OmniVision Technologies, Inc. announced the first two members of its new automotive image sensor platform—the 8MP, front-view OX08A and OX08B. The high-resolution OX08A features the automotive industry’s best HDR, while the pinout-compatible OX08B adds a new benchmark in LED flicker mitigation (LFM) performance, enabled by the sensor’s on-chip HALE (HDR and LFM engine) combination algorithm. The optimal clarity and range offered by this platform, in combination with integrated ASIL-C features, is vital for front-view automotive applications, such as ADAS and level 3+ autonomous vehicles, where the ability to accurately detect people and objects from far away in all lighting conditions is safety-critical.

Cases where the scene has very dark and very bright areas, e.g., exiting a tunnel with the sun low on the horizon, inspired OmniVision to develop these state-of-the-art HDR sensors. In addition, LEDs are becoming omnipresent on the road, including illumination, traffic lights, road signs and bus displays. Having a sensor with an LFM solution is a must for automotive applications to extract all the necessary information in front of a vehicle.

With its 4-cell technology, OmniVision can offer the industry’s best LFM with optimal low-light performance in a 1/1.8” optical format that has a 2.1 micron pixel pitch. Furthermore, OmniVision’s PureCel®Plus-S stacked architecture enables each pixel to perform optimally via higher full-well capacity for improved HDR.

This platform also enables sensor fusion, where the same camera signal is used for ADAS and autonomous machine vision while simultaneously feeding into “dash cam” front-view recording and display systems. Additionally, these sensors have region-of-interest functionality for even clearer images of moving objects within fixed areas in the camera’s field of view. To ensure the safety of images being used for machine vision applications, ultra low power cybersecurity is also integrated using industry-standard encryption techniques and consuming less than 10% of the sensor’s total power budget.

Both sensors in this platform offer 4-capture, 3840 x 2160 resolution at 36fps and a 16:9 display aspect ratio. They will be available in different color-filter patterns to match the leading machine vision applications in the industry. For instance, an RCCB color filter will be offered to allow in more light and further improve performance in dark environments.

The OX08A and OX08B image sensors are both planned to be AEC-Q100 Grade 2 certified.