Viewpoint: Emerging markets
@imveurope
www.imveurope.com
Michael Gibbons, director of sales and marketing at Point Grey, points to the life sciences as a growth area for machine vision cameras
T
he most opportunities for growth outside of the factory will be in applications such as life sciences where
there is a need for high-resolution, high- performance cameras at a competitive price point. Excellent quantum efficiency, low temporal dark noise and a high dynamic range are key requirements for science applications such as microscopy, pathology, cytometry, cellometry or full spectrum fluorescence imaging, and we have seen an increased demand for our Grasshopper3 USB3 Vision cameras in these types of scientific applications. Also there is an increased demand for
mobile applications and robotic systems such as autonomous surface vehicles (ASV) or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). UAV applications are now a vital component of modern surveillance, homeland/border security and airborne intel operations, as
well as applications in the commercial/civil markets. Advances in consumer technology oſten
pave the way for developments in machine vision technology. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is a perfect example of this phenomenon and the newest version of that standard, USB 3.1, will not be any different. USB 3.1 promises data transfers of 10Gb/s, which is more than double the effective bandwidth of the current USB 3.0 standard. New CCD and CMOS
New CCD and CMOS sensor technologies have also evolved in the last few years
sensor technologies have also evolved in the last few years and have dramatically influenced the development of completely new types of imaging and machine vision systems. Te number of global shutter CMOS sensors available in the
market has increased and CCD technology, such as Sony’s new line of EXview HAD CCD II sensors, has also become more advanced, providing improved quantum efficiency, reduced smear, and increased sensitivity, including into the near infrared. Tere has also been
consolidation within the CMOS sensor market, with a number of smaller sensor companies being acquired by larger players. For example, On Semiconductor, e2v and
Cmosis all announced acquisitions in recent months. It is unclear how this will impact the market, but I expect to see even more advances in CMOS sensor technology: better reliability, more variety, and lower costs.
Sebastien Teysseyre, head of the marketing and solution creation team at e2v, says the benefits of CMOS technology will open up applications outside the factory floor
E
very day the world is becoming increasingly connected. Subsequently, the number of applications requiring
machine vision solutions has significantly increased. Machines, robots and objects are now integrating smart sensors (including some vision sensors with proximity electronics) that allow specific processing to automatically interpret the signal being detected in order to generate an action or to highly process it before being visible to the human eye. Te factory floor is an arena that perfectly illustrates this trend, but it is far from being the only one. Science, medicine, transport monitoring, law enforcement, defence, precision farming, broadcasting, gaming, and automotive are all market segments that show strong demand for this level of automatic detection and are at different levels of maturity. In fact, the applications are so varied that it is difficult to list them,
but they all feed the global trend to make the world more and more connected. How can a sensor manufacturer contribute
In 2015 we’ll demonstrate that a CMOS-based system can be used instead of a gated tube intensifier
to this global trend? Te first contribution that comes to mind is the CCD versus CMOS debate. In 2014, this subject is far from new for those with an interest in imaging and can even be considered as ‘old news’ by some. What is new (and will be one of the hot topics for the coming years), is the true value proposition associated with CCD to CMOS conversion. Yes, CMOS can bring higher cost performance at system level, and yes CMOS has made huge increases in
terms of image quality, but we can now be more precise: CMOS has the unique benefit of answering SWAP-C (size weight and power – cost) requirements, compared with the CCD option. New CMOS-based solutions will be designed to match these new applications and their SWAP-C requirements perfectly, even
24 Imaging and Machine Vision Europe • Yearbook 2014/2015
(and especially) when high image quality is needed. In parallel to this trend, as applications are
moving away from the factory floor and its controlled environment, the imaging sensors are exposed to extreme and possibly harsh environmental conditions, such as fog, rain and snow. Technically, we know how to get a decent image in these conditions by using high power lasers and gated image intensified CCD cameras, but these solutions are physically large, fragile and expensive, limiting their adoption to high-end, niche market applications. It is very likely that, based on the initial results, in 2015 we’ll demonstrate that a CMOS-based system can be used instead of a gated tube intensifier, removing the barrier to entry for many applications. As we are listening to a growing number
of customers, naturally more changes can be expected over the next few years and e2v will maintain a high level of flexibility to complement its strong technology roadmap.
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