image sensors

Mobile World Congress 2013

It’s that time of the year again, only a couple of weeks to go until the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona kicks off. I’ll be meeting many of my friends and old colleagues there, it will be great to catch up with everyone.

Some of the things I’m looking forward to:

  • Last year Nokia introduced their 41Mpixel camera phone. What’s new in camera land this year?
  • Huawei about doubled their presence each year, what did they do this time?
  • The Dutch Mobile Networking Event – the Dutch party to be at, run by Caroline Spek
  • What’s new in accessories? Will we see new wrist accessories? What’s next, a bluetooth ring?
  • How many new phones will be waterproof like Sony’s?
  • What’s up with the latest displays? Can we bend them? Will we go higher than full HD for mobile? Anything new that lowers the power consumption or increases the quality?
  • Is anyone able to challenge ARM? They’re pretty much a monopolist in mobile.
  • Will Imagination Tech position their recently acquired MIPS products for mobile?
  • How is mobile app development evolving?

Looking forward to see you there. Please don’t hesitate to contact me in case you’d like to meet.

 

 

By |cameras, chips, displays, gadgets, image sensors, Mobile and apps, Uncategorized, video|0 Comments
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Super cameras out of a spray can

Researchers from the Technische Universität München have developed a new generation of image sensors that are 3x more sensitive to light than the conventional CMOS versions, with the added bonus of being simple and cheap to produce. These sensors can be manufactured without the expensive post-processing step typically required for CMOS sensors, which involves for example applying micro-lenses to increase the amount of captured light. Instead, every part of every single pixel, including the electronics, is sprayed with a liquid polymer solution, giving a surface that is 100 percent light-sensitive. Changing the chemical compound turns the sensor into an infrared sensor for night vision.

In short, better and cheaper cameras that also work at night. Me want.

Read the full story

By |cameras, chips, image sensors, manufacturing, Mobile and apps, Semiconductors, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Retailers watching customers with eye socket cameras

Interesting article at Fast Company

As if store mannequins weren’t creepy enough already, shops like Benetton are peppering their storefronts and shop floors with dummies that have a camera embedded in a single eye socket, that will watch while you shop.

They’re at eye level, and customers tend to pay attention to them more.

I’m used to exactly the opposite: showing off the security cameras to deter shoplifting. The eye socket cameras are much more tricky, and are a clear step toward a future where cameras are embedded into many objects around us. Be prepared to be watched.

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Very very small pixels

Researchers at Stanford University are developing a multi-aperture image sensor which groups arrays of 16×16 pixels, then puts a tiny lens on each group. Their 3Mpixel image sensor in this way includes a total of 12,616 lenses, compared to a shabby single lens commonly found in cameras. The benefits are plentiful. The simpler electronic design means the pixels can be 0.7um, much smaller than Kodak’s 1.4um pixels that I posted about earlier. Camera modules incorporating this technique can be made even smaller, cheaper, more robust, and, most importantly, grab better pictures. Instead of taking a single snapshot, the camera actually takes 12,616 pictures, which can be combined with digital image processing techniques to capture 3D image data, to accurately control depth of field, focus, etc. With enough image processing power available in the camera, this opens up a whole world of new possibilities.

A high level overview of the work can be found here and their technical ISSCC paper can be found here.

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