OmniVision Claims Only Auto Sensors with HDR to 140dB

A simple diagram for a difficult and safety critical task. Click to Enlarge.

OmniVision Technologies today announced the first two members of its new automotive image sensor platform—the 8MP, front-view OX08A and OX08B.

“The optimal clarity and range offered by this platform, in combination with integrated ASIL-C features, is vital for front-view automotive applications, such as ADAS and level 3+ autonomous vehicles, where the ability to accurately detect people and objects from far away in all lighting conditions is safety-critical,” said OmniVision.

Nice looking and potentially very profitable.

The high-resolution OX08A has what’s said to be the automotive industry’s best HDR, while the pinout-compatible OX08B  has better LED flicker mitigation (LFM) performance, enabled by the sensor’s on-chip HALE (HDR and LFM engine) combination algorithm.

If the driving environment has very dark and very bright areas, e.g., exiting a tunnel with the sun low on the horizon,  high-performance HDR sensors are needed. In addition, LEDs are becoming omnipresent on the road, including illumination, traffic lights, road signs and bus displays. Having a sensor with an LFM solution is a must for automotive applications to extract all the necessary information in front of a vehicle, according to the Santa Clara based California company.

“These new image sensors utilize OmniVision’s dual conversion gain (DCG) technology to achieve 82dB dynamic range on the first exposure, whereas competitors’ image sensors only provide a dynamic range of 60dB or less. Unlike DCG, the competing method, known as staggered HDR, relies on additional passes that introduce motion artifacts and diminish range, especially in low light,” said Celine Baron, staff automotive product marketing manager at OmniVision.

“Additionally, OmniVision’s 3D stacking technology allowed us to integrate our unique HALE algorithm into the OX08B. The result is that this sensor platform provides an industry-leading 140dB HDR, along with the best LFM performance and high 8MP resolution for superior front-view captures, regardless of external lighting conditions,” Baron claimed.