Kodak Sells its CCD Business to Platinum Equity

Business Wire: Kodak announced today that it has completed the sale of its Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) business to Platinum Equity. The financial details were not disclosed. This sale is aligned with the company's strategy to generate cash to complete the its operations. Included in the sale is a 263,000 square foot facility in Eastman Business Park in Rochester, N.Y., that houses manufacturing and research facilities.

Platinum Equity is a global M&A&O firm specializing in the merger, acquisition and operation of companies that provide services and solutions to customers in a broad range of business markets. Platinum Equity focuses on acquiring businesses that can benefit from the firm’s extensive in-house capability and expertise in transition, integration and operations.

“The ISS business has a strong management team with the right vision for leading the company into the future. We share their commitment to product development and customer service and are committed to helping the business realize its full potential,” said Brian Wall, the partner at Platinum Equity who led the team pursuing the acquisition. Wall said Platinum Equity’s experience managing complex transitions from corporate parent companies will benefit employees, customers and other partners.

Thanks to KB for sending me the news!

Update: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle tells that "the 200 people employed in Kodak's CCD business all are being offered jobs with Platinum."
British Journal of Photography writes "While the financials of the transaction have not been disclosed, Reuters and The Wall Street Journal estimate that the sale brought no more than $200m to Kodak." - thanks to DG for the reference.

ON Semi to Acquire Truesense Imaging

Business Wire: ON Semiconductor has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Truesense Imaging, a former Kodak image sensor business. The acquisition of Truesense Imaging complements ON Semiconductor’s image-sensor business by expanding its technology portfolio and adding more than 200 new customers. Under the terms of the agreement, ON Semiconductor will pay approximately $92M in cash to acquire Truesense Imaging.

"The pending acquisition of Truesense Imaging is a step towards our stated strategic goal of expanding our presence in select segments of the industrial end-market," said Keith Jackson, president and CEO of ON Semiconductor. "With the acquisition of Truesense, we will augment our abilities to deliver a broad range of high-performance image sensors to the industrial end-market and at the same time significantly expand our customer footprint. I am excited about the growth opportunities the combination of the two companies presents in the high-performance imaging market."

"ON Semiconductor is an ideal strategic fit for Truesense as we share a common vision for expanding the capabilities of high-performance sensors used in the world’s most demanding imaging applications," said Chris McNiffe, CEO of Truesense Imaging. "This combination enables us to leverage our technology base and four decades of imaging expertise with ON Semiconductor’s R&D, manufacturing and global logistics infrastructure. We are very excited to join the ON Semiconductor organization and to enable new growth opportunities for both our customers and our employees."

Based on unaudited results, Truesense Imaging’s revenue for 2013 was approximately $79M with gross and operating margins of approximately 44% and 23%, respectively. Truesense Imaging will be incorporated in ON Semiconductor’s Application Products Group (APG) business group. The transaction has been approved by ON Semiconductor’s and Truesense Imaging’s boards of directors and is anticipated to close before the end of Q22014, subject to required regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Market Wired publishes a PR of Platinum Equity, the current owner of Truesense: "This is a textbook example of the value Platinum Equity's approach can provide many different stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of an investment," said Platinum Equity's Jason Leach, who led the initial acquisition. "First we provided a divestiture solution to a seller in need as Kodak confronted a difficult period of restructuring. We then executed a complex carve out with minimal disruption and established the business as an independent company that has thrived under our stewardship, to the benefit of Truesense customers, suppliers and employees. We have now found a new home for Truesense that we believe is a perfect fit."

Thanks to MD for the info!

ON Semi Closes Truesense Acquisition

On Semi announces the completion of its acquisition of Truesense Imaging. ON Semi paid approximately $95M in cash off its balance sheet, after adjustments for cash and working capital amounts, to purchase Truesense Imaging. Based on audited results, Truesense Imaging’s revenue for 2013 was approximately $79 million with gross and operating margins of approximately 44% and 23%, respectively.
Chris McNiffe, CEO and president of Truesense, has been retained by the ON Semiconductor team to help manage and grow our image sensor business. The Truesense product development and business teams will be incorporated in ON Semi’s Application Products Group (APG) as part of the company’s Image Sensor Business Unit, reporting to Vince Hopkin, VP of ON Semiconductor’s MDFI Division. The Truesense’s factory operations will report up through ON Semiconductor’s corporate manufacturing organization.

The former Truesense Imaging owner, Platinum Equity too announces the completion of the deal. "We are proud of this investment and of all the hard work that went into making it successful," said Platinum Equity’s Jason Leach, who led the initial Truesense acquisition from Kodak. "The business is fundamentally strong and is well positioned to succeed under new ownership."

Single Photon Workshop 2024 Program Available

The 11th Single Photon Workshop will be held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) over the five-day period, 18-22nd November 2024.

The full program is available here: https://fitwise.eventsair.com/2024singlephotonworkshop/programme

Here are some image-sensor specific sessions and talks:

Wednesday Nov 20, 2024 Session Title: Superconducting Photon Detectors 1
Chair: Dmitry Morozov
4:40 PM - 5:10 PM
Demonstration of a 400,000 pixel superconducting single-photon camera
Invited Speaker - Adam McCaughan - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
5:10 PM - 5:15 PM
Company Symposium: Photon Spot Platinum Sponsor Speaker: Vikas Anant
5:15 PM - 5:30 PM
Development of Superconducting Wide Strip Photon Detector Paper Number: 112 Speaker: Shigehito Miki - National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)
5:30 PM - 5:45 PM
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors arrays for quantum optics Paper Number: 34 Speaker: Val Zwiller - KTH Royal Institute of Technology
5:45 PM - 6:00 PM
Single photon detection up to 2 µm in pair of parallel microstrips based on NbRe ultrathin films
Paper Number: 80 Speaker: Loredana Parlato - University of Naples Federico II
6:00 PM - 6:15 PM
Reading out SNSPDs with Opto-Electronic Converters Paper Number: 87 Speaker: Frederik Thiele - Paderborn Univeristy
6:15 PM - 6:30 PM
Development of Mid to Far-Infrared Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors Paper Number: 195 Speaker: Sahil Patel - California Institute Of Technology

Thursday Nov 21, 2024 Session Title: Superconducting Photon Detectors 2
Chair: Martin J Stevens
8:30 AM - 8:45 AM
Opportunities and challenges for photon-number resolution with SNSPDs Paper Number: 148 Speaker: Giovanni V Resta - ID Quantique
8:45 AM - 9:00 AM
Detecting molecules at the quantum yield limit for mass spectroscopy with arrays of NbTiN superconducting nanowire detectors Paper Number: 61 Speaker: Ronan Gourgues - Single Quantum
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Current state of SNSPD arrays for deep space optical communication Invited Speaker - Emma E Wollman - California Institute Of Technology
9:30 AM - 9:35 AM
Company Symposium: Quantum Opus/MPD presentation Platinum Sponsors
9:35 AM - 9:50 AM
Novel kinetic inductance current sensor for transition-edge sensor readout Paper Number:238 Speaker: Paul Szypryt - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
9:50 AM - 10:05 AM
Quantum detector tomography for high-Tc SNSPDs Paper Number: 117 Speaker: Mariia Sidorova - Humboldt University of Berlin
10:05 AM - 10:20 AM
Enhanced sensitivity and system integration for infrared waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors Paper Number: 197 Speaker: Adan Azem - University Of British Columbia

 

Thursday Nov 21, 2024 Session Title: SPADs 1
Chair: Chee Hing Tan
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
A 3D-stacked SPAD Imager with Pixel-parallel Computation for Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy
Invited Speaker - Robert Henderson - University of Edinburgh
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM
High temporal resolution 32 x 1 SPAD array module with 8 on-chip 6 ps TDCs
Paper Number: 182 Speaker: Chiara Carnati - Politecnico Di Milano
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
A 472 x 456 SPAD Array with In-Pixel Temporal Correlation Capability and Address-Based Readout for Quantum Ghost Imaging Applications
Paper Number: 186 Speaker :Massimo Gandola - Fondazione Bruno Kessler
12:00 PM - 12:15 PM
High Performance Time-to-Digital Converter for SPAD-based Single-Photon Counting applications
Paper Number: 181 Speaker: Davide Moschella - Politecnico Di Milano
12:15 PM - 12:30 PM
A femtosecond-laser-written programmable photonic circuit directly interfaced to a silicon SPAD array
Paper Number: 271 Speaker: Francesco Ceccarelli - The Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (CNR-IFN)

Thursday Nov 21, 2024 Session Title: SPADs 2
Chair: Alberto Tosi
2:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Ge-on-Si Technology Enabled SWIR Single-Photon Detection
Invited Speaker - Neil Na - Artilux
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM
The development of pseudo-planar Ge-on-Si single-photon avalanche diode detectors for photon detection in the short-wave infrared spectral region
Paper Number: 254 Speaker: Lisa Saalbach - Heriot-Watt University
2:45 PM - 3:00 PM
Hybrid integration of InGaAs/InP single photon avalanche diodes array and silicon photonics chip
Paper Number: 64 Speaker: Xiaosong Ren - Tsinghua University
3:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Dark Current and Dark Count Rate Dependence on Anode Geometry of InGaAs/InP Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes
Paper Number: 248 Speaker: Rosemary Scowen - Toshiba Research Europe
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM
Compact SAG-based InGaAs/InP SPAD for 1550nm photon counting
Paper Number: 111 Speaker: Ekin Kizilkan - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Thursday Nov 21, 2024 Session Title: Single-photon Imaging and Sensing 1
Chair: Aurora Maccarone
4:15 PM - 4:45 PM
Single Photon LIDAR goes long Range
Invited Speaker - Feihu Xu - USTC China
4:45 PM - 5:00 PM
The Deep Space Optical Communication Photon Counting Camera
Paper Number: 11 Speaker: Alex McIntosh - MIT Lincoln Laboratory
5:00 PM - 5:15 PM
Human activity recognition with Single-Photon LiDAR at 300 m range
Paper Number: 232 Speaker: Sandor Plosz - Heriot-Watt University
5:15 PM - 5:30 PM
Detection Times Improve Reflectivity Estimation in Single-Photon Lidar
Paper Number: 273 Speaker: Joshua Rapp - Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories
5:30 PM - 5:45 PM
Bayesian Neuromorphic Imaging for Single-Photon LiDAR
Paper Number: 57 Speaker: Dan Yao - Heriot-Watt University
5:45 PM - 6:00 PM
Single Photon FMCW LIDAR for Vibrational Sensing and Imaging
Paper Number: 23 Speaker: Theodor Staffas - KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Friday Nov 22, 2024 Session Title: Single-photon Imaging 2
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM
Quantum-inspired Rangefinding for Daytime Noise Resistance
Paper Number:208 Speaker: Weijie Nie - University of Bristol
9:15 AM - 9:30 AM
High resolution long range 3D imaging with ultra-low timing jitter superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors
Paper Number: 296 Speaker: Aongus McCarthy - Heriot-Watt University
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM
A high-dimensional imaging system based on an SNSPD spectrometer and computational imaging
Paper Number: 62 Speaker: Mingzhong Hu - Tsinghua University
9:45 AM - 10:00 AM
Single-photon detection techniques for real-time underwater three-dimensional imaging
Paper Number: 289 Speaker: Aurora Maccarone - Heriot-Watt University
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Photon-counting measurement of singlet oxygen luminescence generated from PPIX photosensitizer in biological media
Paper Number: 249 Speaker: Vikas - University of Glasgow
10:15 AM - 10:30 AM
A Plug and Play Algorithm for 3D Video Super-Resolution of single-photon data
Paper Number:297 Speaker: Alice Ruget - Heriot-Watt University

Friday Nov 22, 2024 Session Title: Single-photon Imaging and Sensing 2
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Hyperspectral Imaging with Mid-IR Undetected Photons
Invited Speaker - Sven Ramelow - Humboldt University of Berlin
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM
16-band Single-photon imaging based on Fabry-Perot Resonance
Paper Number: 35 Speaker: Chufan Zhou - École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
High-frame-rate fluorescence lifetime microscopy with megapixel resolution for dynamic cellular imaging
Paper Number: 79 Speaker: Euan Millar - University of Glasgow
12:00 PM - 12:15 PM
Beyond historical speed limitation in time correlated single photon counting without distortion: experimental measurements and future developments
Paper Number: 237 Speaker: Giulia Acconcia - Politecnico Di Milano
12:15 PM - 12:30 PM
Hyperspectral mid-infrared imaging with undetected photons
Paper Number: 268 Speaker: Emma Pearce - Humboldt University of Berlin
12:30 PM - 12:45 PM
Determination of scattering coefficients of brain tissues by wide-field time-of-flight measurements with single photon camera.
Paper Number: 199 Speaker: André Stefanov - University Of Bern

Truesense Imaging Officially Presented

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Truesense Imaging has formally announced its new corporate identity. Formerly the Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) division of Eastman Kodak Company, Truesense Imaging was acquired by Platinum Equity through a transaction with Kodak that closed on November 7, 2011 and Truesense is now operating as an independent company. Truesense Imaging, as part of the Platinum Equity portfolio, will continue to provide the industry’s broadest range of image sensor devices that combine the high resolution, ultra-fast frame speeds, and unmatched image quality that customers all over the world depend upon for their most demanding applications.

“We are extremely pleased to officially announce the launch of our new brand and corporate identity,” said Chris McNiffe, Chief Executive Officer of Truesense Imaging and former general manager of Kodak’s ISS business. “As an independent company, we now have a great opportunity to expand our leadership position and to grow into new markets and new applications that leverage our core strengths in imaging technology. This is a very positive step forward for our business, our employees and, of course, our customers.”

Truesense Imaging is headquartered in Rochester, NY. The company-owned facilities in Rochester house all research & development, marketing, and business operations, including a highly specialized image sensor manufacturing operation.

Vision System Design 2019 Innovators Awards

VisionSystemDesign: Omnivision OS02C10 1080p HDR CMOS sensor won Vision Systems Design's Silver Innovator's Award. The OS02C10 has 2.9 µm pixel with QE of 60% at 850 µm and 40% at 940 µm. The sensor combines OmniVision’s ultra-low light (ULL) and Nyxel near-infrared (NIR) technologies to enable nighttime camera performance.

Sony Image Sensing Solutions XCG-CP510 polarized camera and SDK won Gold AWARD. In 2018, Sony Europe’s Image Sensing Solutions division launched the XCG-CP510 that uses Sony’s IMX250MZR sensor with on-chip polarization filters. In addition, Sony launched an SDK, which provides a dedicated image processing library to speed solution development, as well as numerous functions, such as stress measurement, glare reduction, and support functions such as demosaic and raw extraction.

LUCID Vision Labs Helios ToF 3D camera won Gold Awatd too. The camera is based on Sony’s DepthSense IMX556PLR BSI ToF image sensor with high NIR sensitivity, 10μm pixel size and high modulation contrast ratio. The camera can produce depth data at 60 fps with 640×480 resolution over a PoE Gigabit Ethernet interface. The camera has a precision of 2.5mm at 1m and 4.5mm at 2m.

Photoneo MotionCam-3D won Platinum Award for its "Parallel Structured Light Technology." The technology lets users capture high resolution images of moving objects at a maximum speed of 40 m/second. The camera also features a custom CMOS image sensor and can acquire 1068 x 800-point clouds at up to 60 fps. Additionally, the 3D camera features an NVIDIA Maxwell GPU and a recommended scanning distance of 350 to 2000 mm.

Embedded Vision Summit 2022

The Edge AI and Vision Alliance, a 118-company worldwide industry partnership is organizing the 2022 Embedded Vision Summit, May 16-19 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California.

The premier conference and tradeshow for practical, deployable computer vision and edge AI, the Summit focuses on empowering product creators to bring perceptual intelligence to products. This year’s Summit will attract more than 1,000 innovators and feature 90+ expert speakers and 60+ exhibitors across four days of presentations, exhibits and deep-dive sessions. Registration is now open.

Highlights of this year’s program include:

• Keynote speaker Prof. Ryad Benosman of University of Pittsburgh and the CMU Robotics Institute will speak on “Event-based Neuromorphic Perception and Computation: The Future of Sensing and AI”
• General session speakers include:
• Zach Shelby, co-founder and CEO of Edge Impulse, speaking on “How Do We Enable Edge ML Everywhere? Data, Reliability, and Silicon Flexibility”
• Ziad Asghar, Vice President of Product Management at Qualcomm, speaking on “Powering the Connected Intelligent Edge and the Future of On-Device AI”
• 90+ sessions across four tracks—Fundamentals, Technical Insights, Business Insights, and Enabling Technologies
• 60+ exhibitors including Premier Sponsors Edge Impulse and Qualcomm, Platinum Sponsors FlexLogix and Intel, and Gold Sponsors Arm, Arrow, Avnet, BDTi, City of Oulu, Cadence, Hailo, Lattice, Luxonis, Network Optics, Nota, Perceive, STMicroelectronics, Synaptics and AMD Xilinx
• Deep Dive Sessions — offering opportunities to explore cutting-edge topics in-depth — presented by Edge Impulse, Qualcomm, Intel, and Synopsys
• “We are delighted to return to being in-person for the Embedded Vision Summit after two years of online Summits,” said Jeff Bier, founder of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance. “Innovation in visual and edge AI continues at an astonishing pace, so it’s more important than ever to be able to see, in one place, the myriad of practical applications, use cases and building-block technologies. Attendees with diverse technical and business backgrounds tell us this is the one event where they get a complete picture and can rapidly sort out the hype from what’s working. A whopping 98% of attendees would recommend attending to a colleague.”

Registration is now open at https://embeddedvisionsummit.com.

The Embedded Vision Summit is operated by the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, a worldwide industry partnership bringing together technology providers and end-product companies to accelerate the adoption of edge AI and vision in products. More at https://edge-ai-vision.com.

EETimes Article

EETimes has published a "teaser" article written by the general chair of this year's summit.

Half a billion years ago something remarkable occurred: an astonishing, sudden increase in new species of organisms. Paleontologists call it the Cambrian Explosion, and many of the animals on the planet today trace their lineage back to this event.

A similar thing is happening in processors for embedded vision and artificial intelligence (AI) today, and nowhere will that be more evident than at the Embedded Vision Summit, which will be an in–person event held in Santa Clara, California, from May 16–19. The Summit focuses on practical know–how for product creators incorporating AI and vision in their products. These products demand AI processors that balance conflicting needs for high performance, low power, and cost sensitivity. The staggering number of embedded AI chips that will be on display at the Summit underscores the industry’s response to this demand. While the sheer number of processors targeting computer vision and ML is overwhelming, there are some natural groupings that make the field easier to comprehend. Here are some themes we’re seeing. 

Founded in 2011, the Edge AI and Vision Alliance is a worldwide industry partnership that brings together technology providers who are enabling innovative and practical applications for edge AI and computer vision. Its 100+ Member companies include suppliers of processors, sensors, software and services.

First, some processor suppliers are thinking about how to best serve applications that simultaneously apply machine learning (ML) to data from diverse sensor types — for example, audio and video. Synaptics’ Katana low–power processor, for example, fuses inputs from a variety of sensors, including vision, sound, and environmental. Xperi’s talk on smart toys for the future touches on this, as well.

Second, a subset of processor suppliers are focused on driving power and cost down to a minimum. This is interesting because it enables new applications. For example, Cadence will be presenting on additions to their Tensilica processor portfolio that enable always–on AI applications. Arm will be presenting low–power vision and ML use cases based on their Cortex–M series of processors. And Qualcomm will be covering tools for creating low–power computer vision apps on their Snapdragon family.

Third, although many processor suppliers are focused mainly or exclusively on ML, a few are addressing other kinds of algorithms typically used in conjunction with deep neural networks, such as classical computer vision and image processing.  A great example is quadric, whose new q16 processor is claimed to excel at a wide range of algorithms, including both ML and conventional computer vision.

Finally, an entirely new species seems to be coming to the fore: neuromorphic processors. Neuromorphic computing refers to approaches that mimic the way the brain processes information. For example, biological vision systems process events in the field of view, as opposed to classical computer vision approaches that typically capture and process all the pixels in a scene at a fixed frame rate that has no relation to the source of the visual information. The Summit’s keynote talk, “Event–based Neuromorphic Perception and Computation: The Future of Sensing and AI” by Prof. Ryad Benosman, will give an overview of the advantages to be gained by neuromorphic approaches. Opteran will be presenting on their neuromorphic processing approach to enable vastly improved vision and autonomy, the design of which was inspired by insect brains.

Whatever your application is, and whatever your requirements are, somewhere out there is an embedded AI or vision processor that’s the best fit for you. At the Summit, you’ll be able to learn about many of them, and speak with the innovative companies developing them.  Come check them out, and be sure to check back in 10 years — when we will see how many of 2032’s AI processors trace their lineage to this modern–day Cambrian Explosion!

—Jeff Bier is the president of consulting firm BDTI, founder of the Edge AI and Vision Alliance, and the general chair of the Embedded Vision Summit.

About the Edge AI and Vision Alliance

The mission of the Alliance is to accelerate the adoption of edge AI and vision technology by:

• Inspiring and empowering product creators to incorporate AI and vision technology into new products and applications
• Helping Member companies achieve success with edge AI and vision technology by:
• Building a vibrant AI and vision ecosystem by bringing together suppliers, end-product designers, and partners
• Delivering timely insights into AI and vision market research, technology trends, standards and application requirements
• Assisting in understanding and overcoming the challenges of incorporating AI in their products and businesses