抄録
A CMOS image sensor targeted for scene understanding imaging, whose focal plane is split into multiple macro-pixels consisting of 128(H) × 128(V) pixels is discussed. The proposed architecture provides fine and aggressive adjustments of the imaging parameters on the focal plane by way of the independent control on each macro-pixel. As a result, extended intra-scene dynamic range imaging is achieved without reducing the frame rate, which is difficult to achieve with the conventional batch-scan-imaging scheme. Also, the adaptive time resolution control enabling a faster frame rate for moving objects and a slower rate for the background makes it possible to drastically reduce the data transmission bandwidth without compromising the object tracking performance. Based on this concept, we fabricated a test chip using a 0.18-μm 1P5M standard CMOS process. The independent exposure time and frame rate controls were demonstrated with <0.04% column fixed pattern noise (FPN) and </0.11% temporal noise.
