Sensors are the basic components for machines to sense the world, among which image sensors allow machines to “see” a clearer world and environmental sensors can sense and collect all kinds of data in the environment. This text will introduce the sensors from ON Semiconductor and its unique performance for you.
Single camera design can support various kinds of resolution ratios and pixel architectures
Image sensors have been widely applied in various consumer electronics like digital cameras, video cameras and mobile phones, etc. Actually, image sensors also play a very important role in various professional applications such as machine vision, security, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), broadcasting, medical treatment, science and other fields.
Along with the improvement of semiconductor processing technology, more circuits can be put in each unit area which gives image sensors a higher resolution ratio and higher efficiency. Due to its advantages of low power consumption and low price, the CMOS sensor has been increasingly adopted in cameras. However, while using a CMOS camera to do a movie, object distortion will appear and dynamic images will shake like jelly (called the jelly effect) if it encounters fast moving objects or movement in a certain frequency, of which the reason lies in the usage of a rolling shutter.
The shutter of digital cameras is controlled by the sensor that uses electronic signals to control sensitization modules and conducts sensitization line by line, which is called a rolling shutter. Due to the usage of the gradual model exposure, it leads to a time difference in the process of exposure. While shooting fast moving objects, a time difference will be produced such as the upper end image appears before the lower end.
In order to solve this problem, Global Shutter appears at the right moment, because this shutter can simultaneously control all sensitization units for exposure at the same time without any time difference. All the sensitization area conducts exposure at one time. Thus Global Shutter becomes the technology to improve the jelly effect. However, due to the larger data size produced after global exposure, the cost is also increased because faster arithmetic speed is needed for simultaneous management of subsequent shooting.
The Global Shutter CMOS image sensor series including XGS 12000, XGS 9400, XGS 8000 and XGS 5000 launched by ON Semiconductor possess high resolution and high performance global shutter image capturing ability. This series can support various resolution ratios in a single package, including 5.3, 8.8, 9.4 and 12.6 megapixels with the optical format of 1 inch. The adoption of 21 mm * 20 mm packaging makes the XGS series especially suitable for integrating into the camera format of 29mm*29mm. It uses high speed 12 bit output and maximally utilizes the ports such as USB 3.2, Thunderbolt™ 2 and 10 GigE, etc.
Image data can be read through a column of ADC architecture and transmission is conducted through a HiSPi port. On-chip logic can conduct programming via serial interface in order to generate an interior timing sequence for integrating and readout control. Through controlling the single order on the port, it is able to programme and start three register configurations (frame by frame) in order at most.
XGS CMOS image sensor supports Companding Mode in full resolution with 60 fps (12 lanes ) and 30 fps (6 lanes), which possesses 24-lane HiSPi (Scalable Low−Voltage Signaling) data interface and can configure 24, 18, 12 or 6 lanes. With an interior four-wire serial peripheral interface (SPI), triggering integration and readout control, it can support 8 region-of-interest (ROI) programmable controls at most with the function of a context switch as well as Pb-free, halogen-free and bromination free fire retardant (BFR) devices according to RoHS standards.
The XGS series from ON Semiconductor supports four kinds of resolution ratio including 12.6 Mp, 9.4 Mp, 8.8 Mp and 5.3 Mp, as well as three kinds of speed grades (24, 12 and 6 HiSPi lanes). Resolution ratio and speed can be matched and combined mutually in order to possess various operation modes for flexible operation of sensors and the satisfaction of special application requirements, such as achieving the reduction of data rate via HiSPi lane multiplexing. XGS series adopts an X-Class platform which has high bandwidth and low power consumption architecture. Only one kind of camera design is needed to support various kinds of resolution ratio and pixel architectures.
The core of XGS sensor series is a 12.6 Mp active pixel array which adopts advanced 3.2μm global shutter technology with high performance and low noise design and can accurately capture moving objects. Global Shutter requires simultaneous light integration of all pixels and then conducts continuous readout. Due to the reason that the integration and readout can be conducted in parallel, the integration of the next frame can be started after reading out the first frame (also called pipeline operation).
On-chip logic of XGS sensors can conduct programming through a four-wire serial interface for generating all interior timing sequences for integrated control and frame readout. After readout a certain columns, the relevant data can be sorted through an analog signal chain (providing coarse analog gain) and 12 bit column ADC. Data from ADC will be firstly saved in an on-chip column memory bank and then disposed of via a digital data path (providing additional data processing including digital gain and offset). A digital multiplexer can configure the number of lanes for reducing active data. The maximum output pixel rate of a single lane is 64.8 megapixels per second which corresponds to the clock rate of 32.4 MHz.
Smart passive sensors connect everything
Smart Passive Sensor (SPS) system has a current market size of about $3 billion and the number is expected to reach $100 billion in 2023. The reason lies in that the world is moving towards smart application and it is expected to have billions of objects to be linked with billions of nodes for sensor data. The collected data include temperature, moisture,, occupancy rate, fluid level, pressure, humidity, gas, pH value and voltage etc. These sensors will be connected in series by applying network techniques like RFID, BLE, SIGFOX, Lora, Zigbee, Wifi, Ethernet and NFC etc., which will be used in the markets including smart factory, smart healthcare, smart farms, smart building, smart logistics and smart city etc. as well as the cloud services such as Amazon, IBM, Google and Siemens for data aggregation and analysis.
ON Semiconductor's SPS turnkey solution can be used in disposable products, multiple data points and the application with the need of multiple sensors along with the increasing demand as time goes, or the occasion that sensors must be installed under the ground, in the wall, intrusive to body, within boxes or the locations difficult to visit like toxic or dangerous to health places, or applications with limited space like within doorways,, RFID tags, peel and stick label or bandage etc. Due to the characteristics including wireless operation without battery, ultrathin volume, cost reduction along with the quantity and the function of dynamic data sensing like temperature, moisture, pressure and proximity, it is very suitable for the specific markets such as factory automation in the industry, patient monitoring in health care, livestock monitoring in digital agriculture, agricultural automation as well as temperature and moisture tracking in cold chain (cold transportation systems for fresh food) applications.
Compared with the other technology, SPS application is more suitable for applications with higher requirements for the number of sensors, reading distance, data rate, battery-free and other conditions. It can read 10 to 100 tags at the same time with the reading distance from 2 to 15 meters and reading rate from 20 to 200 kbps according to different applications. SPS is a battery-free solution that can collect energy by itself and is maintenance-free, which makes it the preferred option for above-mentioned applications.
In the applications of smart factory, it can be used for monitoring bus bar temperature without the special suit-up and can provide historical data and no “line of sigh” required. With the function of monitoring temperature increment and the moisture on the floor, in the concrete slab and behind the wall, it can also confirm the the security area for staff and conduct emergency control for industrial buildings. When the detected temperature exceeds the threshold, it will inform the administrative staff.
In data center applications, SPS can be used to monitor server racks, protect sensitive electronic equipment to achieve better airflow management, and detect underfloor moisture and water leakage to avoid electrical short circuit. A server rack can achieve full coverage with 50 mixed temperature and asset tracking sensor tags. When the server rack monitoring console discovers that the temperature has exceeded the threshold or the moisture is too high, it will raise the alarm.
In the application of medical and care facilities, SPS can be used for the fluid level monitoring of infusion bags and catheter bags, he detection of moisture to reduce inflammation and make patients feel comfortable, the detection of patients' careless tumbles or restlessness and the detection of caregivers to confirm whether the caregivers are on the spot and can help find other staff.
In livestock applications, SPS can be used to collect animal body temperatures for early disease detection and fertility rate confirmation. It can also carry on gate management control, automatic classification and rapid isolation of affected animals by using hand type or stationary type readers with higher flexibility and the function of automatic alarm. In agricultural applications, it can collect data from sensors via drone like moisture percentage and soil analysis, which can also conduct optimization according to soil and plant types in order to conserve water and achieve accurate irrigation operations.
In the aspect of cold chain application, SPS can monitor food temperature in order to check food freshness and provide historical data. When the temperature rises, it will raise the alarm and conduct asset tracking. It can also monitor temperature and moisture as well as conduct asset tracking for medicine logistics tracking.
The current 1st generation of SPS Sensor belongs to the integral type (containing 1 device) which can detect temperature, moisture, occupancy state and fluid level. The 2nd generation belongs the attachable type (containing 2 devices) which can detect pressure, humidity, gas, pH value and voltage together with the data logger that can be connected with MCU and the battery. The 3rd generation will be the battery mixed type which supports 15-meter extended range and the active mode can be operated by the battery without MCU. SPS Sensor also supports the usage of bar coding, which is suitable for placing the unique number information related to product type, lot number, color, manufacturing date or index.
ON Semiconductor also provides evaluation kit and development software for assisting customers to apply sensor series to develop products. Please inquire https://www.onsemi.com/ for relevant information.