Archives for November 2018

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PRWeb: Pinnacle Imaging Systems and ON Semiconductor jointly announce a lower cost HDR video surveillance solution capable of capturing 120 dB DR scenes with 1080p 30 fps output.

The Pinnacle Imaging Systems Denali-MC HDR ISP IP Core running on Xilinx Zynq 7030 SoC has been ported to support ON Semi AR0239 sensor with Denali-MC’s motion compensation algorithms minimize motion artifacts often associated with multi-exposure HDR capture and Pinnacle’s locally adaptive tone mapping.

“As a technology partner, ON Semiconductor has been instrumental in providing the critical support necessary to bring this project to fruition,” said Alfred Zee, CEO of Pinnacle Imaging Systems. “The high dynamic range capabilities of the ON Semiconductor AR0239 sensor, coupled with the performance of the Xilinx Zynq SoC, make an ideal foundation for our Ultra HDR Surveillance Platform. Working closely with the ON Semiconductor team, we’ve been able to achieve the best possible HDR and low light performance from the AR0239 CMOS image sensor.”

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Himax Fact Sheet has the company's forecast on 3D imaging product sales:

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The 2019 International Image Sensor Workshop (IISW) is to be held on June 24-27 in Snowbird, Utah. 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. 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.

• The deadline for abstract submission is February 4, 2019 (PST).
• Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their abstract by March 14, 2019.
• Final-form 4-page paper submission date is May 3, 2019.
• Presentation material submission date is June 14, 2019.

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Nature publishes a fairly theoretical paper by Hoi-Kwan Lau & Aashish A. Clerk from University of Chicago "Fundamental limits and non-reciprocal approaches in non-Hermitian quantum sensing." The paper points to a way to overcome what is considered to be a fundamental limit - photon shot noise. The authors also plan to attack thermal noise in their future research.

"In a quantum setting, optical sensors are typically limited because light is made up of particles, and this discreteness leads to unavoidable noise. But this study revealed an unexpected method to combat that limitation... We think we’ve uncovered a new strategy for building extremely powerful quantum sensors."

Unfortunately, this revolution will not happen overnight. Everything in this paper is highly theoretical. A sensing system nonreciprocity is said to be the key factor in increasing the signal while keeping the same noise:


In conclusion, the authors say: "We... discussed a new method for enhancing dispersive measurement using effective non-Hermitian physics, namely the use of nonreciprocity to enhance sensing. We show that nonreciprocity allows one to arbitrarily exceed the fundamental bound on the measurement rate of a reciprocal sensor, and discussed a simple implementation that does not require any amplification processes. We also show that nonreciprocity can enhance the sensitivity of mode-splitting type sensor.

Finally, we note that the general theory developed in this work could be easily applied to more general kinds of sensing problems. For example, the same formalism could be used to understand the performance of non-Hermitian sensors when thermal noise dominates (as would be the case for systems deep in the classical limit)."

Via Phys.org

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Yole Developpement publishes its CIS market presentation at European Imaging & Sensors Summit held in Grenoble, France, in September 2018. Few interesting slides:

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SeekingAlpha: ON Semi earnings call gives few details about the company's image sensor business:

"Our momentum in automotive image sensors continues to accelerate. Key factors driving our growth in the automotive image sensor market are significant technology lead over competition and the industry’s most extensive product portfolio, giving customers more choices than before. With a complete line of image sensors, including one, two, and eight megapixels, we are the only provider of a complete range of pixel densities on a single platform for the next generation ADAS and autonomous driving applications.

Furthermore, with our recent acquisition of SensL we now have capability to provide LiDAR sensors in addition to image sensors, radar, and ultrasonic sensors. We are the only semiconductor supplier with capability to provide all four types of sensors for ADAS and autonomous driving. We believe that this capability will not only drive significant content for us but will also provide a key differentiating advantage to us as the automotive industry moves to sensor fusion architectures for ADAS and autonomous driving.

With recently introduced X-class image sensors, we expect to further strengthen our leadership in machine vision and robotics markets."

ON Semi also publishes a revenue dynamics comparison of its imaging business with other divisions:

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PRNewswire: AMETEK announces that it has completed acquisition of Forza Silicon Corporation, a leader in the design and production of high-performance imaging sensors used in medical, defense, commercial and industrial applications.

"Forza is a highly strategic technology acquisition for AMETEK," said David A. Zapico, AMETEK Chairman and CEO. "Customers rely on Forza's leading-edge design capability to support their advanced sensor development projects. Forza also provides our Vision Research business with custom sensor design and production capability, allowing for accelerated development of next generation sensor technology for use across our market leading, high-speed cameras."

Forza has annual sales of approximately $20m and was acquired for approximately $40m.

AMETEK is a global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices with annualized sales of approximately $4.8b. The common stock of AMETEK is a component of the S&P 500 Index.

Forza joins AMETEK as part of its Electronic Instruments Group (EIG) - a leader in advanced analytical, monitoring, testing, calibrating and display instruments with annualized sales of $3.0b.

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Huawei Honor Magic 2 smartphone has 3 front and 3 rear cameras.

BGR reports: "In terms of imaging, there is a combination of 16-megapixel wide-angle, 24-megapixel monochrome and a 16-megapixel ultra wide-angle sensors on the back of the device. For selfies, there is a combination of 16-megapixel camera with two 2-megapixel depth sensors. This selfie shooter setup combined with IR face scanner for 3D face unlock is embedded within the slider mechanism."

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PRNewswire: Canon USA reminds that it is now offering select CMOS sensor products for sale to the industrial market. "For several decades, Canon has been a leader in developing and manufacturing advanced CMOS sensors with state-of-the-art technologies, which until now, were for exclusive use in Canon products," said Kazuto Ogawa, president and COO, Canon USA, Inc. "It was a natural evolution to expand into a new business platform that leverages our expertise in sensor manufacturing to target the growing market demands for high-quality industrial imaging solutions."

Canon sensors include:

3U5MGXS Sensor - with an electronic global shutter, and an all pixel progressive reading at 120fps, the Canon 3U5MGXS CMOS 5MP sensor features a low power consumption of 500mW. The 3U5MGXS is now available.


35MMFHDXSCA Sensor - featuring an large 19um pixel pitch, the 35MMFHDXSCA uses new pixel and readout circuitry technologies that deliver a 2.76MP resolution. The 35MMFHDXSCA is now available.


120MXS Sensor - by incorporating close to the same number of pixels as photoreceptors in the human eye, the 120MXS CMOS sensor delivers 120 MP resolution at 9.4fps in an APS-H format. This sensor targets the needs of the inspection, aerial mapping, life sciences, digital archiving and transportation industries and is available now.


2U250MRXS Sensor – with a readout speed of 1.25 billion pixels per second, the prototype 2U250MRXS CMOS sensor, delivers 250MP resolution in an APS-H format. No more information about this sensor is available.

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Samsung quarterly report updates on the company CIS business:

"For the System LSI Business, overall earnings improved thanks to the growing demand for image sensors in China... In particular, the image sensor business achieved record-high quarterly results driven by greater adoption of multiple cameras and high-resolution sensors by smartphone makers.

For 2019, Samsung expects solid earnings growth to continue, bolstered by rising demand for image sensors used in more sophisticated camera specifications... The Company will also focus on diversifying its product line-up to include 3D sensors, fingerprint-on-display sensors, and chips used in automotive and IoT applications.

For the Foundry Business, earnings continued to grow QoQ thanks to increased demand for mobile APs and image sensors... Looking to the fourth quarter, demand for mobile APs and image sensors is expected to decline amid weak seasonality for smartphone components."

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Espros October Newsletter features the company's view on the 3D imaging market growth:

"The Compound Annual Rate Growth (CAGR) for 3D imaging is expected to some 40%, starting at some $2 billion in 2017. We clearly see the hockey stick coming."

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