Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation has launched two types of stacked event-based vision sensors. These sensors designed for industrial equipment are capable of detecting only subject changes, and achieve the industry’s smallest pixel size of 4.86 μm.
Event-based vision sensors asynchronously detect luminance changes for each pixel and output the changed data only, combining it with information on pixel position (xy coordinates) and time, thereby enabling high-speed, low latency data output.
The IMX636 is a 1/2.5-type with approx. 0.92 megapixels and the IMX637 is the smaller size 1/4.5-type with approx. 0.33 megapixels sensor. Both sensors are available in a Ceramic LGA package.
The maximum event rate is 1.06 Geps (giga events per second). These Event-Based Vision Sensors achieve a dynamic range of 86 dB or more (5-100,000 lux).
The IMX636 and IMX637 employ stacking technology leveraging Sony´s proprietary Cu-Cu connection to achieve the industry´s smallest pixel size of 4.86 µm. In addition to operating with low power consumption and delivering high-speed, low-latency, high-temporal-resolution data output, the new sensors also feature a surprisingly high resolution for their small size. All of these advantages combine to ensure immediate detection of moving subjects in diverse environments and situations.
These two sensors were made possible through a collaboration between Sony and Prophesee, by combining Sony’s CMOS image sensor technology with Prophesee’s unique event-based vision sensing technology. This enables high-speed, high-precision data acquisition and contributes to improve the productivity of the industrial equipment.
Samples of IMX636 and IMX637 Event-Based Stacked Image Sensors are available by FRAMOS as of October 2021.