Sun Sensor Based on a Luminance Spiking Pixel Array

Abstract

Abstract-We present a novel sun sensor concept. It is the very first sun sensor built with an Address Event Representation (AER) spiking pixel matrix. Its pixels spike with a frequency proportional to illumination. It offers remarkable advantages over conventional digital sun sensors based on Active Pixel Sensor (APS) pixels. Its output data flow is quite reduced. It is possible to resolve the sun position just receiving one single event operating in Time-to-First-Spike (TFS) mode. It operates with a latency in the order of milliseconds. It has higher dynamic range than APS image sensors (higher than 100dB). A custom algorithm to compute the centroid of the illuminated pixels is presented. Experimental results are provided.

Fast luminance measurement method for asynchronous spiking pixels

“…They have several inherent advantages over frame‐based sensors: (i) pixels operate continuously and there in not necessary to set an integration time; (ii) under average illumination conditions, pixel latency and power consumption are low; and (iii) non‐illuminated pixels do not send any data off‐chip, optimising the bandwidth consumption. For these reasons, such sensors are suitable for specific applications that require good temporal resolution [3] or avoid reading out dark pixels [4].…”

Asynchronous Spiking Pixel With Programmable Sensitivity to Illumination

“…Asynchronous luminance spiking sensors [1]- [3] consist of pixels that fire with a frequency proportional to the illumination level. Such systems can outperform classic frame-based image sensors in terms of dynamic range, latency and bandwidth consumption and, accordingly, they target application scenarios where these features are preferred over image quality [4], [5].…”