High speed camera system using a CMOS image sensor

In this paper a new camera system for high speed imaging is presented, which is capable of recording images with a resolution of 256×256 pixels and frame rates in excess of 1000 frames per second. It uses an image sensor with on-chip electronic shutter and has been fabricated in standard 1 μm standard CMOS process. The camera system contains an image memory for sequence recording. The camera delivers a very good image quality without any external algorithm for image enhancement and provides a very fast interface between the image acquisition and image processing unit. The CMOS imagers also have the ability to acquire images in a very short period. This allows an adaptation of the camera to various automotive applications like occupancy detection, airbag control, pre-crash sensing, collision avoidance, surveillance, and crash test observation. Moreover, the system architecture makes a combination of several applications possible using just a single image sensor unit