High-rez automotive viewing camera ICs add cybersecurity features

OmniVision Technologies, Inc. announced during CES the OX03F10 automotive image sensor. This sensor expands OmniVision’s next-generation ASIL-C viewing camera family with higher 3MP resolution and cybersecurity features that are required as vehicle designers make the transition from Level 2 and 3 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to higher levels of autonomy. The OX03F10 also maintains the family’s unique combination of a large 3.0-micron pixel size with a high dynamic range (HDR) of 140dB and the best-LED flicker mitigation (LFM) performance for minimized motion artifacts. Additionally, the sensor is offered in a 1/2.44” optical format and features a 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 interface.

This is also the first viewing image sensor with HDR and LFM that can deliver the wide vertical array resolution of 1920 x 1536p at the highest rate of 60 frames per second (fps). This provides the high image quality needed when feeding surround view system (SVS) captures into autonomous, machine vision systems. The OX03F10’s wider vertical array is also important in e-mirror applications, for wider coverage and blind-spot elimination.

While vehicle designers need cybersecurity to ensure the images supplied to autonomous systems have not been altered, they are also beginning to develop augmented reality (AR) applications that can take advantage of the OX03F10’s capabilities. This AR camera functionality is currently being explored for a broad range of applications within the vehicle, including infotainment systems.

The OX03F10 also maintains the industry’s smallest package size, along with low power consumption, enabling the placement of cameras that continuously run at 60 fps in even the tightest spaces for stringent styling requirements. Additionally, it retains the family’s basic image processing capabilities, including defect pixel correction and lens correction. Furthermore, OmniVision’s integrated HALE (HDR and LFM engine) combination algorithm remains the only imaging technology that can simultaneously provide top HDR and LFM performance. This results in the greatest image quality for automotive viewing applications—including SVS, rearview cameras (RVC), and e-mirror camera monitoring systems (CMS)—across all lighting conditions and in the presence of flickering LEDs from headlights, road signs, and traffic signals.

OmniVision’s Deep Well, dual conversion gain technology enables the OX03F10 to capture significantly lower motion artifacts than the few competing sensors that offer 140dB HDR. Additionally, the company’s split-pixel LFM technology with four captures offers the best performance over the entire automotive temperature range.

This next-generation family of viewing camera image sensors also features OmniVision’s PureCel Plus-S stacked architecture, which provides pixel performance advantages over nonstacked technology. For example, 3D stacking allowed OmniVision to boost pixel and dark current performance, resulting in a significant performance improvement over the prior generation of its viewing camera sensors.

This new OX03F10 image sensor is available now for limited sampling in a-CSP and a-BGA packages and is planned to be AEC-Q100 Grade 2 certified.