Smart image sensor for wide dynamic range by variable integration time

Author

Ogi, Takahiro ; Yasuda, Takaya ; Hamamoto, Takayuki ; Aizawa, Kiyoharu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Elec. Eng, Ibkyo Univ. of Sci., Tokyo, Japan

fYear

2003

fDate

30 July-1 Aug. 2003

Firstpage

179

Lastpage

184

Abstract

We propose a computational image sensor in which each pixel controls its integration time. The integration time of each pixel is selected from among several lengths of integration time and the integration time is shortened if the pixel is bright. Although the integration time of each pixel varies, the pixel intensity is adjusted on the sensor in real time. The dynamic range of the pixel value output from the proposed sensor is increased considerably. A prototype of 64×48 pixels has been fabricated. The proposed sensor has simple functions for detection of saturation to control the integration time and nonlinear image reconstruction. By using experiments, it has been verified that the sensor can achieve a wide dynamic range by adapting to light.

Keywords

image reconstruction; image sensors; intelligent sensors; parallel architectures; computational image sensor; field programmable gate array; light adaptation; linear reconstruction; nonlinear image reconstruction; parallel architecture; pixel control; smart image sensor; variable integration time; wide dynamic range; Charge coupled devices; Circuits; Dynamic range; Electric variables control; Heuristic algorithms; Image reconstruction; Image sensors; Intelligent sensors; Prototypes; Smart pixels;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Multisensor Fusion and Integration for Intelligent Systems, MFI2003. Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7987-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MFI-2003.2003.1232653

Filename

1232653