As the Automotive industry moves from current SAE Level 2 where vehicle takes control of acceleration, braking and steering with human oversight, to fully autonomous Level 5 where vehicle requires no human interaction, the need for capable image sensors to support various camera systems for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving grows at increasing rate.
Automotive camera systems around the vehicle have varying requirements. Automakers typically require the highest resolutions in front cameras for freeway driving where long range vision is necessary, medium resolution with wide field-of-view for next-generation emergency braking systems and low to medium resolution for side cameras for 360-degree machine vision for parking assist, lane change assist or advanced autonomy in urban driving conditions.
Evolving ADAS solutions are requiring sensors with higher functionality to meet the growing standards for car safety. As vehicles become more connected and autonomous, the security and integrity of automotive systems is critical for automotive manufacturers. Image sensors are the eyes of the vehicle and any interruption or tampering in the function of the sensor can “blind” the vehicle or mislead the decision algorithms. With the growing number of cameras around the vehicle each connected to a centralized system with data and commands traveling by wires from sensor to processor these systems are more vulnerable than single-function systems where sensor and processor are in a single enclosure.
ON Semiconductor recently announced AR0820AT, AR0220AT and AR0138AT scalable image sensor family providing a range of resolutions suited to the specific needs of different camera systems around the vehicle. The sensors have resolutions scaling from 8.3 MP down to 1.2 MP together with industry leading low-light performance, functional safety features up to ASIL-C, high-dynamic range (HDR) and an industry-first cybersecurity option.
Developers of ADAS and autonomous driving solutions now have a family of sensors sharing common architecture and feature sets at multiple resolutions. They will realize faster development times and lower development costs. Starting early development with one sensor to adapt their algorithms to the pixel performance and system features, and then extend to additional resolutions with additional testing. This offers the ability to develop high performance automotive camera systems with flexibility to deploy different camera resolutions for different locations on a single vehicle or offer different levels of features for different vehicles.
ON Semiconductor will be demonstrating its new family of scalable image sensors, plus a wide range of other leading edge semiconductor-based solutions for automotive and other sectors at The Sands Convention Center/Venetian (Murano 3302) during CES 2018, January 9-12 in Las Vegas.
