Sensation Cooperation Project in Europe

SENSATION, a project within the EUREKA PENTA Cluster managed by AENEAS Industry Association, is developing innovative image capture, transmission and processing technologies for high-end Machine Vision and Broadcast applications. The project focuses on key requirements common to all professional vision-based applications namely: higher spatial resolution, higher frame rate, wider colour gamut, higher DR and improved image quality.

Machine vision calls for small pixel, high resolution sensors that can perform high quality inspection at high speeds. In the broadcast market, demand is being driven by the migration from HDTV to UHDTV. The UHDTV standard supports 4K and 8K resolutions, 12 bits per pixel (compared to 10 bits in HDTV), a wider colour gamut and an increased DR.

The SENSATION project brings together key European players in the imaging industry including R&D institutes specialized in image sensor technologies, image sensor designs and video processing; fabless design houses; a semiconductor manufacturer; image compression experts and system integrators. Through this collaboration the partners can strengthen Europe’s ability to compete in global markets for image capture, processing and transmission.

The partners will cooperate on the development of the following:

• Development of (building blocks for) CMOS image sensors: smaller global shutter pixels, increased dynamic range, increased data rates, auto-focus pixels, improved ADC’s, ultra-high-speed architectures and high speed serial interfaces
• New solutions for camera transmission
• Demonstration of results in cameras for Machine Vision and Broadcast, and demonstration of separate image sensor evaluation set-ups
• Standards for a high-speed serial interface for image sensors, image compression and camera interfaces.

Thanks to AT for the info!