Ansemy Launches Ultra Low Power Image Sensors, Significantly Improving Image Quality
Time:2023-11-14
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Interview with Annie Tao, Market Manager for Industrial and Consumer Applications in Greater China, Ansemy Intelligent Perception Department
Recently, Ansemy Semiconductor continued to expand its new products in the field of intelligent perception, launching the Hyperlux LP image sensor series suitable for industrial and commercial cameras. The series is based on 1.4 µ m pixels, providing industry-leading image quality and low power consumption, significantly improving image performance, and capturing clear and vivid images even under harsh lighting conditions. How does the Hyperlux LP series demonstrate high performance? What special designs can help achieve high-quality images and low-power performance? What is the future plan? With these questions in mind, China Power Grid and Ansemy Intelligent Sensing Department‘s Industrial and Consumer Applications Greater China Market Manager Annie Tao are discussing more details about the Hyperlux LP image sensor series.
Annie Tao, Market Manager for Industrial and Consumer Applications in Greater China, Senmei Intelligent Perception Department
High performance to meet special scenario requirements
Annie stated that compared to traditional consumer industries, industrial and commercial cameras require faster and higher resolution performance to meet the growing industrial production efficiency. Commercial cameras require lower power consumption and more compact performance to meet consumers‘ demand for portable, powerable, and long-lasting electronic devices in daily life.
Hyperlux LP is a series of low-power, high-quality image sensor products launched by Ansemy, covering applications such as intelligent access control, security cameras, augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR)/extended reality (XR) headwear devices, industrial testing, logistics, healthcare, and video conferencing. This product has ultra-low power consumption technology and built-in motion detection wake-up function, which enhances the device‘s detection ability while more effectively and reliably reducing power consumption. It is worth mentioning that compared to similar products from our competitors, the power consumption has been reduced by nearly half. The advantages of low power consumption, high performance, and low cost make it highly competitive. And the products are available in black and white, color, and RGBIR versions, providing multiple choices for different application markets.
Meanwhile, the Hyperlux LP series has excellent high-resolution image resolution capabilities, allowing customers to choose products with different resolutions based on their usage. In addition, this product series adopts a stacked architecture design, which can minimize product volume. The smallest model is as small as a grain of rice, making it an ideal choice for compact equipment that is plagued by size limitations, greatly adapting to the development needs of products in related fields.
At present, there are differences in image resolution and application scenarios among the Hyperlux LP series AR0830, AR2020, and AR0544 products.
AR0830 with a resolution of 8.3 MP (3840 × 2160) is the most widely used 4K image sensor, which can be widely used not only in machine vision, but also for capturing 4K videos. It is suitable for some applications of human vision, such as compact AR/VR cameras, video conferencing cameras, security monitoring industries, medical and other industries.
AR2020 with a resolution of 20 MP (5120 × 3840), supports on-chip image scaling function, intelligent windowing, ultra-low power performance, and supports motion wake-up function, especially suitable for video conference cameras and industrial detection, as well as AR cameras and biometric recognition applications.
AR0544 with a resolution of 5 MP (2592 × 1944), the overall power consumption of the component is smaller, making it very suitable for wearable applications.
Proprietary technology to help achieve ultra-low power consumption
Industrial and commercial cameras are often placed in locations where it is difficult to replace batteries or charge, making low power consumption a key requirement. Annie stated that Ansemy utilizes proprietary technology to provide excellent image quality under all working conditions and achieve high performance with ultra-low power consumption. When the power consumption of the product is extremely low, the endurance of devices powered by batteries is greatly improved; Low power consumption reduces heat generation, therefore there is no need for a heat sink, and the cost will be lower; The thermal noise of product images can also be well controlled to achieve higher performance image effects. And this is a highly needed feature in the increasingly popular compact and portable battery powered devices, and it is also an important indicator parameter for evaluating an image sensor.
Advanced architecture design to overcome common image quality issues
Image sensors are divided into global shutter and roller shutter based on pixel design. The Hyperlux LP image sensor series belongs to roller shutter, with better image consistency and noise performance. From the perspective of pixel technology, it can be divided into front illuminated, back illuminated, and stacked. The Hyperlux LP series adopts a 1.4um back illuminated pixel and adopts a stacked process, which can stack more digital circuits and integrate more functions inside the chip without increasing the sensor area, maximizing the expansion of the photosensitive area and response performance. Ansemy‘s advanced architecture design overcomes common image quality issues, with good control over both noise and design artifacts.
The future of sensors cannot be separated from a stacked architecture
Annie believes that stack architecture must be the trend of future sensors, and to achieve the integration of more and more computing functions, stack technology must be indispensable. With the use of image sensors no longer being as simple as perception, many processing and calculations now need to be completed inside the sensor, which is why multi-layer stacking technology is needed. Taking the Hyperlux LP image sensor series as an example, it adopts backlit stack technology and embeds a synthesis algorithm with single exposure HDR function inside, thereby achieving a higher dynamic range with lower system power consumption, bandwidth, and cost.
The various wafer layers of stacked image sensors do not necessarily have to be built using the same process. For example, the digital logic layer can choose more advanced processes to integrate more processing units and functions, making the entire sensor a highly intelligent device. This can reduce the performance requirements for back-end processors and simplify the entire camera system. The development of industrial intelligence cannot be separated from the support of stacked processes.
In terms of helping to improve image quality and sensor performance, Ansemy has integrated intelligent motion detection wake-up technology in Hyperlux LP, using a unique Motion-DCT algorithm and combining image sensor scale or binning technology to quickly and accurately detect motion on lower resolution images. In addition, motion detection technology supports the function of selecting regions of interest, which can further reduce system power consumption. The entire image will be divided into several regions for users to choose whether to use the region image for motion detection, in order to avoid invalid regions, thereby reducing the computational complexity of the algorithm, improving detection speed, and reducing power consumption. In addition, this product also has corresponding enhancement in the infrared band, which can be widely used in industries such as security monitoring and medical treatment.
Can image sensors integrate AI functionality?
Annie explained that today, AI is used in over 60% of computer vision applications, and AI‘s growth in manufacturing applications has exceeded a 50% compound annual growth rate. AI is a new tool we need to manage the growing dataset from industrial imaging to achieve Industry 4.0. AI decision-making for imaging has transitioned from cloud to edge to computer systems adjacent to or integrated into the imaging system itself. For example, by keeping the training process of AI on the GPU or cloud, the stack process can be used to integrate decision-making or even related preprocessing onto the image sensor itself, such as integrating low-level or low computational convolutional neural network layers for image recognition on the sensor. Integrating these AI functions into image sensors may become possible.
In the future, we will pursue higher performance products
When discussing Ansemy‘s plans for future image sensor products, Annie said that from the new image sensor products released by Ansemy in the past year, it can be seen that the image industry is pursuing excellent ultra-low power performance, excellent image quality, more on chip integration functions, and an increasing dynamic range. Ansemy is no exception, and continues to develop the above technological routes in the development of image sensors. In addition, higher resolutions are needed to meet the higher end application needs in the market, and faster frame rates are needed to meet the rapidly developing production detection needs. With the development of AI technology and the implementation of 5G transmission, Ansemy will make better planning in interface, computing, size, power consumption, process, and other aspects.
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