BusinessWire: Invisage announces SparkP2 sensor featuring global shutter, 3x higher light response in 940nm NIR band and over 20x lower power consumption than competing solutions. SparkP2 is a 1.1 um pixel, 2MP QuantumFilm sensor in 1/7-inch format for a less than 3mm thin z-height.
Talking about structured light 3D sensors, InVisage QuantumFilm global shutter works in tune with a pulsed LED, which optimizes the LED battery usage to be just 10 mW (versus 750 mW for LEDs used with rolling shutter NIR cameras). SparkP2’s fast global shutter allows the NIR light source to be pulsed for extremely short intervals instead of remaining continuously illuminated, thus overcoming sunlight while at the same time capturing movement more accurately and using far less net power.
SparkP2 is sampling in April 2016 with mass production scheduled by Summer 2016.
Brian O’Rourke, Senior Principal Analyst, Consumer Devices and MEMS & Sensors at IHS Technology, said in an email to VentureBeat, “There’s certainly opportunity here for InVisage. The types of use cases that they’re going after, such as facial and iris recognition, depth-mapping and eye and gesture tracking, have a wide variety of imaging applications, from security to online banking to gaming. These will all benefit from better performance in the IR range. These applications should grow significantly over the next few years, from a limited current base. The barrier for InVisage is the strong, established companies that they will be competing against in the image sensor market, companies like Sony, Samsung, OmniVision and ON Semiconductor. As a start-up, it’s extremely difficult to compete against companies that currently generate billions of dollars in revenue in your target market. You not only have to build a better mouse trap, but you have to be able to market it effectively.”
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Hynix 1.12um Pixel Sensors
Hynix has re-designed its CMOS sensor web site and made available flyers of many of its imaging products, including the newest 1.12um BSI-2 pixel, 13MP Hi-1332 mobile sensor:
Hamamatsu Expands it Micro-Spectrometers Lineup
Hamamatsu expands its CMOS sensors with a slit-based micro-spectrometers portfolio with the new C10988MA and C11708MA models:
With the addition of these new models, Hamamatsu micro-spectrometer lineup becomes even more impressive:
With the addition of these new models, Hamamatsu micro-spectrometer lineup becomes even more impressive:
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
LG Selects CEVA Imaging and Vision DSP for Mobile Devices
PRNewswire: CEVA announces that LG has licensed the CEVA imaging and vision DSP for its mobile device products. "We are delighted to announce LG Electronics as a customer for our imaging and vision DSP," said Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of CEVA. "Their market leadership and stellar reputation for leading edge innovation in mobile enables them to fully leverage the capabilities of our DSP to add feature-rich, differentiated vision-based technologies to their mobile devices."
ULIS Reports Strong Yearly Growth
ALA-News: ULIS announces that the company experienced strong growth in 2015, with close to a 20% increase in volume sales over 2014. New customers in outdoor leisure equipment, continued sustainable growth in traditional markets, such as surveillance, thermography and defense, and several key contract wins drove the bulk of ULIS’ €48M ($52.3M) activity in 2015. ULIS’ unit sales climbed to 94,286 in 2015, up from 79,350 the previous year.
“The pattern of ULIS’ volume sales performance appears to reflect market analyst forecasts of rapid growth within the uncooled infrared camera market, indicating +22% CAGR in units between 2015 – 2020,” said Dr Eric Mounier, senior technology and market analyst, MEMS & Sensors at Yole Développement.
“We exceeded our objectives for 2015; gearing ULIS towards even higher prospects in 2016. I am very happy with my team and their dedication. I thank them for their drive and support,” said Jean-François Delepau, managing director of ULIS. “Our customer base also grew in 2015. The price/performance of our complete portfolio of Pico Gen2 products made a significant impact; they struck the right chord with camera makers and system developers across many market applications. In 2016, we will aim even higher to bring even greater product and service satisfaction to our customers.”
ULIS is said to be the second largest producer of microbolometric thermal image sensors. Since its creation in 2002, the company has delivered 500,000 thermal sensors to equipment makers. Delepau is confident that the company’s growth rate will maintain the same pace for the next two years, then accelerate due to further penetration into new markets, such as smart buildings and automotive. “As early as January 2015, we saw initial signs that we would secure a high percentage of sales. This year, we have already begun seeing other positive indicators.”
Currently, ULIS is close to going to market with its Pixel Level Packaging (PLP), which is at the industrial process stage. As the pioneer of the 17um pixel pitch thermal image sensor, the current industry standard, ULIS is pursuing development of its 12um pixel pitch thermal image sensors, which is nearing completion.
“The pattern of ULIS’ volume sales performance appears to reflect market analyst forecasts of rapid growth within the uncooled infrared camera market, indicating +22% CAGR in units between 2015 – 2020,” said Dr Eric Mounier, senior technology and market analyst, MEMS & Sensors at Yole Développement.
“We exceeded our objectives for 2015; gearing ULIS towards even higher prospects in 2016. I am very happy with my team and their dedication. I thank them for their drive and support,” said Jean-François Delepau, managing director of ULIS. “Our customer base also grew in 2015. The price/performance of our complete portfolio of Pico Gen2 products made a significant impact; they struck the right chord with camera makers and system developers across many market applications. In 2016, we will aim even higher to bring even greater product and service satisfaction to our customers.”
ULIS is said to be the second largest producer of microbolometric thermal image sensors. Since its creation in 2002, the company has delivered 500,000 thermal sensors to equipment makers. Delepau is confident that the company’s growth rate will maintain the same pace for the next two years, then accelerate due to further penetration into new markets, such as smart buildings and automotive. “As early as January 2015, we saw initial signs that we would secure a high percentage of sales. This year, we have already begun seeing other positive indicators.”
Currently, ULIS is close to going to market with its Pixel Level Packaging (PLP), which is at the industrial process stage. As the pioneer of the 17um pixel pitch thermal image sensor, the current industry standard, ULIS is pursuing development of its 12um pixel pitch thermal image sensors, which is nearing completion.
Sony Announces 1.0um Pixel, 22.5MP Sensor with Integrated 3-axis Video Stab, HybridAF
Sony announces the commercialization of IMX318 stacked image sensor for smartphones and other devices, a 1/2.6-inch, 22.5MP stacked CMOS sensor with the industry's first built-in high-speed hybrid autofocus (PDAF), as fast as 0.03s (and as fast as 0.017s when shooting video at 60fps), and built-in 3-axis EIS for video. Sony 4K video stabilization relies on the signal output obtained from the external 3-axis (pitch, yaw, and roll) gyro sensor and is said to consume low power. Sony's unique image stabilization technology incorporated into the IMX318 corrects not only camera shake, but also lens distortion. The sensor features Sony new 1.0um pixel. Sony aims to begin shipments for this new CMOS image sensor in May, 2016.
Sony publishes Youtube demos of 3-axis video stabilization and HybridAF of IMX318 "innovative CMOS image sensor" (video 1, video 2):
Sony publishes Youtube demos of 3-axis video stabilization and HybridAF of IMX318 "innovative CMOS image sensor" (video 1, video 2):
Monday, February 15, 2016
EETimes: Imaging Revolution - Forget Frames
EETimes: "Two French scientists, Ryad Benosman and Christoph Posch... founded Chronocam in 2014. They’ve developed an image sensor designed to capture images not based on artificially created frames, but driven by events within view.
“Each pixel individually controls its sampling – with no clock involved – by reacting to light, or changes in the amount of incident light it receives,” explained Posch, Chronocam’s CTO.
“Frame-based video acquisition is fundamentally flawed,” Chronocam CTO Posch decreed.
Chronocam has applied and tested its sensor’s principles in restoring people’s vision at Pixium Vision, a retina prosthetic company founded by Chronocam’s co-founders.
Chronocam has raised 1.5 million euro so far. Among investors are CEA Investment and Robert Bosch VC.
Chronocam’s CCMA ATIS 1.1 sensor, whose supply voltage is 3.3V (analog), 1.8V(digital), comes in a 9.9 x 8.2mm2 chip size, featuring 2/3-inch optical format. Its array size is 304 x 240 QVGA, with a pixel size of 30μm × 30μm. The power consumption is less than 10mW.
Asked about the company’s next steps, Verre, the CEO, said, “We aim at decreasing pixel pitch and increasing resolution. Our next steps are the VGA tape out and the migration to a CIS process.”
Chronocam is open to licensing its technology to others."
“Each pixel individually controls its sampling – with no clock involved – by reacting to light, or changes in the amount of incident light it receives,” explained Posch, Chronocam’s CTO.
“Frame-based video acquisition is fundamentally flawed,” Chronocam CTO Posch decreed.
Chronocam has applied and tested its sensor’s principles in restoring people’s vision at Pixium Vision, a retina prosthetic company founded by Chronocam’s co-founders.
Chronocam has raised 1.5 million euro so far. Among investors are CEA Investment and Robert Bosch VC.
Chronocam’s CCMA ATIS 1.1 sensor, whose supply voltage is 3.3V (analog), 1.8V(digital), comes in a 9.9 x 8.2mm2 chip size, featuring 2/3-inch optical format. Its array size is 304 x 240 QVGA, with a pixel size of 30μm × 30μm. The power consumption is less than 10mW.
Asked about the company’s next steps, Verre, the CEO, said, “We aim at decreasing pixel pitch and increasing resolution. Our next steps are the VGA tape out and the migration to a CIS process.”
Chronocam is open to licensing its technology to others."
 |
| How Chrononcam's image sensor sees motions of hand (left) |
Imec Introduces Broad Spectrum Hyperspectral Imager
Imec presents a new hyperspectral sensor with extended spectral range, going from the visible light (VIS) up to near infrared (NIR). The new line-scan VNIR (visible to near-infrared) sensor and snapshot mosaic VNIR camera outperform current solutions in spectral range and compactness.
Example applications for the line-scan sensor are machine vision and remote sensing applications, e .g. precision agriculture using UAVs and satellites. It features 140+bands in the 470-900nm range. Its small form factor is the result of extreme integration of the hyperspectral filter onto the CMOS sensor.
“Working closely with two of our camera partners, VRmagic and Cubert Gmbh, we have realized one of the most advanced snapshot hyperspectral imaging cameras. It captures 40+ bands ranging from 450-875 m, at video-rate speed acquisition. This achievement clearly sets a new milestone for the real-time snapshot hyperspectral imaging camera market,” explains Jerome Baron, Business development manager integrated imaging at imec.
Example applications for the line-scan sensor are machine vision and remote sensing applications, e .g. precision agriculture using UAVs and satellites. It features 140+bands in the 470-900nm range. Its small form factor is the result of extreme integration of the hyperspectral filter onto the CMOS sensor.
“Working closely with two of our camera partners, VRmagic and Cubert Gmbh, we have realized one of the most advanced snapshot hyperspectral imaging cameras. It captures 40+ bands ranging from 450-875 m, at video-rate speed acquisition. This achievement clearly sets a new milestone for the real-time snapshot hyperspectral imaging camera market,” explains Jerome Baron, Business development manager integrated imaging at imec.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
ON Semi Image Sensor Business Update
ON Semi reports its Q4 2015 and full year results. The image sensor group keeps increasing its share of the company business:
Few quotes from the company's earning call:
"Revenue for Image Sensor Group was approximately $184 million, down approximately three percent as compared to the third quarter.
Our momentum in CMOS image sensors for automotive application remained intact driven by steep adoption of ADAS and viewing cameras.
Though Aptina has been a key driver of our growth, especially in the automotive market, our performance on organic basis exceeded that of the industry in 2015.
We successfully integrated Aptina, and results from Aptina far exceeded our expectations and the guidance we provided to the investment community. We believe that we are in early stages of realizing full potential of our acquisition of Aptina. With Aptina, we believe that ON Semiconductor is among the best positioned companies to benefit from steep adoption of ADAS in automobiles.
In 2015, we significantly improved our market positon in security related imaging market with year over year revenue growth of 15%."
Few quotes from the company's earning call:
"Revenue for Image Sensor Group was approximately $184 million, down approximately three percent as compared to the third quarter.
Our momentum in CMOS image sensors for automotive application remained intact driven by steep adoption of ADAS and viewing cameras.
Though Aptina has been a key driver of our growth, especially in the automotive market, our performance on organic basis exceeded that of the industry in 2015.
We successfully integrated Aptina, and results from Aptina far exceeded our expectations and the guidance we provided to the investment community. We believe that we are in early stages of realizing full potential of our acquisition of Aptina. With Aptina, we believe that ON Semiconductor is among the best positioned companies to benefit from steep adoption of ADAS in automobiles.
In 2015, we significantly improved our market positon in security related imaging market with year over year revenue growth of 15%."
Friday, February 12, 2016
IMEC Presents Lens-Free Microscope
IMEC presents a lens-free microscope for large field-of-view live imaging at micrometer resolution. Its key benefits include super-large field-of-view at micrometer resolution and a compact and modular design. In a lens-free digital microscope, images are captured on a CMOS sensor, and digitally reconstructed using software. Imec’s lens-free microscope features a comparable micrometer-scale accuracy as traditional optical microscopes. While being much smaller and less expensive, imec’s microscope captures a larger field-of-view in one shot, enabling shorter sample processing times. The lens-free microscope paves the way to new applications with living cells and tissues.
“Imec’s lens free imaging solution is now available as a full, ready-to-use demo kit evaluation system including a light source, image sensor, control and read-out electronics and a software interface,” stated Jerome Baron, business development manager of integrated vision systems at imec. “Companies can use it to try out their own applications, supported by our engineers to fine-tune the hardware and software and customize the systems toward their exact application requirements.”
“Imec’s lens free imaging solution is now available as a full, ready-to-use demo kit evaluation system including a light source, image sensor, control and read-out electronics and a software interface,” stated Jerome Baron, business development manager of integrated vision systems at imec. “Companies can use it to try out their own applications, supported by our engineers to fine-tune the hardware and software and customize the systems toward their exact application requirements.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)