HDR Vision Could Come to Entry-Level Cars

A new single-chip sensing technology introduced at Convergence 2008 could enable automakers to incorporate high-dynamic range (HDR) color vision sensors in entry-level cars.

OmniVision Technologies, Inc., a maker of CMOS image sensors, says its new technology could serve in such applications as lane departure warning systems, blind-spot detection, traffic-light monitoring, rain detection, back-up cameras and headlight dimming. There, it would help the vision systems adjust to widely differing light levels and therefore function effectively even under high-glare conditions, such as those that occur when a driver emerges into sunlight from a dark tunnel.

OmniVision rolled out the product for the automotive world at the Convergence 2008 transportation electronics conference Monday at Cobo Hall in Detroit, MI. Known as the OV10620 High-Dynamic Range CMOS Image Sensor, it is said to be the first high-dynamic range color sensor on a single chip.

"With CCD and other competing solutions in the past, it took four or five chips to do this," says Inayat Khajasha, senior product marketing manager for OmniVision.

The HDR technology is considered important for automotive vision systems because it is able to operate in a fashion much like that of a human eye under changing light conditions. The OV10620 rapidly switches to HDR mode to handle extreme variations of bright and dark conditions within the same scene and then automatically switches back to non-HDR mode when conditions return to normal.  

Khajasha says the new technologies will help engineering teams to shorten their bills of material, cut power consumption and reduce the real estate consumed by the chip-set in the vehicle. He says real estate reduction will be important for tier-one suppliers and vehicle manufacturers, who must squeeze the vision chip-set behind the rear-view mirror on the windshield.

"There is very little space between the back of the rear-view mirror and the windshield," he says. "Often, there's not enough room for multiple chips back there."

Khajasha says the lower cost of the compact new technology should enable color HDR sensors to move down to entry-level vehicles from luxury vehicles, where they are used now. "With these sensors, we should be able to put the feature on a Honda Civic," he says, "not just on a Lexus."