Omnivision Connects Arm ISP IP with its Automotive Sensor

PRNewswire: OmniVision has combined its OX03A1Y sensor with FPGA-based Arm Mali-C71 ISP for a dual-mode automotive camera module.

"OmniVision's dual-mode image sensor showcases the Mali-C71's ability to process multiple real-time inputs with one pipeline, capturing both human display and computer vision images with a single image sensor, at the highest possible quality," said Tom Conway, director of product management, automotive and IoT Line of Business, Arm.

"Arm's ISP intellectual property is an important part of the automotive ecosystem, and they are a key partner for OmniVision," said Celine Baron, staff automotive product marketing manager at OmniVision. "This collaboration demonstrates the high performance that can be achieved by combining our premium 2.5MP image sensor with Arm's ISP, for automotive applications that need both computer vision and human displays from a single camera module."

OmniVision and Arm used an FPGA emulating the Mali-C71 ISP to simultaneously process images captured by the OX03A1Y sensor for both computer vision and human displays. This sensor uses an RCCB clear color filter pattern to capture high quality images in all lighting conditions. The Mali-C71 then processes the data concurrently, outputting two simultaneous image signals for both human viewing and machine vision.

The OX03A1Y is the industry's first image sensor to feature a 3.2µm pixel with 120dB HDR, dual conversion gain (DCG) and an RCCB color filter. DCG provides motion free HDR to ~85dB, for the best images when vehicles are in motion. The RCCB color filter allows in more light, which, in combination with OmniBSI-2 pixel, produces low-light performance with SNR1 at 0.09 lux, all the while with low power consumption. This is the first sensor to integrate all three capabilities. Additionally, the OX03A1Y is shipping in volume to automotive customers.

The OX03A1Y is available in a small 8.0 x 7.2mm chip-scale package, which is 35% smaller than competing image sensors. Additionally, this image sensor's power consumption is 20% lower than the competition.

The 2.5MP OX03A1Y image sensor integrates advanced ISO 26262 ASIL B functional safety features.