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ElectronicDesign: Cepton CEO and co-founder Jung Pei presents 11 myths about LiDARs as a background to show the company advantages:

1. LiDAR is a very high-tech solution.
2. LiDAR is expensive.
3. Solid-state LiDAR is the best approach because it has no moving parts.
4. Flash LiDAR is the best LiDAR for imaging.
5. LiDAR must operate infrared wavelengths.
6. LiDAR isn’t safe for the human eye.
7. LiDAR can’t work in poor weather conditions.
8. LiDAR can only be used for automobiles.
9. LiDAR won’t be incorporated into vehicles for another decade.
10. LiDAR can be fully replaced by cameras, radar, or a combination of the two.
11. FMCW LiDAR is better than ToF LiDAR.

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PRNewswire: LG, Infineon, and PMD have teamed up to introduce ToF camera in the LG G8 ThinQ smartphone. Infineon's REAL3 image sensor chip will be integrated into the front-facing camera of the upcoming LG G8 ThinQ.

"Infineon is poised to revolutionize the market," said Andreas Urschitz, division president of Infineon's Power Management & Multimarket division. "We have demonstrated service beyond the mere product level – specifically catering to phone OEMs, associated reference design houses and camera module manufacturers. Within five years, we expect 3D cameras to be found in most smartphones and Infineon is poised to contribute a significant share."

"Keeping in mind LG's goal to provide real value to its mobile customers, our newest flagship was designed with ToF technology from inception to give users a unique and secure verification system without sacrificing camera capabilities," said Chang Ma, SVP and head of product strategy at LG Mobile Communications Company. "With innovative technology like ToF, the LG G8 ThinQ will be the optimal choice for users in search of a premium smartphone that offers unmatched camera capabilities."

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Canon presents its current and future image sensor offerings:





FLIR presents its new InGaAs cameras:



Photron demos its polarized imaging use cases:





PCO talks about sCMOS sensor evolution:

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Australian University of Adelaide group of researches publishes an interesting arxive.org paper with further research of Sony IMX219PQ 1.12um pixel nonuniformities "Reverse Engineering the Raspberry Pi Camera V2: A study of Pixel Non-Uniformity using a Scanning Electron Microscope" by Richard Matthews, Matthew Sorell, and Nickolas Falkner. The paper undergoes a peer review now.

"In this paper we reverse engineer the Sony IMX219PQ image sensor, otherwise known as the Raspberry Pi Camera v2.0. We provide a visual reference for pixel non-uniformity by analysing variations in transistor length, microlens optic system and in the photodiode. We use these measurements to demonstrate irregularities at the microscopic level and link this to the signal variation measured as pixel non-uniformity used for unique identification of discrete image sensors."

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Fairchild Imaging is introducing two new 4/3” 10MP sensors, LTN4323 and MST4323, the first to feature sCMOS 3.0 technology. The monochrome LTN4323 (for scientific and industrial cameras) has 0.7e read noise. A special BSI process enhancement delivers a broad spectrum NIR-QE with greater than 2x sensitivity. Dark current at 30C is less than 2e/s enabling compact camera designs without the need for TE cooling. The color MST4323 (for professional cinema cameras) provides 4k video at 120fps.

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ON Semi publishes a short video on its automotive CMOS sensor operation in challenging lighting transitions on the road:

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Melexis announces a new version of its FIR thermal sensor array with lower thermal noise compared to the current MLX90640, an increased refresh rate of 64 Hz and an elevated operating temperature up to 125 °C.

The new MLX90641 is a small 16 x 12 pixel IR array housed in a 4-lead TO39 package that is able to accurately measure temperatures in the range -40 °C to +300 °C. The factory-calibrated devices ensure an accuracy of 1 °C in typical measurement conditions. The high accuracy is further supported by a Noise Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) of 0.1 K RMS.

Two different FoV options are available, a standard 55° x 35° and a wide angle 110° x 75°. The device is simple to use, operating from a single 3.3 V supply and storing all results in internal RAM for access via an I2C compatible digital interface. A proprietary algorithm ensures high thermal stability, even in conditions where the temperature is changing rapidly.

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PRNewswire: OmniVision announces an expansion of its OVMed medical ISP family, designed for quick integration into single-use and reusable endoscopes as well as catheters. Building on the success of OmniVision’s versatile OVMed ISPs introduced in 2018, these five new processors provide device designers with even more flexibility, creating additional options for resolution, frame rate and output, along with the best-in-class feature set.

“By expanding our OVMed family to nine different ISPs, we are providing the industry’s largest set of medical design options, catering to customers new to CMOS imaging as well as those wanting to speed development for their latest medical devices,” said Tehzeeb Gunja, principal marketing and business development manager at OmniVision. “One size and price do not fit all; hence we offer a range of ISP solutions with differentiated size, price, feature set and outputs. We are now adding stereoscopic 3D imaging and the best-in-class, professional ISPs to our growing OVMed family, enabling innovative, state-of-the-art product concepts.”

The OVMed product line includes three classes of ISPs:

• Mini for the smallest and most cost-effective option to integrate into an endoscope handle
• Advanced for higher image quality while fitting easily inside a camera control unit (CCU)
• Pro for the highest image quality and feature set that can also fit inside a CCU

The newly introduced Pro line provides resolution of up to 4K2K, while supporting streaming video at 60 fps, along with high-end ISP functions that enable superior noise reduction and color accuracy for the highest level of image quality. Products in the Pro line accept up to 4-lane digital MIPI/sub-LVDS input. Additionally, they can connect to image sensors via longer input cables of up to five meters. The Pro ISPs also feature dynamic shading control, distortion correction, advanced backlight compensation, an automatic exposure and gain control window, exposure weighting and compensation, advanced auto white balance, color enhancement, hue, halation, contrast adjustment/enhancement/curve, high dynamic range, crop/digital zoom, resize, frame-rate control, freeze, time lapse, dual image display, illumination control, RAW 8/10/12 image output, and RGB565/888 bypass mode.

Two new ISPs (Mini and Pro) in the OVMed family offer dual-channel processing that supports 3D stereoscopic imaging. This feature allows an ISP to take input from two image sensors and process it in parallel, providing surgeons with the ability to perceive depth during surgical procedures. The result is improved patient outcomes and reduced risk for endoscopic surgery, as well as better diagnostic accuracy.

The table below lists the nine currently available OVMed products:


PRNewswire: OmniVision partners with Lighthouse Imaging to create a reference platform that enables medical device manufacturers to integrate stereoscopic 3D imaging into endoscopes. The platform incorporates two CMOS sensors and an ISP from OmniVision, plus a light control board for LED illumination and camera control unit from Lighthouse:

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Omnivision booth at SPIE BIOS EXPO 2019 shows a multitude of image sensor-based checks for a human body:

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Arstechnica publishes an article "How 10 leading companies are trying to make powerful, low-cost lidar" by Timothy Lee:

"...over the last year, I've gotten a steady stream of pitches from lidar companies, and I've talked to as many of them as I could. Ars has now been in contact with senior executives from at least eight lidar companies as well as others involved in the industry as customers or analysts. These conversations have provided a lot of insight not only into trends in the lidar industry in general but also about the technology and business strategy of individual companies."


Thanks to TG for the pointer.

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Facial recognition technology finds more and more applications. Ecns.cn reports that Baidu Brain engineer has incorporated AI into a nearly two-meter-tall shelter for abandoned cats. The multi-level cat shelter includes a camera at the entrance that only opens the door when it recognizes the approaching animal is a cat. The shelter's facial recognition software can identify the faces of 174 different cats, report on the cat's state of health and whether the feline has been spayed or neutered.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF developed a scanner and analysis software in collaboration with the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology, which digitally capture the visual features of coins and recognize them in a matter of seconds. The scanning system can be used to identify and recognize coin finds. The novel scanner O.S.C.A.R., short for Optical System for Coin Analysis and Recognition, not only scans coins’ visual features but also the minutest signs of wear such as scratching, clipping, contours, edges, pitting and denting, which render an object unique.

Coin surface scan

CNA Insider publishes 3 more use cases for facial recognition:



Oleksii Kharkovyna publishes many more facial recognition use cases in his Medium post "Facial Recognition And AI: Latest Developments And Future Directions," such as:

• Usage for workflow. In Japan, AI-equipped cameras will continuously analyze facial expressions of workers to improve their productivity. If they are caught sleeping during the work, they could be blasted with freezing air.
• At the Dubai Airport, a virtual aquarium is fitted with 80 facial recognition cameras that examine people as they walk through the aquarium. The system will identify a person who has problems with the law, even without his/her knowing.

BiometricUpdate reports that UK and France have made it illegal to hide your face to avoid facial recognition.

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Sony quarterly earnings report reveals 8% YoY lower image sensor sales siting lower mobile image sensor demand. The next fiscal year forecast is reduced by 6%:

• FY18 Q3 sales decreased 8% year-on-year to 230.3 billion yen, primarily due to a decrease in unit sales of image sensors for mobile devices.
• Operating income decreased 14.0 billion yen year-on-year to 46.5 billion yen.
• We have downwardly revised our FY18 sales forecast to 870 billion yen and operating income to 130 billion yen.
• This downward revision is primarily due to a reduction in the unit sales forecast for image sensors resulting from a deterioration in the smartphone market.
• Although we expect the difficult market environment for smartphones to continue going forward, we are seeing high-end sensors adopted in both highend and mid-range models as smartphone makers seek to differentiate their products through camera functionality.
• Consequently, there is no change to our view that demand for the high-end image sensors that Sony excels at making will continue to increase due to the trend toward multi-lens cameras and larger die-sizes. There is also no change to the plan I recently outlined to increase our production capacity to nearly the maximum that can fit into our existing facilities.

SeekingAlpha publishes the earnings call transcript with few more details on Sony expectations from the 2019 business:

"So the third quarter rate of operation of the semiconductors as well as what's our view on the first half of fiscal '19. Currently for the third quarter fiscal '18 the wafers on an average 99,000, 99K and this is along the line of October forecast. In the fourth quarter of fiscal '18, wafer injection number is on an average 89K. And for fiscal 2019, it is very difficult to cite a specific number, so I like to communicate to you basic way of thinking.

So the smartphone market units for fiscal '19, it is expected to foresee any growth, probably the unit sales would decline. That is the forecast held up by most of the market related people. But on the other end multi-lens cameras as well as a large size imagers that's the trend which will be accelerated further over our October forecast throughout fiscal 2019, so those are both positive and negative factors for us.

So how we forecast the outcome of that? In any case as far as fiscal '19 is concerned, the market condition will be very tough. So we would like to be conservative and carefully manage the business in a steadfast manner.

In case of Semiconductor basically, the demand immediately around us is weakened. As you know, our image sensors takes about five months from the introduction of wafer to shipment that lead time five months. Therefore the level of inventory at the end of December in 2018 was a little heavy even in view of the smartphone shipment in 2019. And we are taking measures to adjust the inventory to the appropriate level but towards the year-end, in view of the immediate situation, inventory level appears to be a little heavier."

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Arxiv.org paper "Determining Image Sensor Temperature Using Dark Current" by Richard Matthews, Matthew Sorrel, Nickolas Falkner from University of Adelaide, Australia claims that the authors were able to observe pixel variations in SEM:

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Almalence compares its SuperSensor with Google Pixel 3 super resolution zoom. Both are based on multiframe image acquisition and processing:

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Bloomberg: Apple plans to launch iPhones with a 15-feet range 3D rear camera as soon as in 2020, according to Bloomberg sources. Apple has been in talks with Sony about testing ToF sensors for the new system. The main use case for the 3D rear camera is AR applications.

GSMArena reports that an oncoming Sony Xperia XZ4 smartphone will have 0.3MP ToF sensor in its rear camera cluster:

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Globes: Samsung has agreed to acquire Corephotonics for $155M, according to Globes sources. Three weeks ago, Globes was reported that Samsung was in advanced talks to buy the company. Corephotonics was founded in 2012 and has raised a total of $50M.

Among the company's multi-camera solutions, there is a mono and color cameras image fusion promised to add 2x SNR and 1.5x resolution improvements:


Here is Corephotonics team:


Incidentally, the $155M is the same amount that Sony paid for Toshiba image sensor business in 2015, including the fabs and 1,100 employees.

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Spectronet publishes SWIR Vision Systems presentation on its low cost sensors:

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Laser Components unveils the SPAD2L192, a solid-state SPAD sensor for flash LiDAR applications. With a resolution of 192 x 2 pixels, the SPAD array offers high sensitivity and high temporal resolution. The noise is below 50 cps. The in-pixel time-to-digital converter features a temporal resolution of 312.5 ps and a scale value of 1.28 μs. That enables a nominal range of up to 192 m at a resolution of 4.7 cm. The distance measurement is based on the first-photon, direct ToF principle.


Thanks to JR for the pointer!

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Spectronet publishes Sofradir's presentation of its uncooled InGaAs SWIR imagers:



SCD has a similar family of uncooled SWIR iamgers:

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International Image Sensor Workshop to be held in Snowbird, Utah, USA on June 23-27, 2019, publishes a Final Call For Papers:


"The 2019 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 33rd 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 2019 workshop will emphasize an open exchange of information among participants in an informal, secluded setting. The scope of the workshop includes all aspects of electronic image sensor design and development. In addition to regular oral and poster papers, the workshop will include invited talks and announcement of International Image Sensors Society (IISS) Award winners."

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Analog Devices Youtube videos present its family of ToF sensor for a multitude of applications ranging from smartphone FaceID to automotive in-cabin driver monitoring. ADI is in a process of building a web site dedicated to its ToF solutions.

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GlobeNewswire: TowerJazz announced the products featuring its world’s smallest Global Shutter (GS) pixel ramping to production in its 300mm Uozu, Japan manufacturing facility. This achievement, based on the Company’s advanced 65nm technology platform and light pipe technology, offers superb GS performance with a variety of pixel sizes down to 2.5 µm, which is said to be the smallest pixel size in the world.

Company’s light pipe technology on its 65nm node enables this half area pixel size, as compared with the currently used pixel in the market, while still offering state of the art functionality and angular response. The Shutter Efficiency and QE are said to be outstanding even at high ray angles (low F#s) thanks to the unique light funneling properties of the per pixel micro light pipe.

World’s previous smallest GS pixel, also achieved by TowerJazz, was 2.8 µm in 2016. Several products using this pixel are currently in mass production.

“We are proud to announce the world’s smallest GS Pixel going into mass production, providing our customers with cutting edge imaging solutions, meeting today’s advanced market needs. This break-through achievement strongly demonstrates TowerJazz’s continued commitment to offer leading technology as well as unique value proposition, based on its profound technical knowledge,” said Assaf Lahav, TowerJazz Fellow and CIS expert.

TowerJazz publishes its pixel catalog:

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Nikkei reports that Sony intends to open more development centers in the U.S. and Europe "in an effort to make up for a scarcity of engineering talent in Japan."

Sony has a development center in the U.S. with dozens of engineers adapting designs to customer specifications. The company is contemplating to open a similar R&D center in Europe in two to three years. Sony also plans to add technical support stuff in China to work with the local customers.

The image sensor market is growing 9% a year to reach $19b in 2022, according to IC Insights. 80% of Sony's image sensor business depends on smartphones. The company aims to lower the smartphone exposure to 70% by 2025 by expanding into automotive and industrial applications.

In spite of controlling 50% of the image sensor market, an unnamed Sony executive says that the company "cannot secure enough talent by looking in Japan alone." Job openings in Japan are sometimes over four times the number of applicants. Design centers in USA and Europe might solve Sony talent hiring problems.

An earlier Nikkei article portrays the hiring problem as industry-wide in Japan: "There are 256 open positions for every 100 job seekers in the semiconductor industry in Japan, up from 52 per 100 in January 2014, according to staffing agency Recruit Career. That is higher than the average for all industries."

Sony image sensor fab in Japan

Thanks to TG and PK for the pointer!

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Ayry3D demos Bokeh and FaceID applications for its single-chip 3D camera:

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CSEM developed a fully autonomous portable camera that can be deployed quickly and easily via an adhesive patch or magnet, a world first. The Witness IOT camera consumes less than 1mW of power in active mode, fully covered by a flexible, high-efficiency photovoltaic cell with an adhesive surface. An HDR (120dB) CMOS sensor consuming less than 700uW @ 10 fps for 320x320 pixels allows triggering by scene–activity detection. The camera records fixed images at 1fps and stores them in flash memory for later USB readout.

Witness prototype measures 80 x 80 mm. Diameter of the camera button is 30 mm, its thickness is 4 mm. Forthcoming versions will thus include VGA resolution as well as embedded face recognition.

“Enabling a range of applications from unattended surveillance and camera traps to wildlife observation, Witness perfectly embodies CSEM’s technological strategy,” enthuses Alain-Serge Porret, VP Integrated and Wireless Systems at the Swiss Research and Technology Organization. “We aim to deliver autonomous, low-energy-consuming devices combining both intelligence and efficiency.”

CSEM publishes unusually high resolution pictures of the camera showing the sensor's fine layout details:

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As PZ pointed in comments, IEEE Spectrum publishes its own research on the camera damage by Aeye LiDAR at CES. The Spectrum article has quite a few interesting links, including a pointer to International Laser Display Association web page talking about the laser damage to the image sensors and referring to Fraunhofer open-access paper "Laser-induced damage threshold of camera sensors and micro-optoelectromechanical systems" by Bastian Schwarz, Gunnar Ritt, Michael Koerber, and Bernd Eberle published in Optical Engineering in 2017.

"The continuous development of laser systems toward more compact and efficient devices constitutes an increasing threat to electro-optical imaging sensors, such as complementary metal–oxide–semiconductors (CMOS) and charge-coupled devices. These types of electronic sensors are used in day-to-day life but also in military or civil security applications. In camera systems dedicated to specific tasks, micro-optoelectromechanical systems, such as a digital micromirror device (DMD), are part of the optical setup. In such systems, the DMD can be located at an intermediate focal plane of the optics and it is also susceptible to laser damage. The goal of our work is to enhance the knowledge of damaging effects on such devices exposed to laser light. The experimental setup for the investigation of laser-induced damage is described in detail. As laser sources, both pulsed lasers and continuous-wave (CW)-lasers are used. The laser-induced damage threshold is determined by the single-shot method by increasing the pulse energy from pulse to pulse or in the case of CW-lasers, by increasing the laser power. Furthermore, we investigate the morphology of laser-induced damage patterns and the dependence of the number of destructive device elements on the laser pulse energy or laser power. In addition to the destruction of single pixels, we observe aftereffects, such as persistent dead columns or rows of pixels in the sensor image."

The paper has an interesting experimental data on laser damage at 532nm wavelength:


Then, Fraunhofer researchers determine the laser energy density needed for each type of the damage:


Another SPIE paper studies the CIS damage by 1064nm laser pulses: "Damage effect on CMOS detector irradiated by single-pulse laser" by Feng Guo, Rongzhen Zhu, Ang Wang, and Xiang’ai Cheng from National Univ. of Defense Technology (China).

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Wiley publishes a book on image quality "Camera Image Quality Benchmarking" by Jonathan Phillips (Google) and Henrik Eliasson (Eclipse Optics).

"The authors show how to quantitatively compare image quality of cameras used for consumer photography. This book helps to fill a void in the literature by detailing the types of objective and subjective metrics that are fundamental to benchmarking still and video imaging devices. Specifically, the book provides an explanation of individual image quality attributes and how they manifest themselves to camera components and explores the key photographic still and video image quality metrics. The text also includes illustrative examples of benchmarking methods so that the practitioner can design a methodology appropriate to the photographic usage in consideration."


I'd guess part of the book content is exposed in Eclipse Optics blog at Medium, such as "Sharpness and Resolution" post:

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TL reminds me about University of Zurich-ETH maintains a large collection of event-based vision resources at Github that has been already mentioned a year and a half ago. Other than links to many recent papers, there is a link to a nice video explanation of event based sensor principles by University of Maryland:



Thanks to TL for the reminder about the archive!

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