Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

SeekingAlpha publishes TowerJazz Q1 2018 earnings call transcript with update on the foundry's image sensor business:

"In the CMOS image sensor business unit, where we see recently very good results of our smallest in the world 2.5 micron global shutter pixel developed in our 300-millimeter 65-nanometer Uozu fab in Japan. We have two lead customers in the machine basic market, we have received silicon and plant provide prototype soon to their anxiously-awaiting customers. One of the products is a high resolution sensor for machine vision applications that with this pixel size gives a 4x resolution improvement with industry best current and quantum efficiency yielding much better performance than what is otherwise available in the market. We are supplying a wide range of pixel sizes for different machine vision applications on global shutter technology platform that will enhance our leadership in this market. We expect to start production on this platform by the end of the year.

In the medical X-ray market, we just prototyped a one dye per wafer device. We are one of the world's leading X-ray sensor suppliers and plan to ramp the high volume by the end of this year with three different products, all targeted to be high runners. In addition, as previously discussed, our 300-millimeter development of a 21/21 centimeter X-ray device for tiled and non-tiled applications has lead customer having demonstrated excellent pixel performance on prototypes and as well as excellent product yield. These results have attracted activities with other market leaders.

We are moving according to our plans with the leading DSLR camera supplier and we will start soon as second even more ambitious project, which includes stacked backside illuminated wafers for this market. This will continue to position us as a leading foundry for high-end photography applications. All these exciting activities will bear fruits in the coming two to three years in a steady high volume, high margin production as the world-leading provider of CMOS sensors for high-end applications. In addition, we are working today on several exciting projects that will drive very high volume in the augmented reality and virtual reality markets for both sensors and displays, and on a very unique embedding of artificial intelligence into imaging and other sensors. This should yield very high volumes in the coming three to five years and beyond.

We continue to produce infrared sensors not only for iOS and Android mobile platforms as previously announced, but with strong presence across industrial and specifically growing and automotive night-vision driver systems application."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

ArsTechnica compares different LiDAR technologies in a form of interview with Ouster CEO and co-founder Angus Pacala. Ouster develops a spinning mechanical LiDAR similar to Velodyne. Angus also co-founded Quanergy, so that he was closely involved in solid-stage LiDAR design. Few quotes:

"Pacala pointed out a couple of big advantages of the classic spinning design. The most obvious one is the 360° field of view. You can stick one lidar unit on the top of a car and get a complete view of a car's surroundings. Solid state lidars, in contrast, are fixed in place and typically have a field of view of 120° or less. It takes at least four units to achieve comparable coverage with a solid-state sensor.

Another less obvious advantage, Pacala says, is that eye safety rules allow a moving laser source to emit at a higher power level than a stationary one. With a scanning solid-state unit, putting your eye inches from the laser scanner could cause 100 percent of the laser light to flood into the eye. But with a spinning sensor, the laser is only focused in any particular direction for a fraction of its 360° rotation. A spinning lidar unit can therefore put more power into each laser pulse without creating risk of eye damage.

The tiny mirrors in MEMS systems can only reflect so much light. That makes it inherently difficult to bounce a laser beam off a distant object and detect the return flash.

The phased-array approach tends to produce beams that diverge more than other techniques, making it hard to achieve a combination of long range, high scanning resolution, and wide field of view.

With flash lidar, the light from each flash is spread over the entire field of view, which means that only a fraction of the light strikes any particular point. And each pixel in the photodetector array is necessarily quite small, limiting the amount of returned light it can capture.

Overall, my conversation with Ouster's Pacala made me less bullish about improvements in lidar costs. Prices are falling, as illustrated by Velodyne's 50 percent price cut for its 16-laser unit this year. And if you're willing to settle for a lidar with lower range and resolution, you can find units that cost a few thousand or even a few hundred dollars.

But the best lidar units—and possibly the only ones that are suitable for fully driverless cars—still seem to cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The headline originally described Ouster's lidar as "bulky," but Pacala emailed to dispute that: "The Innoviz Pro and the proposed Innoviz One are both way bigger, so is AEye's iDAR, so is Continental/ASC's flash lidar, so is Princeton Lightwave's, so is Luminar's old and new device, so are all three of Cepton's products, and so is the Quanergy's S3."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

A BBC reporter has been given a demo of China's state-wide face recognition capabilities:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PRNewswire: Microsoft announces its latest 3D ToF camera: "A new initiative, Project Kinect for Azure — a package of sensors from Microsoft that contains our unmatched time of flight depth camera, with onboard compute, in a small, power-efficient form factor — designed for AI on the Edge. Project Kinect for Azure brings together this leading hardware technology with Azure AI to empower developers with new scenarios for working with ambient intelligence."

Microsoft AR visionary and architect Alex Kipman reveals the new ToF camera spec in his LinkedIn post:

• Highest number of pixels (megapixel resolution 1024x1024)
• Highest Figure of Merit (highest modulation frequency and modulation contrast resulting in low power consumption with overall system power of 225-950mw)
• Automatic per pixel gain selection enabling large dynamic range allowing near and far objects to be captured cleanly
• Global shutter allowing for improved performance in sunlight
• Multiphase depth calculation method enables robust accuracy even in the presence of chip, laser and power supply variation.
• Low peak current operation even at high frequency lowers the cost of modules

Some of the claims are objectionable. For example, Odos Imaging used to sell a higher resolution 4MP ToF camera few years ago. The global shutter for better sunlight performance is somewhat unclear claim too.

"Earlier this year, Cyrus Bamji, an architect on our team, presented a well-received paper to the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) on our latest depth sensor. This is the sensor... that will give the next version of HoloLens new capabilities."


And some more Microsoft marketing:

"Microsoft announced Project Kinect for Azure, a package of sensors, including our next-generation depth camera, with onboard compute designed for AI on the Edge. Building on Kinect's legacy that has lived on through HoloLens, Project Kinect for Azure empowers new scenarios for developers working with ambient intelligence. Combining Microsoft's industry-defining Time of Flight sensor with additional sensors all in a small, power-efficient form factor, Project Kinect for Azure will leverage the richness of Azure AI to dramatically improve insights and operations. It can input fully articulated hand tracking and high-fidelity spatial mapping, enabling a new level of precision solutions."

A clip from keynote of the company CEO Satya Nadela at Microsoft Build:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

VLSI Symposium 2018 publishes a preview of Shizuoka University, Brookman, and Chiba University paper "A Two-Tap NIR Lock-In Pixel CMOS Image Sensor with Background Light Cancelling Capability for Non-Contact Heart Rate Detection."

"Sensor technologies, whether for the Internet of Things, industrial electronics, or biomedical applications, have been and continue to be an important part of the VLSI Symposia. This year, both Technology and Circuits papers fall into this category. First, C. Cao from Shizuoka University will present a CMOS image sensor using two-tap near infrared lock-in pixels for non-contact heart rate detection. The two-tap pixels are used to cancel background light, achieving >98% detection precision even in the presence of sinusoidal varying bright ambient light, comparable to the latest visible-band-based ISP-assisted method. Fabricated in a 0.11um CIS technology, the achieved maximum modulation ratio is 90%, as well as a low random noise of 1.1e-rms."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

3DInCities publishes an interview with Boyd Fowler, Omnivision CTO. Omnivision Nyxel NIR enhancing sensor has been a winner of 3D InCites Award in the Device of the Year category. Few quotes from the interview:

"...drivers of digital imaging technology have converged to two distinct paths: digital photography and machine-vision applications. The former has been the main driver for some time. The latter is a relatively new and growing market space.

Ten years down the road, everything you own could have a camera in it...

High reliability is mission critical for the automotive and medical markets, but the industry doesn’t always see it that way. We consider our automotive and medical image sensors almost as a separate business from our consumer segments to ensure their reliability.

...cost reduction has been another hurdle to overcome. “20 years ago, CMOS image sensors were boutique technologies and very expensive,” said Fowler. “While performance is increasing, the expectation is that the price will drop. Perpetuating that is an ongoing challenge.”

...today, the packaging used to meet reliability requirements ends up being larger and bulkier than other camera modules. What is needed is high reliability combined with very small packaging."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Yole publishes "LiDAR for Automotive - Patent Landscape Analysis" tracing the first automotive LiDAR patents back to 1934:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Yole Developpement is preparing "LiDARs for Automotive and Industrial Applications 2018" report:

"By looking at the different technologies on the market, we can clearly see that the LiDAR market is immature – a ‘work in progress’. Very recent investments of more than $800M over the past three years indicate the ongoing dynamics. The investments are good for technology innovation and production capacity building. The flood of money allows start-ups and manufacturers to prototype and launch pre-series sensors for car and robot-taxi makers who are testing all types of LiDAR internally.

It will take some time to gather feedback and determine what the real requirements are, and that’s why the maturation of LiDAR will take a long time. But time is only one piece of the puzzle; diversity in the technology is also the other tricky aspect to understand this market. From big mechanical rotating LiDAR, MEMS micro-mirrors, to optical phased arrays, or flash LiDAR, the landscape of technologies has never been so diverse. This is a complex situation where time-to-market uncertainty and technology diversity prevents any clear-cut vision of which one will win. With average selling prices (ASPs) ranging from several thousand dollars to $65,000, current LiDAR system are still expensive, which cover a broad range of applications that are still niche markets for now."


Update: EETimes publishes an expanded article "Lidar Tech Today, Lidar Vendors Tomorrow" based on Yole report:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Xinhua: China's first cloud AI chip was released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The MLU100 chip was developed by Cambricon Technology to enable accurate and fast big data processing, especially in image and voice search tasks.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PRNewswire: China-based SmartSens introduces a "starlight class" 1080p60 sensor SC2310, another product based on the SmartClarity NIR-enhancing technology after the introduction of the SC5235.

"Advanced integrated circuit architecture and BSI process gives this series of products exceptional night vision capability, allowing this series of products to present full color images even under extreme low light conditions with minimum illumination."

SC2310 has an optical format of 1/2.7", 3.0um BSI pixel with a sensitivity of 4800mV/Lux·s, a maximum SNR of 43dB, and a DR greater than 100dB. Also, SC2310 includes NIR sensitivity enhancement, allowing the QE at 850-940nm to almost double.

This sensor is targeted to be in mass production by Q2 2018.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

BusinessWire: Samsung introduces a 16MP ISOCELL Slim 3P9 image sensor along with a pre-optimized turnkey camera module to expedite time-to-market.

“Samsung’s ISOCELL image sensors take advantage of various technologies to deliver innovative imaging experiences in mobile devices,” said Ben K. Hur, VP of System LSI marketing at Samsung. “The ISOCELL Plug and Play solution will help reduce time-to-market for set makers and offer a quality-assured camera solution to end-users.”

The Samsung ISOCELL Slim 3P9 is a 1.0μm 16MP image sensor with Tetracell technology that merges four neighboring pixels so that the 3P9 can function as a 2.0μm image sensor for front-facing cameras that can take brighter pictures in low-lit environments.

For faster auto-focusing, the 3P9 PDAF with doubled auto-focus agent density than that of conventional PDAF sensors. In addition, the sensor significantly stabilizes pictures and videos taken while in motion with a gyro-synchronizer that syncs frame exposure time from the sensor with movement data from the device’s gyroscope. Once the data is synced, the mobile processor can simply adjust the frames based on movement rather than rigorously analyzing each frame to detect and compensate for angular movement.

Samsung Plug and Play solution for the 3P9 is a rear camera module made up of parts from different providers. Since the optimization and reliability tests are done beforehand at the module-level rather than on the sensor alone, manufacturers can simply plug the camera module onto their device, saving up to four months of development time.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony presents a new line of global shutter sensors with 9um-large pixels:


Sony also unveils a new lineup of automotive HDR image sensors with LED flicker mitigation:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany (FAU) proposes a low fill factor pixels pseudo-randomly rotated in the pixel array to improve resolution by a factor of 4 and avoid alias artifacts. Microlens usage and complicated signal routing in the pixel array are not mentioned:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

PRWeb: Algolux has closed a $10M Series A funding round led by GM Ventures. The syndicate includes Drive Capital, Intact Ventures, and a follow-on investment from Real Ventures.

“Safety is the overriding priority for autonomous vehicle development. Complete autonomy will only be realized through a leap in perception and inference performance. Algolux’s unique machine learning applications can accelerate the realization of these performance gains for next generation perception stacks, and thus accelerate the advancement of safe autonomous transportation," said Jason Nolte, GM Ventures Investment Manager.

“Drive Capital is passionate about enabling the next generation of sensing systems, with a strong focus on how artificial intelligence can advance the state of the art. We’re excited to be an early investor in Algolux because we believe the company’s powerful approach to addressing the challenges in computer vision will accelerate phenomenal growth in the market for perception systems,” said Mark Kvamme, Partner at Drive Capital.

“We are delighted to welcome GM Ventures, Drive Capital and Intact Ventures to Algolux. As the number of cameras more than triple to over 45 billion in the next 5 years, providers will be challenged to meet the demand for complex technical specifications, especially with regards to safety in the automotive industry,” said Allan Benchetrit, co-founder and CEO. “Our growing customer engagement and the recognition from industry and strategic investors clearly validate that Algolux is filling a market need through increased vision system effectiveness, quicker time-to-market, and considerable cost savings.”

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

SeekingAlpha: ON Semi Q1 2018 earnings call updates on the company's image sensor business:

"We continue to further strengthen our position in imaging market for automotive and industrial applications and demand outlook for our imaging products continues to strengthen.

We continue to see strong demand for our image sensors for ADAS applications. With a complete line of image sensors, including 1, 2, and 8 megapixels, we are the only provider of complete range of pixel densities on a single platform for the next generation ADAS and autonomous driving applications. We believe that a complete line of image sensors on a single platform provides us with significant competitive advantage, and we continue working to extend our technology lead over our competitors.

Our design win pipeline for ADAS continues to grow at a rapid pace. We are actively engaged with our ecosystem partners for development of next-generation ADAS systems, and we remain the primary image sensor partner for leading ADAS and autonomous driving technology leaders. Driven by our technology lead, we are seeing strong traction for our image sensors for ADAS applications in China.

In the machine vision market, we continued our momentum with our Python line of image sensors. According to Yole Development, a leading market research firm, ON Semiconductor is the leader in image sensors for industrial applications. With leadership in industrial and automotive markets, ON Semiconductor has emerged as a powerhouse for the most demanding and challenging imaging applications. As I indicated on previous earnings calls, we continue to develop synergies with our expertise in the automotive imaging market to accelerate our growth in the machine vision market as both of these markets are driven by artificial intelligence and face similar challenges, such as low light conditions, dynamic range and harsh operating environments.

The image sensor piece, overall we’ve been managing the consumer part down as a margin play, so growth in total was much higher for the automotive image sensors than is reflected there in the division. The actual sequential for automotive up 20% year over-year, yes, so that’s actually substantially higher for that piece of the business."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

DPReview: Corephotonics files another lawsuit on its dual camera patent infringement, now covering its most recently granted patent and the latest iPhone X and iPhone 8. The patent was granted in January 2018, after the iPhone X and iPhone 8 release, but, I guess, the patent application has been published some time before that.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Caeleste unveils CAE301 “ELFIS” image sensor based on LFoundry LF11IS BSI process:

Features:

• 1920x1080 pixels
• 15 μm pixel pitch
• Global shutter using a “GS” CMOS technology with buried storage node
• TID, SEU and SEL rad-hard design
• QE > 90% by backside illumination
• Read noise using CDS 2.5 e-RMS
• QFW in HDR mode 250000 e-
• “True” HDR based on the patented “3-level TG” method, reaching a single exposure, single integration time, synchronous DR > 100dB

The sensor is intended for high-end applications such as space missions earth and sky observation, scientific high speed imaging, and imaging in nuclear environment.


Caeleste also presents an imager for pushbroom cameras and a stand-alone rad-hard ADC for cryogenic and space applications.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

TI OPT8320 3D ToF SoC integrates pixel array, timing generator, ADC, depth engine, and illumination driver. The built-in depth engine computes the depth data from the digitized sensor data. In addition to the phase data, the depth engine provides auxiliary information consisting of amplitude, ambient, and flags for each pixel and the full-array statistical information in the form of a histogram. As a fully integrated solution, it stands out in the company's ToF lineup:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

BusinessWire: SiOnyx reports that its Kickstarter launch for the SiOnyx Aurora, the HD action video camera with day and night color imaging, has achieved a 3X past its target of $50K in the first 4 days of its public debut:

• In less than 3.5 hours, SiOnyx passed its $50K goal
• In less than 48 hours, SiOnyx exceeded 200% of goal
• In less than 72 hours, Aurora became the #2 ranked product under the Design and Tech Category/Camera Category
• In less than 72 hours, Aurora became the #46 project overall, out of more than 3700 ongoing projects
• More than 400 backers and growing

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

MIPI publishes Sony presentation on challenges of automotive applications. Quite a lot of changes are needed in the MIPI link, including 15m-long cable support:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

SensL publishes its LiDAR poster from Photonics West 2018. Few clips:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

SystemPlus publishes a reverse engineering report of Heimann 32 x 32-pixe thermopile LWIR sensor with silicon lens:

"A low-definition, 32 x 32 thermopile sensor, Heimann Sensor’s HTPA32x32d is... cheaper than a microbolometer and easier to integrate, the thermopile offers very good performance for applications that do not require high-resolution images and a high frame rate.

The thermopile array sensor consists only of a 0.5cm³ camera (with lens). The system is made easy for integrators with a digital I²C interface, and includes for the first time a silicon lens for low-cost applications. The 32 x 32 array sensor uses a 90µm pixel based on a thermopile technology for a very compact design."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Globenewswire: Magna and Innoviz will supply the BMW Group with solid-state LiDAR for upcoming autonomous vehicle production platforms. This deal is said to be one of the first in the auto industry to include solid-state LiDAR for serial production. This solid-state LiDAR is said to be able to generate a 3D point cloud in real time even in challenging settings such as direct sunlight, varying weather conditions and multi-LiDAR environments.

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

TrinamiX presents its XperYenZ distance measuring system working through the fiber:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Event driven image sensor startup Insightness presents its evaluation kit:

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Sony reports its 2017 yearly results for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2018. While the past year results are very good, the forecast is less so - the profits are expected to decline due to "Increase in depreciation and amortization expenses as well as in research and development expenses:"


SeekingAlpha earnings call transcript gives few more details on the forecast:

"The rate of growth in demand for image sensors is likely to decline in the short term due to saturation of the smartphone market. But over the medium to long-term we expect further growth to come from expansion of new applications such as 3D sensing, security, factory automation and automotive.

So concerning the increase in capacity of image sensors we will watch the supply and demand situation.

And the forecast of a semiconductor business in fiscal 2018 and improvement of product mix. They immediately - the spread of dual camera on smartphone. The pace is slower than we initially expected, but the sensing demand increase is faster than we thought. And so for fiscal ‘18 we will continue to expand the sales of high end image sensors and at the same time work on the implement our profitability.

In other words, we will come up with the high value added product where we can secure the high margin. And at the same time work on the technology development for the new applications such as autos and sensing.

And another point if they are there the plans for investment for the future, because on your R&D expense the last year 450 billion yen, this year 470 billion yen, increase of about 20 billion yen in investment."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Merck launches its new CellStream benchtop flow cytometry system that uses a camera for detection. Its unique optics system and design provide researchers with unparalleled sensitivity and flexibility when analyzing cells and submicron particles.

The CellStream system’s Amnis time-delay integration (TDI) camera technology rapidly captures low-resolution cell images and converts them to high-throughput intensity data with enhanced fluorescence sensitivity.

"The custom camera within CellStream flow cytometers operates using this TDI technique, whereby a specialized detector readout mode preserves sensitivity and image quality, even with fast relative movement between the detector and the objects being imaged. The TDI detection technology of the CCD camera allows up to 1000 times more signal to be acquired from cells in flow than from conventional frame imaging approaches. Velocity detection and autofocus systems maintain proper camera synchronization and focus during the process of image acquisition."

Go to the original article...

Image Sensors World        Go to the original article...

Daqri smart glasses rely on an array of cameras, including 3D Intel RealSense:


The company's Chief Scientist Daniel Wagner publishes a nice overview of 3D camera technologies together with AR glasses requirements for a depth camera:


"First, sensors need to be very small in order to integrate into headsets of comparably restricted size. For AR headsets, small can be defined as “mobile phone class sensors” in size,e.g., a camera module no more than 5mm thick.

Second, the depth camera should use as little power as possible, ideally something noticeably lower than 500 mW, since the overall heat dissipation capability of the average headset is just a few watts.

Third, in order to further save power, the depth camera should not require intensive processing of the sensor output since that would result in further power consumption.

For environmental scanning, the depth camera needs to see as far as possible — in practice roughly a range of around 60 cm to 5 meters.

In contrast, user input needs to work at only arm’s length, hence a range of around 20 to 100 cm.

Lastly, there is the matter of calibration. As automatic built-in self-calibration is not yet available, they rely on the factory calibration to remain valid over their lifetime, which can be a problem."

Go to the original article...