral ambient light sensor (ALS) that simultaneously provides scene color temperature, ultra-violet (UVA) radiation level, and lighting frequency information. The new VD6281 helps the camera to set appropriate exposure times to avoid flicker artefacts and eliminate banding in pictures and videos, especially in scenes lit with contemporary LED sources.

"Leveraging the Company's extensive camera system know-how, ST's new VD6281 offers customers a state-of-the-art multispectral ambient light sensor," said Eric Aussedat, GM of ST's Imaging Division. "Our roadmap for ALS and flicker sensors is an ideal complement to ST's market-leading FlightSense Time-of-Flight (ToF) product portfolio. With a growing number of high-quality, high-resolution cameras per phone, our goal is to offer an advanced solution to assist white-balance correction and remove flicker artefacts in smartphone camera images. Mobiles equipped with VD6281 were already released in 2018, and many others will be coming soon."

With its form factor of 1.83 x 1.0 x 0.55mm, the VD6281 is said to be the smallest multispectral ambient light sensor available, allowing integration in bezel-free smartphones with small notches and inside smartwatches, where a high screen ratio is at a premium. The sensor uses direct-deposition interferometric filters to create 6 independent color channels: Red, Green, Blue, NIR, UVA and Clear for color-sensing capability and CCT (Color-Correlated Temperature) over a wide field-of-view of 120 degrees. The VD6281 is in production and available now.