Displays & LED

ULIS claims “world’s smallest thermal image sensor”

Wed, Apr 10, 2019

For small thermal cameras, ULIS is presenting the ATT0640 at the SPIE Defence and Commercial Sensing show in Baltimore, Maryland, USA (14 to 18 April).

It is claimed to be the world’s smallest 60Hz VGA/12 micron thermal image sensor and enables the use of smaller thermal cameras with extended battery autonomy in portable equipment for commercial and defence applications.

The sensor can be used in thermal weapon sights (TWS), surveillance and handheld thermography cameras, as well as personal vision systems (PVS), including portable monoculars and binoculars for consumer outdoor leisure, law enforcement and border control.

The PVS segment alone, is expected to see annual unit growth of 30 per cent between 2018 to 2024 (according Yole Developpement: Uncooled Infrared Imagers and Detectors 2019).

The Atto640 measures 16.5 x 16.5mm and is designed to address the size, weight and power (SWaP) reduction requirements across commercial and defence thermal image applications.

The surface mount VGA format device joins the existing QVGA Atto320 to give camera manufacturers more choice in the company’s 12 micron product range. ULIS adds that compared to 17 micron pixel pitch technology, the 12 micron pitch enables them to use smaller and lower cost optics.

Atto640 uses wager level packaging (WLP) to achieve the size advantage, describing this technology, in which the detector window is directly bonded to the wafer, as enabling a significant reduction in the overall dimension of the sensor.

The footprint of the Atto640 footprint is half the size of ULIS’ Pico640-046 (17 micron) model. The WLP enables a batch-processing technique and is suited to high-volume production.

Samples of Atto640 are currently available, with production ramp-up slated for the end of 2019. ULIS intends to further extend its 12 micron product line up with larger resolution sensors.

ULIS is a subsidiary of Sofradir. It designs and manufactures thermal image sensors for commercial, defence and security applications. Established in 2002, ULIS claims to be the world’s second largest producer of thermal image sensors (microbolometers), exporting 97 per cent of its products to camera makers across Europe, Asia and North America.

ULIS products range from low-resolution to megapixel military-grade sensors. They are used to detect threats, diagnose heat loss, avoid road obstacles, perform air-to air refuelling, locate search and rescue victims and observe nature.

http://www.ulis-ir.com

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SoCs deliver video warping for sharp images in digital signage

Fri, Jan 11, 2019

SoCs from Omnitek are designed for video warping in the small projector and digital signage markets. The Flex SoCs are shipping now, after debuting at CES in Las Vegas this week.

The Flex 2K for 2K video (2048 x 1200) and Flex 4K for 4K video (4096 x 2400), both operate at up to 60 frames per second. Both perform a set of image geometry correction functions on a video stream, including rectilinear or arbitrary image warps and 360 degree rotation, as well as edge blending. These characteristics make them suitable for projector image correction and projection of a single large image from multiple projectors. Additionally, they can be used for camera lens correction, such as fish-eye lens distortion, explains Omnitek. The real-time response of the Flex 4K extends its suitability to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications.

The SoCs are based on FPGA technology and are programmed as fixed-function parts and supported by evaluation boards, reference software and datasheets. No FPGA design skills are required to use them confirms Omnetek.

Roger Fawcett, CEO, Omnitek, explained the choice of FPGA technology: “Since the Flex devices are FPGA based, we can offer those customers our customisation service with a rapid turnaround to enable them to get differentiated products to market quickly,” he said.

Omnitek designs intelligent video and vision systems based on programmable FPGAs and SoCs. Design services are combined with optimised FPGA intellectual property (IP) cores covering high-performance video / vision and artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning enable the company to provide cost-optimised solutions to a range of markets. Omnitek also designs and manufactures a suite of video test & measurement equipment.

http://www.omnitek.tv

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Osram and GaN Systems develop fast laser driver for lidar

Tue, Jan 08, 2019

Optoelectronics specialist, Osram Opto Semiconductors, and GaN power semiconductor manufacturer, GaN Systems have collaborated on laser driver technology that enables longer range and higher resolution lidar architectures.

Osram’s laser portfolio for lidar includes the SPL DS90A_3 with a peak power of 120W at 40A. The company plans to release a four-channel SMT laser in 2019. The additional channels increase the field of view (FoV) and total peak power, with each channel being capable of generating 120W.

One of the issues with lidar technology has been its inability to transmit lasers at short pulses, while maintaining high peak power, which is necessary to ensure that the lidar with a long range and high resolution is safe to the human eye. To address this need, the two companies have developed a laser driver with a one nanosecond pulse rise time, while driving all four channels at 40A each to deliver 480W peak power. This peak power can be modulated at low-duty cycles to produce high resolution 3D cloud points at long range for new lidar designs.

Scanning lidar is used in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Devices react instantly to potential collisions without wasting precious seconds of reaction time. Scanning lidar creates high-resolution 3D images of a car’s surroundings and registers obstacles early enough for ADAS, or self-driving cars, to initiate the appropriate driving manoeuvres, such as braking.

http://www.osram-os.com

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IP innovates with visually lossless image compression for GPUs

Fri, Nov 02, 2018

Providing a reduction in memory footprint, Imagination Technologies has announced PowerVR PVRIC4 technology which provides cost savings for memory and bandwidth-constrained devices such as DTVs, smartphones and tablets.

The company explains that its new generation of powerful image compression technology will enable SoC to reduce costs without a discernable loss of image quality. PVRIC4 enables random-access visually lossless image compression, ensuring bandwidth and memory footprint savings of at least 50 per cent, confirms Imagination, and enables systems to overcome performance bandwidth constraints.

PVRIC4 is provided as a standalone IP block for SoC manufacturers, already used by partners.

PVRIC4 features a dual-pipeline framebuffer compression engine. A new lossy pipeline, used only if the lossless pipeline does not achieve 50 per cent compression, ensures that even difficult to compress ‘noisy’ images are compressed with the highest fidelity. A decision logic block determines which output should be used to guarantee the compression ratio, and highly tuned algorithms ensure the image quality change is imperceptible. The hybrid solution offers SoC manufacturers high fidelity ensuring bandwidth and frame buffer allocation savings on graphics and video content, says the company, all performed in hardware and achieved without any performance overhead.

PVRIC4’s bandwidth savings translate into better battery life and cost savings for system manufacturers. RAM and bandwidth can be freed for other uses, such as enabling simultaneous fast 5G downloads while the GPU is in use, or a reduction in the number of DRAM devices used in the system.

PVRIC4 will be available as a feature in next-generation PowerVR GPUs and is available for licensing now as a standalone IP block.

Imagination Technologies provides a range of silicon IP (intellectual property) including key processing blocks needed to create the SoCs that power all mobile, consumer and embedded electronics.

Imagination Technologies was acquired in 2017 by Canyon Bridge, a California-headquartered, global private equity investment fund.

http://www.imgtec.com

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