e2v, the leading imaging solutions provider, has launched the first member of its Onyx family of low-light CMOS image sensor solutions, which are designed for the most demanding outdoor camera applications where illumination budgets are restricted and industrial machine vision applications where high-speed inspection is required.
The new Onyx EV76C771ABT/ACT is a 2 million pixel CMOS image sensor with a high definition 1080p format. It has been designed using e2v’s advanced CMOS imaging technology and is ideal for many different types of application, where premium performance imaging is required including: high speed industrial inspection/scanning systems, traffic cameras, broadcast cameras, surveillance and border control, science/astronomy and military imaging.
The sensor has an innovative pixel design, which offers excellent performance in low-light conditions, but also caters for ‘all-light’ environments (typical of outdoor camera applications) where Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) is also needed. The device features an electronic global shutter (true snapshot) or rolling shutter mode, and offers a high-readout speed at full resolution. The device features LVDS outputs enabling 14, 12, 10 or 8bits output modes, and >400fps maximum frame rate.
The Onyx sensor pixels have a 2/3 inch optical format (5.3µm x 5.3µm) and feature a lower readout noise than e2v’s previous Sapphire and Ruby CMOS sensor families. The pixels of the Onyx sensor have improved global shutter with Parasitic Light Sensitivity of 4000:1, a higher full well for a wider linear dynamic range, and some non-linear modes to enable image scenes well in excess of 100db to be captured. It also features an on-chip temperature sensor which enables high levels of precision to be maintained in the application.
For customers looking for a rapid time to market and custom high-end imaging applications, e2v also offers the ProxOnyx module, which forms a convenient demonstration platform for customers requiring only the sensor. The ProxOnyx board solution offers some unique and exclusive application features to enable active imaging in fog, smoke and other diffusing environments as well as a Digital Double Sampling (DDS) feature for less than 6e- of total readout noise in global shutter mode, and real-time WDR for imaging in the harshest of climatic conditions.
The Onyx 2MP full HD image sensor will be sampling from mid-November onwards, and full production is planned before the end of this calendar year, with further market variants planned for the near future.
