International Image Sensor Society calls for nominations for the 2017 Walter Kosonocky Award for Significant Advancement in Solid-State Image Sensors.
The Walter Kosonocky Award is presented bi-annually for THE BEST PAPER presented in any venue during the prior two years representing significant advancement in solid-state image sensors. The award commemorates the many important contributions made by the late Dr. Walter Kosonocky to the field of solid-state image sensors. Personal tributes to Dr. Kosonocky appeared in the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices in 1997. Founded in 1997 by his colleagues in industry, government and academia, the award is also funded by proceeds from the International Image Sensor Workshop.
The award is selected from nominated papers by the Walter Kosonocky Award Committee, announced and presented at the International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW), and sponsored by the International Image Sensor Society (IISS).
The deadline for receiving nominations is February 6th, 2017. Your nominations should be sent to Junichi Nakamura (Brillnics Japan Inc.), Chair of the IISS Award Committee.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Friday, November 11, 2016
Autosens: DxO on ISP Challenges
Autosens 2016 Conference kindly permitted me to reproduce few slides from DxO presentation "Dealing with the Complexities of Camera ISP Tuning" by Clement Viard, R&D Sr. Director and Frederic Guichard, CTO & co-founder.
Pixart and Himax Report Quarterly Earnings
Pixart reports 5.5% QoQ better sales and a product mix shift away from the mouse sensors in Q3 2016:
Himax Q3 image sensor sales are worse than expected, although the company has not released any numbers. The image sensor growth is projected in the next quarter.
"Himax continues to make great progress with its new smart sensor areas by collaborating with certain heavyweight partners, including a major e-commerce customer, leading consumer electronics brands and a heavyweight international smartphone chipset maker. By pairing a DOE integrated WLO laser diode collimator with a near infrared CIS, the Company is offering the most effective total solution for 3D sensing and detection in the smallest form factor, which enables easy integration into next generation smartphones, AR/VR devices and consumer electronics. Similarly, the ultra-low-power QVGA CMOS image sensor can also be bundled with the Company’s WLO lens to support super low power computer vision to enable new applications across mobile devices, consumer electronics, surveillance, drones, IoT and artificial intelligence. The Company will report business developments in these new territories in due course.
Regarding other CIS products, the Company maintains a leading position in laptop applications and will increase shipments for multimedia applications such as surveillance, drones, home appliances, consumer electronics, etc."
Himax Q3 image sensor sales are worse than expected, although the company has not released any numbers. The image sensor growth is projected in the next quarter.
"Himax continues to make great progress with its new smart sensor areas by collaborating with certain heavyweight partners, including a major e-commerce customer, leading consumer electronics brands and a heavyweight international smartphone chipset maker. By pairing a DOE integrated WLO laser diode collimator with a near infrared CIS, the Company is offering the most effective total solution for 3D sensing and detection in the smallest form factor, which enables easy integration into next generation smartphones, AR/VR devices and consumer electronics. Similarly, the ultra-low-power QVGA CMOS image sensor can also be bundled with the Company’s WLO lens to support super low power computer vision to enable new applications across mobile devices, consumer electronics, surveillance, drones, IoT and artificial intelligence. The Company will report business developments in these new territories in due course.
Regarding other CIS products, the Company maintains a leading position in laptop applications and will increase shipments for multimedia applications such as surveillance, drones, home appliances, consumer electronics, etc."
Thursday, November 10, 2016
ActLight Announces Heartrate Sensing Project in Cooperation With ON Semi
PRNewswire: ActLight, a Swiss company known for its Dynamic Photo Diodes (DPD), announces a project of next generation sensors for low energy heartrate sensing for wearable devices in co-operation with ON Semiconductor.
"The healthcare industry is becoming more reliant on new methods to monitor and treat patients. This - along with an increased interest in fitness and wellness - has necessitated more affordable, precise, wearable sensing options," commented Jakob Nielsen, Senior Manager Consumer Health Product Line at ON Semiconductor. "Today's smartwatches and wearables fall short of meeting customer requirements when it comes to heartrate measurement precision and application battery life time. Working with ActLight we will help to bring next generation heartrate sensors to the market that will address these requirements and deliver a full sensing solution for integration in a multitude of MedTech and consumer electronics applications."
"Our technology offers unique competitive advantages to our partners when compared to existing Photo Diodes used in wearable heartrate solutions," stated Serguei Okhonin, CEO of ActLight. "These include lower power consumption, simplified electronics and smaller footprint making it perfectly suited for miniaturized wearable devices. We are happy to see the support from ON Semiconductor and them sharing the potential of our technology in the area of heartrate sensing."
ActLight's DPD principle is presented in the company's Youtube video:
PRWeb: ActLight also announces a ToF sensor based on its DPD.
“ActLight’s ToF technology is pretty remarkable,” commented Jean-Luc Jaffard, Consultant & Advisor at Red Belt SA and a renowned authority on Imaging Technology and Applications (now with Chronocam). “The company believes that when used in range meters, it offers good immunity from the effects of background light, especially direct sunlight. Current optical sensors are often “blinded” by direct sunlight, an effect that likely led to some recent, highly publicized, vehicular accidents that occur while using Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) cameras or when utilizing autonomous driving functions, and which hinders the adoption of autonomous driving altogether.”
Jaffard added, “ADAS and vehicle perception, autonomous vehicles and aerial drones are hot and emerging fields. ActLight’s ToF technology may be perfectly suited to supplement existing optical and computer vision technologies, thus help overcoming the hindrance of direct sunlight and other optical artefacts.”
“Our technology offers our partners some unique competitive advantages when compared to existing Avalanche Photo Diodes (APDs) and Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs),” stated Serguei Okhonin, CEO of ActLight, “these include low operation voltage, simplified electronics (due to high internal gain, there is no need for any amplifier as we directly interact with CMOS circuits), smaller footprint, and of course, lower price, making it perfectly suited for applications ranging from miniaturized wearable devices all the way to autonomous vehicles and areal drones. Our company is actively engaging with leading 3D imaging and silicon companies in evaluation and integration of our technology into their next generation sensors”.
"The healthcare industry is becoming more reliant on new methods to monitor and treat patients. This - along with an increased interest in fitness and wellness - has necessitated more affordable, precise, wearable sensing options," commented Jakob Nielsen, Senior Manager Consumer Health Product Line at ON Semiconductor. "Today's smartwatches and wearables fall short of meeting customer requirements when it comes to heartrate measurement precision and application battery life time. Working with ActLight we will help to bring next generation heartrate sensors to the market that will address these requirements and deliver a full sensing solution for integration in a multitude of MedTech and consumer electronics applications."
"Our technology offers unique competitive advantages to our partners when compared to existing Photo Diodes used in wearable heartrate solutions," stated Serguei Okhonin, CEO of ActLight. "These include lower power consumption, simplified electronics and smaller footprint making it perfectly suited for miniaturized wearable devices. We are happy to see the support from ON Semiconductor and them sharing the potential of our technology in the area of heartrate sensing."
ActLight's DPD principle is presented in the company's Youtube video:
PRWeb: ActLight also announces a ToF sensor based on its DPD.
“ActLight’s ToF technology is pretty remarkable,” commented Jean-Luc Jaffard, Consultant & Advisor at Red Belt SA and a renowned authority on Imaging Technology and Applications (now with Chronocam). “The company believes that when used in range meters, it offers good immunity from the effects of background light, especially direct sunlight. Current optical sensors are often “blinded” by direct sunlight, an effect that likely led to some recent, highly publicized, vehicular accidents that occur while using Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) cameras or when utilizing autonomous driving functions, and which hinders the adoption of autonomous driving altogether.”
Jaffard added, “ADAS and vehicle perception, autonomous vehicles and aerial drones are hot and emerging fields. ActLight’s ToF technology may be perfectly suited to supplement existing optical and computer vision technologies, thus help overcoming the hindrance of direct sunlight and other optical artefacts.”
“Our technology offers our partners some unique competitive advantages when compared to existing Avalanche Photo Diodes (APDs) and Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs),” stated Serguei Okhonin, CEO of ActLight, “these include low operation voltage, simplified electronics (due to high internal gain, there is no need for any amplifier as we directly interact with CMOS circuits), smaller footprint, and of course, lower price, making it perfectly suited for applications ranging from miniaturized wearable devices all the way to autonomous vehicles and areal drones. Our company is actively engaging with leading 3D imaging and silicon companies in evaluation and integration of our technology into their next generation sensors”.
Valeo Autonomous Vehicle Guided by LiDAR and Camera
After completing its 13,000 mile hands-off drive across the USA, Valeo autonomous vehicle continues its trip with 13,000 km in Europe.
"The Valeo SCALA laser scanner is the key enabler in the Cruise4U system. The Valeo SCALA laser device scans the area in front of the vehicle and detects vehicles, motorbikes, pedestrians and static obstacles like trees, parked vehicles and guard rails – all with an extremely high level of accuracy. It works during the day and at night, when the car is driving at both high and low speeds. Using the collected data, the scanner creates a map of the environment allowing it to analyze and anticipate events around the vehicle.
On the Hands-Off U.S. Tour, the Valeo SCALA will work with a front-facing camera to scan the environment ahead of the vehicle, detecting any obstacles with extreme precision, and four corner radars that ensure safe lane changing."
"The Valeo SCALA laser scanner is the key enabler in the Cruise4U system. The Valeo SCALA laser device scans the area in front of the vehicle and detects vehicles, motorbikes, pedestrians and static obstacles like trees, parked vehicles and guard rails – all with an extremely high level of accuracy. It works during the day and at night, when the car is driving at both high and low speeds. Using the collected data, the scanner creates a map of the environment allowing it to analyze and anticipate events around the vehicle.
On the Hands-Off U.S. Tour, the Valeo SCALA will work with a front-facing camera to scan the environment ahead of the vehicle, detecting any obstacles with extreme precision, and four corner radars that ensure safe lane changing."
Wednesday, November 09, 2016
Autosens: ST Flicker-Free Image Sensor
Autosens 2016 Conference kindly permitted me publishing few slides from ST presentation "True Flicker-Free HDR Solution for Pixel and Image Sensor" by Tarek Lule:
Talk on Intelligent Imaging and 3D Integration
Fayçal Saffih (University of Waterloo, Canada) publishes his talk on CMOS Imaging and Standard CMOS from 2D plannar technology to 3D device and system integration given on Oct. 25, 2016 at Masdar Institute, Abu-Dhabi:
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
Toshiba Presents Low Power Deep Learning Processor
Optics.org: Toshiba develops a Time Domain Neural Network (TDNN), said to have an extremely low power consumption. TDNN is composed of a massive number of tiny processing units that use Toshiba’s original analog technique, unlike conventional digital processors. TDNN was reported on November 8 at A-SSCC 2016 (Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference 2016).
In von Neumann type computer, most energy is consumed moving data from on-chip or off-chip memory devices to the processing unit. The most effective way to reduce movement of a datum is to have massive numbers of processing units, each dedicated to handling only one datum that is located close by. These datum points are given a weight during conversion of an input signal (e.g. an image of a cat) to an output signal (e.g. the recognition of the image as a cat). The closer the datum point is to the desired output, the higher the weight it is given. The weight provides a parameter that automatically guides the deep learning process.
The reported energy consumption per operation is 20.6 fJ, which is 6x lower than previously reported at ISSCC 2016.
Thanks to ER for the news!
In von Neumann type computer, most energy is consumed moving data from on-chip or off-chip memory devices to the processing unit. The most effective way to reduce movement of a datum is to have massive numbers of processing units, each dedicated to handling only one datum that is located close by. These datum points are given a weight during conversion of an input signal (e.g. an image of a cat) to an output signal (e.g. the recognition of the image as a cat). The closer the datum point is to the desired output, the higher the weight it is given. The weight provides a parameter that automatically guides the deep learning process.
The reported energy consumption per operation is 20.6 fJ, which is 6x lower than previously reported at ISSCC 2016.
Thanks to ER for the news!
Renault Partners with Chronocam
Groupe Renault CEO and Chairman Carlos Ghosn announced it has entered into a strategic development agreement with Chronocam SA, a developer of biologically-inspired vision sensors and computer vision solutions for automotive applications. This agreement will focus on further developing and applying Chronocam’s approach to sensing and processing visual inputs to Renault’s ADAS and autonomous driving developments.
The Chronocam technology translates into specific benefits for ADAS and autonomous driving applications, including:
The two companies will work together to apply Chronocam’s technology to areas such as collision avoidance, driver assistance, pedestrian protection, blind spot detection and other critical functions to improve safety and efficiency in the operation of both manned and autonomous vehicles.
"With the ambition to become one of the first brands to offer “eyes-off/hands-off” technology on mainstream vehicles at affordable price, we’re pleased to work with Chronocam on an innovative computer vision technology in order to bring to Renault customers safer and more affordable ADAS and progressively autonomous driving systems,” said Gaspar Gascon, EVP, Product Engineering, Groupe Renault.
Earlier, Chronocam announced it has raised $15M in Series B financing. The funding comes from lead investor Intel Capital, along with iBionext, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, 360 Capital, CEAi and Renault Group.
The Chronocam technology translates into specific benefits for ADAS and autonomous driving applications, including:
- Quicker detection of people and obstacles.
- Enhanced robustness of the camera to adapt and detect environmental and contextual conditions.
- Lower overall cost of implementation, making ADAS feature more accessible to more vehicles and market, thus improving safety in a broader way.
The two companies will work together to apply Chronocam’s technology to areas such as collision avoidance, driver assistance, pedestrian protection, blind spot detection and other critical functions to improve safety and efficiency in the operation of both manned and autonomous vehicles.
"With the ambition to become one of the first brands to offer “eyes-off/hands-off” technology on mainstream vehicles at affordable price, we’re pleased to work with Chronocam on an innovative computer vision technology in order to bring to Renault customers safer and more affordable ADAS and progressively autonomous driving systems,” said Gaspar Gascon, EVP, Product Engineering, Groupe Renault.
Earlier, Chronocam announced it has raised $15M in Series B financing. The funding comes from lead investor Intel Capital, along with iBionext, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, 360 Capital, CEAi and Renault Group.
Omnivision Stacked Sensors Feature 1.008um DTI BCFA CMG Pixel with zHDR
BusinessWire, BusinessWire: Omnivision announces 20MP OV20880 and OV20880-4C and 16MP OV16885 and OV16885-4C stacked sensors featuring 1.008um PureCel Plus-S pixels.
OmniVision’s second-generation PureCelPlus technology has a number of performance improvements, including:
The OV20880 is also optimized for mobile dual-camera zoom solutions, offering several dual-camera-friendly features such as context switching, scalar, and EIS. The on-chip EIS can synchronize with a gyro sensor on-board without latency, enabling advanced capabilities such as image deblur.
The OV20880-4C and OV16885-4C unique CFA pattern offers a variety of output modes depending on the use case. The on-chip in-pixel binning feature allows up to four times more light photons than a regular 1.0-micron pixel. The OV20880-4C also pairs well with OmniVision's complete software solution for resolution recovery that enables high-resolution 16MP and 20MP selfies when combined with the sensor's 4-cell mode.
The OV20880, OV20880-4C, OV16885 and the OV16885-4C are currently available for sampling and are expected to enter volume production in Q1 2017.
OmniVision’s second-generation PureCelPlus technology has a number of performance improvements, including:
- 20% increase in FWC, enabling higher DR.
- A newly introduced composite metal grid (CMG) structure, which increases QE and enhances sensor low-light performance, leading to a 12.5% improvement in sensitivity.
- Improved deep trench isolation (DTI) structure, which further reduces color crosstalk and improves the SNR10 figure by 10 lux.
- These structure improvements also enable small-pixel sensors to have better tolerance to incident light angles. This in turn allows imaging systems to use lower F-number lenses for better brightness, and to realize lower module heights that are essential for slimmer phone designs.
The OV20880 is also optimized for mobile dual-camera zoom solutions, offering several dual-camera-friendly features such as context switching, scalar, and EIS. The on-chip EIS can synchronize with a gyro sensor on-board without latency, enabling advanced capabilities such as image deblur.
The OV20880-4C and OV16885-4C unique CFA pattern offers a variety of output modes depending on the use case. The on-chip in-pixel binning feature allows up to four times more light photons than a regular 1.0-micron pixel. The OV20880-4C also pairs well with OmniVision's complete software solution for resolution recovery that enables high-resolution 16MP and 20MP selfies when combined with the sensor's 4-cell mode.
The OV20880, OV20880-4C, OV16885 and the OV16885-4C are currently available for sampling and are expected to enter volume production in Q1 2017.
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