CMOS sensors take on digital imaging

National Semiconductor has expanded its CMOS imaging portfolio with the introduction of seven new CMOS sensors for today's rapidly growing digital imaging market.

National Semiconductor has expanded its CMOS imaging portfolio with the introduction of seven new CMOS sensors for today's rapidly growing digital imaging market.

The new image sensors provide a diverse choice of features, offering low power dissipation and the best dynamic range and light sensitivity available in the market today.

The monochrome and colour sensors in the LM96XX family are optimised for a variety of imaging applications in wireless access devices, entry-level digital cameras and industrial products, including security cameras and scanners.

"National has been an innovator in the image sensor market since its inception", said Cyrille Claustres, marketing manager Europe for National's custom solutions group.

"Our new image sensors boast features that are first in the industry, including the highest sensitivity and frame rate required for high speed motion detection, and the widest dynamic and industrial temperature ranges demanded for surveillance and automotive applications", "The imaging market is growing tremendously", said Brian O'Rourke, senior analyst, converging markets and technologies group for In-Stat MDR.

"We're seeing some customers who traditionally used CCD image sensors transitioning to CMOS sensors like the ones National is introducing because the image quality has improved.

National's broad new product portfolio and their ability to customise will allow them to serve a wide variety of customers and new applications".

In addition to web and digital still camera applications, the sensitivity, image quality and integration capabilities of National's CMOS sensor family are contributing to the development of new applications.

For example, digital pens featuring "Anoto functionality" are turning handwritten notes, doodles and sketches into digital images.

"Anoto is glad to work with National as technology provider because National's technologies and level of support can make a difference to digital pens, enabling Anoto functionality", said Christer F?hraeus, CEO for Anoto Group.

Also new are "intelligent" door opening systems made possible by WeSpot, Anoto's smart camera development group.

WeSpot recently signed an agreement with Optex, Asia's largest manufacturer of door opening applications, where Optex will switch to vision technology and adopt WeSpot's Smart Door Opener for automatic doors.

"National's LM9618 image sensor makes it possible to minimise system cost and increase the performance in today's high tech, intelligent door opener applications", said Noroz Akhlagi, chief scientific officer for WeSpot.

Lundinova, an imaging design house in Lund, Sweden, is partnering with National in developing ARM7 processor-based reference designs that use National's LM9647 and LM9648 CMOS image sensors.

"The combination of Lundinova's experience in software for image processing and National's image sensor products enabled us to develop an image pipeline with extremely good colour rendering, even in difficult light conditions", said Anders Alvin, founder and manager for Lundinova.

Following on the success of National's LM9627 and LM9617, the seven new single chip image sensors are members of National's CMOS image sensor family of devices.

Each is optimised for a wide variety of both current and future digital imaging applications.

The highly reliable monochrome LM9618 and colour LM9628 VGA CMOS image sensors feature the widest linear and nonlinear dynamic ranges and deliver crisp images in challenging light conditions such as uneven light distribution.

Setting a new industry standard, they operate over industrial temperature ranges and are ideal for outdoor applications including lane tracking, collision avoidance, automobile rear-view mirrors and security cameras.

The highly sensitive monochrome sub-QCIF (quarter common interface format) LM9630 features pixels that yield high image quality at frame rates exceeding 600 frames per second.

It operates reliably over the entire industrial temperature range and delivers high contrast images in low light conditions.

These features are particularly important in the detection of faint patterns or objects moving at high speed (faster than the human eye).

The LM9630 is ideal for motion detection and fast tracking in optical input devices, and automotive and industrial applications including airbag control.

With an optical format of one half inch, the high performance 1.3Mpixel monochrome LM9638 and colour LM9648 sensors offer very low power consumption and provide the best low light operation of any CMOS sensor available today.

Their high performance analogue front end makes them ideal for use in applications where high quality image capture is paramount.

Other applications include dual mode and security cameras, clip-on and embedded cameras for PDAs and cell phones, and biometrics.

The optical format for the monochrome LM9637 and colour LM9647 VGA CMOS image sensors is one quarter inch.

Their architecture, pixel design and colour filters are identical to the LM9638 and LM9648, which allow customers to reuse a single reference design with up to four different sensors.

Applications include clip-on and embedded cameras for PDAs and cell phones, dual mode cameras, security cameras, biometrics and 2D barcode scanners.

Sample kits for all new CMOS image sensors are available now.

The LM9618, LM9628, LM9638 and LM9648, all in a 48-pin CLCC package, will be in production in June.

In high volume quantities, the LM9618 and LM9628 are priced at $11.40, and the LM9638 and LM9648 are $13.50.

The LM9630, LM9637 and LM9647, all in a 32-pin CLCC packages, will be released to production in July.

In high volume quantities, the LM9637 and LM9647 are priced at $7.00 and the LM9630 is $8.00.

Evaluation kits and interchangeable headboards are available for each image sensor along with four different lens kits to aid the engineer in selecting the optimum sensor for their specific application.

All are available through distribution or online.

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