Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Springer Machine Vision and Applications Journal publishes a paper "Classification of materials using a pulsed time-of-flight camera" by ShiNan Lang, Jizhong Zhang, Yiheng Cai, Xiaoqing Zhu, and Qiang Wu from Beijing University of Technology, China.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Businesswire: OmniVision announces the OAX8000 AI-enabled, automotive ASIC for entry-level, stand-alone driver monitoring systems (DMS). The OAX8000 uses a stacked-die architecture to provide the industry’s only DMS processor with on-chip DDR3 SDRAM memory (1GB). This is also the only dedicated DMS processor to integrate a neural processing unit (NPU) and ISP which provides dedicated processing speeds up to 1.1 trillion operations per second for eye gaze and eye tracking algorithms. These fast processing speeds with 1K MAC of CNN acceleration, along with integrated SDRAM, enable the lowest power consumption available for DMS systems—the OAX8000 and OmniVision automotive image sensor consume just 1W in typical conditions, combined. Further optimizing DMS systems, this integration also reduces the board area for the engine control unit (ECU).

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Archives of Preventive Medicine publishes a paper "Analysis of current and future technologies of capsule endoscopy: A mini review" by Alexander P Brown and Ahalapitiya H Jayatissa from the University of Toledo, OH, USA.

"Many existing methods of endoscopy can be very uncomfortable and potentially even painful for a patient. Using a conventional endoscope is also limited in its usable range, unable to access a majority of the small bowel. Recent advancements in LEDs, optical design, and MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technologies have provided the ability to create a wireless endoscope. Since its inception, the capsule endoscope has seen advancements in existing technology as well as the introduction of new components. As the capsule endoscope continues to advance, more application possibilities will grow as well."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Elsevier Radiation Measurements Journal publishes a paper "History and future of radiation imaging with single quantum processing pixel detectors" by Erik H.M. Heijne from Czech Technical University in Prague.

"This introductory article treats aspects of the evolution of early semiconductor detectors towards modern radiation imaging instruments, now with millions of signal processing cells, exploiting the potential of silicon nano-technology. The Medipix and Timepix assemblies are among the prime movers in this evolution. Imaging the impacts in the detecting matrix from the individual ionizing particles and photons can be used to study these elementary quanta themselves, or allows one to visualize various characteristics of objects under irradiation. X-ray imaging is probably the most-used modality of the latter, and the new imagers can process each single incident X–photon to obtain an image with additional information about the structure and composition of the object. The atomic distribution can be imaged, taking advantage of the energy-specific X-ray absorption. A myriad of other applications is appearing, as reported in the special issue of this journal. As an example, in molecular spectroscopy, the sub-nanosecond timing in each pixel can deliver in real-time the mapping of the molecular composition of a specimen by time-of-flight for single molecules, a revolution compared with classical gel electrophoresis. References and some personal impressions are provided to illuminate radiation detection and imaging over more than 50 years. Extrapolations and wild guesses for future developments conclude the article."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

MIT publishes a PhD Thesis "Algorithms and systems for low power time-of-flight imaging" by James Noraky.

"Time-of-flight (ToF) cameras are appealing depth sensors because they obtain dense depth maps with minimal latency. However, for mobile and embedded devices, ToF cameras, which obtain depth by emitting light and estimating its roundtrip time, can be power-hungry and limit the battery life of the underlying device. To reduce the power for depth sensing, we present algorithms to address two scenarios. For applications where RGB images are concurrently collected, we present algorithms that reduce the usage of the ToF camera and estimate new depth maps without illuminating the scene. We exploit the fact that many applications operate in nearly rigid environments, and our algorithms use the sparse correspondences across the consecutive RGB images to estimate the rigid motion and use it to obtain new depth maps.

Our techniques can reduce the usage of the ToF camera by up to 85%, while still estimating new depth maps within 1% of the ground truth for rigid scenes and 1.74% for dynamic ones. When only the data from a ToF camera is used, we propose algorithms that reduce the overall amount of light that the ToF camera emits to obtain accurate depth maps. Our techniques use the rigid motions in the scene, which can be estimated using the infrared images that a ToF camera obtains, to temporally mitigate the impact of noise. We show that our approaches can reduce the amount of emitted light by up to 81% and the mean relative error of the depth maps by up to 64%. Our algorithms are all computationally efficient and can obtain dense depth maps at up to real-time on standard and embedded computing platforms.

Compared to applications that just use the ToF camera and incur the cost of higher sensor power and to those that estimate depth entirely using RGB images, which are inaccurate and have high latency, our algorithms enable energy-efficient, accurate, and low latency depth sensing for many emerging applications."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Eindhoven University of Technology publishes an Arxiv.org paper "Millimeter Wave Sensing: A Review of Application Pipelines and Building Blocks" by Bram van Berlo, Amany Elkelany, Tanir Ozcelebi, and Nirvana Meratnia.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

 ON Semi Director of Business Development of SensL Division Bahman Hadji publishes a video "Which Wavelength Will Prevail for Automotive LiDAR – The Great Debate."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

 ON Semi Director of Business Development of SensL Division Bahman Hadji publishes a video "Which Wavelength Will Prevail for Automotive LiDAR – The Great Debate."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

JoongAng Ibo: Samsung VP  Yong-in Park has been recently promoted from HR to the System LSI Division Strategic Marketing Manager. One of his first decisions was to convert the remaining DRAM capacity on Line 11 to image sensor manufacturing.

The reason Samsung Electronics is converting its DRAM line to image sensor is that it is building a large-scale new DRAM production facility at the Pyeongtaek plant. The Pyeongtaek plant will mass-produce the 4th generation 10-nano class (1a) DRAM using the EUV process from next year. Due to the massive increase in DRAM production capacity, Hwaseong Line 11, which made 20-nano or higher-class DRAM, will be converted into an image sensor for line efficiency.

The newspaper says that (in Microsoft translation) "Sony is still more of ahead in its optical ability to convert light into images. Apple and Huawei have been using Sony products instead of using Samsung image sensors."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

As 2020 nears its end, there was a number of image sensor companies acquisitions:

1. Smartsens acquired Allchip (automotive image sensors)
2. Nordson acquired vivaMOS (X-Ray sensors)
3. GE Health acquired Prismatic Sensors (X-Ray sensors)
4. Goodix acquired Dreamchip (digital design services team)
5. TE Connectivity acquired First Sensor (SPADs, APDs, InGaAs, and p-i-n photodiodes)
6. LeddarTech acquired VayaVision (sensor fusion and perception software for LiDARs)
7. Allegro acquired Voxtel (LiDARs)
8. Seegrid acquired Box Robotics (LiDARs)
9. ams acquires Osram (adds laser and LED products to complete 3D sensing portfolio)
10. Nuvoton acquired Panasonic semiconductor business (including image sensor and stake in TPSCo fab)
11. Jenoptik acquired Trioptics (camera module test and measurement equipment)
12. Sony acquired Insightness (event-driven sensors)
13. Celepixel was acquired by Will Semiconductor (event-driven sensors)

There was a number of IPO announcements, although not all of the deals are closed till the end of the year:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Halo Finance, DayDayNews: Will Semiconductor chairman and Omnivision CEO Renrong Yu is the richest man in China semiconductor industry. Will Semi is a mother company of Omnivision, Superpix, and Celepixel.

This year, Renrong Yu is ranked 65th on the Forbes China Rich List with a wealth of 51.38 billion yuan ($7.86 billion), an increase of 21.12 billion yuan over the last year. Compared with 2017, the value has increased by nearly 15 times.

On May 4, 2017, at IPO time, the stock price of Will Semi shares was 7 yuan. On December 25 this year, the stock price of Weir shares was 220 yuan, with a total market value of 190.872 billion. The stock price has increased by more than 30 times in 3.5 years.

Will Semi shares have become a "dark horse" with a market value of 100 billion, thanks to the "snake swallowing elephant" acquisition of Beijing Omnivision. It is worth mentioning that in 2018, when Will Semi decided to acquire Omnivision  at a price of 13 billion yuan, Omnivision's total assets were almost 5 times that of Will's and its net assets were nearly 8 times.

Renrong Yu has graduated from Radio Department of Tsinghua University in 1990. He belongs to the group of alumni of this University that many Chinese semiconductor executives originating from. The incomplete list includes Zhao Lixin, founder of Galaxycore Microelectronics, Zhao Weiguo, founder of Tsinghua Unigroup, Shu Qingming, one of the founders of GigaDevice, Feng Chenhui, co-founder of Maxscend Microelectronics, and Zhao Lidong, founder of Enflame Technology, all studied at Tsinghua University Radio Department in 1985-1990.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

I missed this announcement in June 2020. Chinese ToF sensor company Silicon Integrated raised a RMB180M ($25.28M) series B round of financing led by CTC Capital.

• HVGA (480 x 360) resolution for SIF2310 and VGA (640 x 480) resolution for SIF2610
• Back-side illumination
• Ambient light immunity
• Compatible with 850nm/940nm LED/VCSEL light source
• QE>30% at 940nm
• Up to 100MHz modulation frequency
• 240fps raw data frame rate
• Region of interest (ROI) function
• Absolute accuracy < 1% up to 5m
• Global shutter
• Opto-package

According to South China Morning Post, Silicon Integrated's co-founders Rui Quan and CEO Liu Deheng studied engineering at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands and both landed jobs at Dutch semiconductor companies after graduating.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

I missed this announcement in June 2020. Chinese ToF sensor company Silicon Integrated raised a RMB180M ($25.28M) series B round of financing led by CTC Capital.

• HVGA (480 x 360) resolution for SIF2310 and VGA (640 x 480) resolution for SIF2610
• Back-side illumination
• Ambient light immunity
• Compatible with 850nm/940nm LED/VCSEL light source
• QE>30% at 940nm
• Up to 100MHz modulation frequency
• 240fps raw data frame rate
• Region of interest (ROI) function
• Absolute accuracy < 1% up to 5m
• Global shutter
• Opto-package

According to South China Morning Post, Silicon Integrated's co-founders Rui Quan and CEO Liu Deheng studied engineering at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands and both landed jobs at Dutch semiconductor companies after graduating.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Global TCAD Solutions GmbH, a spin-off from Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), Austria, presents its tools for CIS pixel simulations:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

IEEE TED publishes an open access paper "An Over 120 dB Single Exposure Wide Dynamic Range CMOS Image Sensor With Two-Stage Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor" by Yasuyuki Fujihara, Maasa Murata, Shota Nakayama, Rihito Kuroda, and Shigetoshi Sugawa from Tohoku University. It appears to be a version of an earlier EI 2020 paper.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony publishes an article about Taku Umebayashi who has been awarded by Medal with Purple Ribbon, one of the medals of honor granted by the Japanese government in April 2020. He also received a number of other awards:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony publishes an article about Taku Umebayashi who has been awarded by Medal with Purple Ribbon, one of the medals of honor granted by the Japanese government in April 2020. He also received a number of other awards:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Analog Devices unveils what appears to be the first fruit of cooperation with Microsoft ToF group (former Canesta). The ADSD3100 sensor targets smartphones, AR/VR systems, and machine vision applications in logistics, inventory, industrial, and consumer fields.

The new sensor features:

• 1024 (horizonal) × 1024 (vertical) pixel array
• 3.5 μm × 3.5 μm square pixels
• 1/3.6 inch optical format
• BSI
• Depth and intensity imaging
• 4-wire SPI or 2-wire I2C serial interface
• Die size: 5.364 mm × 9.799 mm
• MIPI CSI-2 Tx interface with support for 1, 2, or 4 data lanes, programmable up to 1.5 Gbps per lane
• Dual, 3.3 V and 1.27 V external supplies, 1.8 V I/O section

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

BrightWay Imaging publishes its presentation at Autosens Brussels this year:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

IFNews quotes Credit Suisse market report saying that "nearly all 5G smartphones hitting the market continue to feature at least 3 cameras. However, the ratio of quad-camera models has declined (from 62% in Apr–Jun 2020 to 45% in Jul–Sep 2020), while the ratio of triple-camera models has risen (from 38% to 50%). This is because shipments of mid-market smartphones increased. Quad-cam products continue to account for a high proportion of sales in the premium segment (USD800 models and above). In addition, the quad-cam ratio is still rising for 4G and earlier generation smartphones."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

CnTechPost, GizChina, InfNews, Huawei: Huawei announces its first automotive LiDAR product. Few key points from the announcement:

• 120 x 25 deg FOV
• 0.25 x 0.26 deg resolution
• 96 lines
• 150m range at 10% target reflectivity
• 200m range at 50% target reflectivity
• BAIC (Beijing Automotive) is the first customer
• Huawei has built a pilot production line with capacity of 100K units per year
• The development has started in 2016 and took 4 years

Now, an interesting question is whether Huawei succeeds to capture a major LiDAR player position, like it did in smartphones?

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Australian National University paper "Event Camera Calibration of Per-pixel Biased Contrast Threshold" by Ziwei Wang, Yonhon Ng, Pieter van Goor, and Robert Mahony discusses pixel mismatch issues in event-driven cameras:

• Hot Pixels are pixels that have lower threshold values than the assumed value. This means that both positive and negative events are generated more often than expected.
• Cold Pixels are pixels that have higher threshold values than the assumed value. This means that both positive and negative events are generated less often than expected.
• Warm Pixels are pixels that have negative bias values. This means positive events are triggered more often, and negative events are triggered less often than expected.
• Cool Pixels are pixels that have positive bias values. This means negative events are triggered more often, and positive events are triggered less often than expected.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Melexis publishes a video on its Autosens-Detroit presentation ofToF in-cabin monitoring camera in BMW cars:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

BusinessWire: San Francisco-based LiDAR startup Ouster is said to close a deal to go public at a about $1.9B valuation through a merger with SPAC Colonnade Acquisition Corp. Up to now, Ouster has raised $142M in the previous investment rounds.

The new transaction is expected to provide up to $300M in gross proceeds, comprised of Colonnade Acquisition Corp.’s $200M of cash held in trust and a $100M fully committed common stock PIPE.

The company's Investor Presentation talks about its LiDAR sales and forecasts:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

The next International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) is going to be an on-line event on Sept. 20-24, 2021. The First Call for Papers has been published on International Image Sensor Society web site:

"The 2021 International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) provides a biennial opportunity to present innovative work in the area of solid-state image sensors and share new results with the image sensor community. Now in its 35th year, the workshop is intended for image sensor technologists; in order to encourage attendee interaction and a shared experience, attendance is limited, with strong acceptance preference given to workshop presenters. As is its tradition, the 2021 workshop will emphasize an open exchange of information among participants.

Submission of abstracts:

An abstract should consist of a single page of maximum 500-words text with up to two pages of illustrations, and include authors’ name(s) and affiliation, mailing address, telephone and e-mail address. The deadline for abstract submission is April 17th, 2021 (CST).

Please visit http://imagesensors.org/CFP2021 for the abstract and paper submission procedures.

Abstracts will be considered on the basis of originality and quality. High quality papers on work in progress are also welcome. Abstracts will be reviewed confidentially by the Technical Program Committee and the IISS Board.

Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their abstract by June 3th, 2021.
Final-form 4-page paper submission date is August 6th, 2021.
Presentation material submission date is September 13th, 2021.

Location and format: 

The IISW 2021 is planned to be held Sept 20-24th. Given the outlook of the pandemic situation and related travel restrictions, the workshop is expected to be an online event, which will be supported by several initiatives to preserve its interactive and open atmosphere. The workshop will not be delayed: in any case the selected papers will be presented in September 2021. More details on the format will be provided in February 2021 with the final call for papers."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Royal Society of Chemistry publishes "A review of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) based photodetectors: from ultra-broadband, selfpowered to flexible devices" by Hari Singh Nalwa from Advanced Technology Research, CA.

"Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) have attracted much attention in the field of optoelectronics due to their tunable bandgaps, strong interaction with light and tremendous capability for developing diverse van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) with other materials. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) atomic layers which exhibit high carrier mobility and optical transparency are very suitable for developing ultra-broadband photodetectors to be used from surveillance and healthcare to optical communication. This review provides a brief introduction to TMD-based photodetectors, exclusively focused on MoS2-based photodetectors. The current research advances show that the photoresponse of atomic layered MoS2 can be significantly improved by boosting its charge carrier mobility and incident light absorption via forming MoS2 based plasmonic nanostructures, halide perovskites–MoS2 heterostructures, 2D–0D MoS2/quantum dots (QDs) and 2D–2D MoS2 hybrid vdWHs, chemical doping, and surface functionalization of MoS2 atomic layers. By utilizing these different integration strategies, MoS2 hybrid heterostructure-based photodetectors exhibited remarkably high photoresponsivity raging from mA W^−1 up to 1010 A W^−1, detectivity from 1e7 to 1e15 Jones and a photoresponse time from seconds (s) to nanoseconds (1e−9 s), varying by several orders of magnitude from deep-ultraviolet (DUV) to the long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) region. The flexible photodetectors developed from MoS2-based hybrid heterostructures with graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), TMDs, and ZnO are also discussed. In addition, strain-induced and self-powered MoS2 based photodetectors have also been summarized. The factors affecting the figure of merit of a very wide range of MoS2-based photodetectors have been analyzed in terms of their photoresponsivity, detectivity, response speed, and quantum efficiency along with their measurement wavelengths and incident laser power densities. Conclusions and the future direction are also outlined on the development of MoS2 and other 2D TMD-based photodetectors."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

University of Strasbourg and CNRS, France, publishes a paper "A High Dynamic Range High Speed Pixel Operating at 100 Million Frames Per Second" by Mathieu Hugoud, Wilfried Uhring, Jean-Baptiste Kammerer, and Jean-Bapstiste Schell presented at 2020 18th IEEE International New Circuits and Systems Conference (NEWCAS).

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Arxiv.org paper "An Overview of Depth Cameras and Range Scanners Based on Time-of-Flight Technologies" by Radu Horaud, Miles Hansard, Georgios Evangelidis, and Clement Menier from INRIA Grenoble, Queen Mary University of London, and 4D View Solutions mostly repeats 2016 paper published by Springer.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Intel presents a new addition to its EVO PC platform:

"A new platform addition we’re excited to unveil today is the Intel Visual Sensing Controller (codenamed “Clover Falls”), a secure companion chip that helps make PCs more smart and secure through the power of Intel artificial intelligence. This companion module will first arrive in commercial systems, bringing new low-power capabilities to the PC and helping it sense and adapt to its surroundings. For example, the module could help the system automatically adjust display brightness after detecting user presence."

Go to the original article...