Sensor Technology
detected. This wake-on-event architecture significantly reduces overall system power consumption while improving detection accuracy and minimizing false triggers, making it ideal for parked-vehicle security, surround-view sentry systems and other always-on automotive applications.
Improved image quality
The latest pixel high dynamic range (HDR) technology, TheiaCel, is designed primarily to solve the automotive camera problem of seeing both very dark and bright scenery while avoiding LED flicker.
Imagine this scenario: it’s night-time, and the road, surroundings and pedestrians are relatively dark. An oncoming car approaches with bright headlights. It’s also raining and the traffic lights and LED road signs reflect off the wet road surface while pulsing rapidly. This combination of low-light conditions, intense glare and LED flicker can create a potentially dangerous driving situation.
Conventional HDR sensors have to balance these extremes. If it exposes the dark areas, bright LEDs and headlights can saturate. If it exposes the bright areas, the dark scenes become noisy. LED flicker
is particularly problematic. The pulsing LED can interact poorly with the camera’s exposure, and the captured image can contain dark bands or missing flickering traffic lights, posing a serious issue for ADAS and AD perception (Figure 3). To address this issue, new image sensors use single-photodiode lateral overflow integrating capacitor (LOFIC) technology, replacing previous-generation solutions that used a split-pixel HDR concept. This new TheiaCel pixel avoids the additional loss of sensitivity and active pixel area by generating HDR imaging from a single photodiode with greatly extended overall
signal range. This is especially useful for the downsized pixels of high-resolution sensors. The pixel effectively reads the photodiode at different conversion gains, allowing it to preserve useful information in both low- light and high-light conditions. The automotive camera industry has reached a performance limit in regard to maintaining good low-light image quality, especially for high resolution image sensors that are used in new generations of automotive exterior camera systems. In addition, power consumption figures,
Conclusion
Looking ahead, we see automotive cameras evolving from passive image capture devices into intelligent sensing nodes. By combining industry-leading image sensing
technologies such as TheiaCel HDR, edge AI and ultra-low-power computing, OMNIVISION is building complete vision solutions that deliver not only high image quality but also real-time, intelligent perception.
Ultimately, the goal is to help OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers build safer, smarter, and more energy-efficient software-defined vehicles through the seamless integration of sensing, processing, and AI at the edge.
www.ovt.com
Highly sensitive infrared sensors open up opportunities for medicine, mobility and industrial imaging
Infrared sensors (front) and an illustration of a measurement. © Heimann Sensor
T
he Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (IPMS), in collaboration with Heimann Sensor and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials
Research Dresden (IFW Dresden), is developing the technological foundation for a new generation of thermoelectric infrared sensor arrays. By integrating highly efficient thermoelectric materials into CMOS-compatible manufacturing technology for the first time, the project aims to create significantly more powerful sensors. The goal is to achieve a temperature resolution of less than 20 millikelvin with pixel sizes of less than 45 micrometres, which is an important step toward new applications in medicine, industry, mobility and security.
Thermoelectric infrared sensors enable noncontact temperature measurement and the generation of thermal images. They are already in use today in process monitoring, building automation, and security technology. However, the performance of current systems is limited by the thermocouple materials used. The new project addresses this challenge
www.cieonline.co.uk
by employing significantly more efficient thermoelectric materials and a novel MEMS device concept.
The goal of improving temperature resolution opens up numerous new areas of application. In the medical field, future applications could be developed to support early cancer detection or the detection of externally visible inflammation. In the context of senior living, the sensors also enable new solutions, such as the reliable detection of falls or emergency situations in the home.
Furthermore, autonomous vehicles benefit from the higher sensitivity of the sensor arrays. For industrial applications, new possibilities are opening up in thermography and process monitoring. In addition, the use of these sensors in cost-effective solutions for contactless temperature measurement opens the door to further application and market segments. Fraunhofer IPMS is taking on key roles in the project’s development of MEMS technology. This includes the integration of novel thermocouple layers, the development
Figure 3. LED image flicker can create a problem in HDR camera systems for traffic lights, as shown in the close-up.
higher operating temperatures and smaller size camera module designs place further challenges for automotive ADAS and AD applications. TheiaCel addresses these challenges to enable the next big performance leap in automotive image sensors.
and optimization of the necessary manufacturing processes, and the production of demonstrator chips. In addition, strategies are being developed to integrate the new materials into the institute’s 200-mm production line in the future. The project partners will initially demonstrate the developed technologies
using passive sensor arrays. In a subsequent development phase, these will be used to create active sensor arrays with integrated CMOS drive electronics. The goal is to achieve a technology readiness level (TRL) of 4 with the demonstrators developed in the project.
https://www.ipms.fraunhofer.de/en.html Components in Electronics October 2026 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
