An image sensor can be called the “Eye of the Machine”. It can be used to assist devices to take static photos and dynamic movies, and then process and analyze the images according to the needs of the application to achieve more advanced and intelligent functions. This article will show you the characteristics of the image sensor and the global shutter image sensor introduced by onsemi.
Various image sensors are available to meet different application requirements
The image sensor is widely applied, and you can see it wherever images need to be shot. Depending on application requirements, you can select different image sensors with varied photosensitive technology (CCD or CMOS), resolution, shutter type, color/monochrome and size to improve the image sensing capability of the device.
As a well-known image sensor supplier in the industry, onsemi offers a broad portfolio of image sensor products, providing camera manufacturers with a variety of choices to meet the requirements of all possible end applications from wearable devices and consumer electronics to demanding industrial and automotive applications. onsemi’s image sensors enable flexibility in configuration and combine the best performance features, such as high speed, high sensitivity and high image quality, to meet specific application requirements. They also provide existing customers with an easy upgrade path and allow manufacturers to use a single camera design to support multiple products, thereby speeding up the time to market.
Global shutter can avoid jelly effect and improve image quality
The shutter controls the exposure of the image sensor. A faster shutter speed is suitable for shooting rapidly moving targets. However, if it is in a dark environment with insufficient brightness, a slow shutter is needed to obtain sufficient exposure so as to obtain a clearer image.
According to its structure, the shutter can be divided into a rolling shutter and a global shutter. The rolling shutter is sensitized by the image sensor in a progressive exposure manner, which can achieve a higher frame rate. However, when the exposure is insufficient or the object moves faster, if the progressive scanning speed is not fast enough, there will be partial exposure, skew image, wobble and other phenomena. This is also called the jelly effect.
The global shutter enables all pixels on the image sensor to collect light and expose at the same time, that is, at the beginning of the exposure, the image sensor starts to collect light, and at the end of the exposure, the light collection circuit is cut off, and then the image on the image sensor can be read out at one time.
According to application requirements, the global shutter is suitable for applications with short exposure time (e.g., less than 500 μs) and for applications with long exposure time (e.g., more than 500 μs), while the rolling shutter can have lower noise and frame rate.
New global shutter sensor provides high quality digital images
onsemi has introduced a number of image sensors equipped with the global shutter to meet the changing needs of the market. For example, the AR0234CS image sensor is a 1/2.6-inch 2.3 Mp CMOS digital image sensor with an active pixel array of 1920 (H) x 1200 (V). It incorporates a new innovative global shutter pixel design optimized for accurate and fast capture of full-resolution moving scenes at 120 frames per second. AR0234CS image sensor can produce clear and low noise images in low light and bright scenes. It incorporates complex camera functions, such as automatic exposure control, windowing, row skip mode, column skip mode, pixel binning, and video and single frame modes. The AR0234CS can be programmed through a simple two-wire serial interface, and produces exceptionally clear and sharp digital pictures with industry-leading global shutter efficiency. Its ability to capture continuous video and single frames makes it the perfect choice for a wide range of applications, including scanning, autonomous mobility, surveillance and industrial quality control.
With the first-class global shutter efficiency, the AR0234CS image sensor features low dark current/hot pixels, highly linear full well function, low operating power, small form factor, built-in statistical engine. It provides a variety of functional modes, such as row and column skipping modes and pixel binning, etc. It can capture fast-moving objects and provide excellent image quality. It can reduce the total noise floor and improve the higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to provide high image fidelity. It has a high dynamic range and can provide higher image clarity, suitable for battery-powered applications and ideal for space-constrained applications. It offloads image processor loads, and uses programmable region of interest (ROI) to provide more scene details. It has the advantage of performance/power trade-off selections for application-specific image quality.
The AR0234CS image sensor can be widely used in gesture recognition, 3D scanning, position tracking, machine vision, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) / mixed reality (MR) / extended reality (XR), home/building access control, barcode scanning, autonomous mobility, biometric identification, commercial surveillance and other fields. Common end products include autonomous mobile robots, autonomous guided vehicles (drones), video doorbells, AR/VR/MR headsets, barcode readers, retail analytics cameras, machine vision cameras, video surveillance cameras, etc.
Various sensor boards available to meet different application requirements
In order to speed up the product development of customers, onsemi has introduced a variety of sensor boards for AR0234CS, including AR0234CSSC00SUKAH3-GEVB for color 0-degree global shutter, AR0234CSSC28SUKAH3-GEVB for color 28-degree global shutter, AR0234CSSM00SUKAH3-GEVB for monochrome 0-degree global shutter, and AR0234CSSM28SUKAH3-GEVB for monochrome 28-degree global shutter. These evaluation boards adopt corresponding AR0234CS image sensors. These sensor boards can be connected to the Demo3 evaluation board or to the AP1302 evaluation board stacked on the Demo3 evaluation board. This combined kit uses popular DevSuite software of onsemi to configure the system. This software offers a comprehensive setup interface for flexible evaluation of the features and capabilities of the sensor.
These sensor boards with a lens suitable for evaluation, and users can also use their own lens as long as they meet the mechanical and optical requirements. To start using these sensor boards, you also need to use Demo3 evaluation board (AGB1N0CS-GEVK), AP1302 evaluation board (optional) and DevSuite software.
Conclusion
With the rapid development of image sensing technology, current image sensors have increasingly higher resolution and better efficiency. They provide high-quality images to meet the needs of different applications. onsemi has advanced image sensor development technology and introduced a variety of image sensors to meet the needs of the market. The AR0234CS global shutter image sensor introduced in this paper has a wide range of application fields, which is worthy of further understanding and adoption.