Surveillance sensor systems using CMOS imagers

Abstract

Surveillance sensors are being applied in factory automation systems, traffic control, entrapment protection, automotive safety systems and in other applications where information about the occupancy of a scene is required. In order to detect object motion several methods exploiting distinct physical phenomena, e. g. passive infrared sensors or active microwave sensors, have been realized. When comparing all of the applicable methods, the electro-optical approach outperforms with respect to the spatial resolution of the monitored area. Therefore, electro-optical sensors are able to provide additional information, e. g. to predict the direction of motion, or to localize and identify objects. However, convenient image processing systems using CCD sensors for image acquisition and DSP or µP boards for signal processing and classification are not well suited for dedicated, powerful and cost-effective optical sensor solutions. In contrast to this mainstream approach CMOS based imaging techn ologies offer novel solutions in both the design and applications of electro-optical surveillance sensors. This contribution discusses CMOS imagers operating principles and describes certain architectures and applications for passive and active surveillance sensors. The capabilities to realize on-chip motion detection and range sensing using fast shutter devices are illustrated. We conclude with a discussion of the status of CMOS surveillance sensors and suggest trends for future applications

A CMOS Image Sensor Dark Current Compensation Using In-Pixel Temperature Sensors

“…Over the last few decades, the semiconductor industry has experienced exponential growth. Semiconductors are widely used in different sensing applications ranging from surveillance to medical devices, as well as environmental applications and beyond [1][2][3][4][5]. One of the most important results of this industry is the CMOS image sensor (CIS) [6,7].…”

Review of CMOS image sensors

“…There are more suitable applications, such as portable applications [100,101,31], security, industrial vision (e.g., Imager with focal plane edge detection [127]), consumer electronics, surveillance devices [128], Smart vision system on-a-chip [143,144,129,152], Robotics and machine vision, Fig. 13.…”

“…Therefore, CMOS imagers are very suitable for Space, Automotive, Medical, Digital photography and 3D applications. Furthermore, there are more specific applications such as portable devices [100,101,31], security, industrial vision [126,127], consumer electronics, imaging phones, astronomy, surveillance [128], robotics and machine vision, guidance and navigation (e.g., stereovision [129]), computer inputs, etc.…”