OmniVision Technologies, has announced the expansion of its Nyxel® near-infrared (NIR) technology into the automotive market with the new 2.5 megapixel OX03A2S image sensor. This ASIL-B sensor is suited for exterior imaging applications that operate in low to no ambient light conditions within 2 meters of the vehicle.
Nyxel technology uses novel silicon semiconductor architectures and processes to achieve the world’s best automotive quantum efficiency of 40% at the 940nm NIR wavelength. This enables the OX03A2S to detect and recognize objects that other image sensors would miss under extremely low lighting conditions, enabling more capable safety systems.
“The OX03A2S combines Nyxel technology and a 3.2 micron pixel to provide the world’s best low light performance of any automotive image sensor. Additionally, our dual conversion gain technology enables optimal HDR performance,” said Mathew Arcoleo, product marketing manager at OmniVision. “This new automotive imaging benchmark opens new possibilities for exterior, close-range cameras within the camera belt, operating in near or total darkness.”
Automotive cameras using the OX03A2S will also require less illumination, thus reducing materials cost and overall power consumption. Additionally, this sensor has a 1/2.44” optical format and comes in an a-CSP™ package that is 50% smaller than the competition to keep cameras out of sight and improve styling.
While this RGB-IR sensor is primarily intended for day and night machine vision applications, it can also provide viewable IR-enhanced RGB images during daytime conditions. Nyxel technology also enhances RGB image captures in bright conditions by improving sensitivity. This provides automotive designers with the flexibility to display a high quality, NIR-enhanced, viewable RGB image during the day, and a high quality machine vision image in both day and night environments.
