Sony makes CMOS sensor for cars that sees road signs at 160 meters

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Sony has presented the IMX324. It is a chip of the 1/1.7″ format with a resolution of 7.42 megapixels. The sensor is able to take HD images of road signs at a distance of 160 meters.

According to Sony, the sensor is capable of shooting camera images with a horizontal resolution that is three times higher than that of its predecessor, the IMX223MQV sensor. According to Sony, this means that road signs at a distance of 160 meters are still in focus. The manufacturer recommends the chip for use in autonomous cars.

In addition, the sensor has a so-called pixel binning mode that increases the sensitivity in dark light conditions to 2666 mV, assuming an aperture of f/5.6. This mode aggregates data from a total of four pixels and processes it as the information of one pixel, so that the light sensitivity is increased when reading the image information. According to Sony, this means that obstacles or pedestrians can also be seen in the dark; the visibility and exposure would be comparable to the brightness of moonlight, according to Sony.

In addition, the sensor is able to increase the sensitivity for dark parts, while the bright parts are captured in a higher resolution. This is the case, for example, on a dark road, where only certain parts are lit by lanterns. This makes it possible to process the information on the images quite precisely, so that the objects and subjects are easily recognizable.

Due to the low resolution, the sensor is not interesting to use in smartphones, for example. Because the pixels are relatively large, namely 2.25 microns, the sensor can capture a lot of light. Sony will provide samples of the chip to manufacturers from November. The price is 10,000 yen each, converted about 74 euros. Mass production should start in June 2018.

In April, Sony presented the IMX390CQV sensor. This 1/2.7″ chip, with a resolution of 2.45 megapixels, is capable of creating HDR images while applying flicker reduction. Signals such as speed signs and traffic lights using LED lamps, are therefore easy to recognize.Thanks to the HDR function, it should be possible to observe both the dark inside and the bright outside in a tunnel, for example.

According to Sony, a road sign at 160 meters can be recognized much better with the IMX324 sensor than was the case with the predecessor.

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