Introduction to Image Sensors

The use of imaging technologies is becoming more and more prevalent in modern products. The small size (single chip camera), cost, and performance of modern imaging sensors allows them to be used in everything from toys to security systems and photographic equipment. The chips available in this section are all made under a state-of-the-art CMOS process and combine some very clever image processing algorithms to produce a high quality camera chip for cost effective large scale production. The other benefit of having a CMOS camera chip is that the power consumption is significantly less than the traditional CCD devices. This makes CMOS sensors by far the best choice for small portable devices.

Typical application areas:

• Camera/video phones
• Web cams
• Pattern/Face recognition
• Digital camcorder
• Medical
• Games/toys
• Digital Still Cameras
• Automotive
• Security/surveillance

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Selection Guide for CameraChips™

OV6920 Single-Chip CMOS Analogue CameraChip™

The OV6920 single chip CMOS camera devices are designed to provide a high level of functionality in a small footprint package. The OV6920 provides a NTSC composite video output, and is housed in a tiny 9-pin 2.135 x 2.265mm package. Note that the pictures here show the OV6920 on its evaluation board complete with lens. The small dimensions of this imager make it ideal for surveillance, toys and other applications requiring a very small size.

Medical applications such as colonoscopes and endoscopes, and even pill cameras are expected to be major applications for this device.

As a reference to scale, the diameter of the lens housing on the pictured evaluation board is about 3.5mm.

Features

• 320 x 240 Active (NTSC) array
• Power 3.3VDC at 20mA (without loading), 30mA (75 ohm loading)
• Exposure 1/60s to 5.7µs
• Output format, NTSC, Composite video
• Optical format 1/18"
• Package size 2.135mm x 2.265mm

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OV3630 Colour CMOS QXGA (3.2 MPixel) CameraChip™ with OmniPixel2™ Technology

The OV3630 (colour) CameraChip™ is a high performance 3.2 MegaPixel CMOS image sensors for digital still image and video/still camera products.

The device incorporates a 2048 x 1536 (QXGA) image array and an on-chip 10-bit A/D converter capable of operating at up to 15 frames per second (fps) in full resolution mode. Proprietary sensor technology utilises advanced algorithms to cancel Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), eliminate smearing, and drastically reduce blooming. The control registers allow for flexible control of timing, polarity, and CameraChip operation, which, in turn, allows the engineer a great deal of freedom in product design.

Features
• Optical black level calibration
• Line optical black level output capability
• Video or snapshot operations
• Programmable/Auto Exposure and Gain Control
• Programmable/Auto White Balance Control
• Horizontal and vertical sub-sampling (4:2 and 4:2)
• High frame rate output for auto focus mode
• Programmable image windowing
• Zooming and panning functions
• Variable frame rate control
• On-chip R/G/B Channel and Luminance Average Counter
• Internal/External frame synchronisation
• SCCB slave interface
• Power-on reset and power-down modes

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OV6650 Colour CMOS CIF (352 x 288) CameraChip™
OV6151 B&W CMOS CIF (352 x 288) CameraChip™

The OV6650 (colour) and OV6151 (black and white) CMOS CameraChips™ are single-chip video/imaging camera devices designed to provide a high level of functionality in a single, small-footprint package. The devices incorporate a 352 x 288 image array capable of operating at up to 30 frames per second (fps). Proprietary sensor technology utilises advanced algorithms to cancel Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), eliminate smearing, and drastically reduce blooming. All required camera functions including exposure control, gamma, gain, white balance, colour matrix, colour saturation, hue control, windowing, and more, are programmable through the SCCB interface. The device can be programmed to provide image output in different 8-bit formats.

Features
• 108,472 total pixels
• 1/7” optical size
• Wide dynamic range, anti-blooming, zero smearing
• Progressive Scan
• Electronic exposure/gain/white balance control
• Image quality controls including brightness, gamma, saturation, sharpness and hue
• Internal synchronisation
• Line exposure option
• SCCB programmable:
- Colour saturation
- Brightness
- Hue
- Windowing
- White balance
- Exposure time
- Gain

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The OV05116N & OV05516P are complete black and white CMOS Video CameraChips. They conform to EIA/NTSC (60 Hz) or CCIR PAL (50Hz) standards, respectively and output composite video capable of directly driving a 75 Ohm display device.

The on-chip auto exposure allows for a wide range of lighting conditions, eliminating the need for external mechanical shutter components.

Key Specifications

• Single chip 1/4 inch format video image sensor
• EIA/NTSC output (OV5116-C11)
• CCIR PAL output (OV5116-C21)
• Selectable mirror image
• Auto gain control (maximum + 18 dB)
• High I.R. sensitivity for night-time applications
• Auto and manual backlight compensation mode
• Gamma correction - On/Off
• External frame sync capability
• 40mw on-chip power consumption
• External data acquisition support
• Smear free
• Auto level expanding
• Optional edge enhancement
• Array Size 320 x 240 pixels (OV5116-C11)
• Array Size 352 x 288 pixels (OV5116-C21)
• Effective Image Area 3.2 x 2.5mm
• Auto Electronic Exposure 1/60-1/6000 secs
• Minimum Illumination 0.5 lux @ f 1.4 (3000k)
• S/N Ratio 46 dB (AGC=1x)
• Power Supply 5VDC, ±5%
• Power Requirements
  - (40 mw before loading),
  - 70mw standard loading
• Package Type 28 pin LCC
  

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The OV5610 (colour) CameraChip™ is a high performance 5.17 MegaPixel CameraChips for digital still image and video camera products.

This device incorporates a 2592 x 1944 image array and an on-chip 10-bit A/D converter capable of operating at up to 4 frames per second (fps) in full resolution. Proprietary sensor technology utilises advanced algorithms to cancel Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), eliminate smearing, and drastically reduce blooming and dark current. The control registers allow for flexible control of timing, polarity, and CameraChip operation, which, in turn, allows the engineer a great deal of freedom in product design.

Features

• Optical black level calibration
• Video or snapshot operations
• Programmable/Auto Exposure and Gain Control
• Programmable/Auto White Balance Control
• Horizontal and vertical sub-sampling (4:2 and 4:2)
• High frame rate output mode
• Programmable image windowing/zooming/panning
• Variable frame rate control
• On-chip R/G/B Channel and Luminance Average Counter
• Internal/External frame synchronisation
• Serial bus interface
• Power-on reset and power-down modes

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The OV6910 single chip CMOS camera devices are designed to provide a high level of functionality in a small footprint package. The OV6910 supports NTSC/PAL composite video output and directly interfaces with a VCR/TV/monitor or other larger than 75 Ohm terminated input. This part has been designed for very low power operation on a single 5V dc supply. This makes the CameraChip™ ideal for use in security cameras, video phones and conference equipment, toys, PC multimedia, and medical/dental applications.

Features

• 1/5" (PAL) or 1/6" (NTSC) lens size
• Composite video output
• Sensitivity boost (+27db)/AGC ON/OFF
• Automatic exposure/gain/white balance
• External frame sync capability
• Aperture correction
• Gamma correction (0.45) on/off
• Wide dynamic range, anti-blooming, zero smearing
• SCCB programmable controls: Colour saturation, Brightness, Hue, White balance, Exposure, Gain, Gamma curve, Aperture correction
• Array Size
  - Total 380 x 296
  - Active (PAL) 366 x 288
  - Active (NTSC) 306 x 240
• Power Supply 5 VDC + 5%
• Power Dissipation
  - without loading <35 mA
  - with 75 Ohm loading <45 mA
• Image Area
  - PAL 2.85 mm x 2.16 mm (1/5")
  - NTSC 2.39 mm x 1.80 mm (1/6")
• Electronic Exposure
  - PAL 1/50s to 5.5ms
  - NTSC 1/60s to 5.7ms
• Colour Mosaic RGB Bayer Pattern
• Minimum Illumination (3000K) < 2 Lux @ f1.2
• S/N Ratio > 48 dB
• Dynamic Range > 72 dB
• Scan Mode Progressive
• Pixel Size 7.86 mm x 7.5 mm
• Dark Current < 0.2 nA/cm2
• Fixed Pattern Noise < 0.03% VPP
• Package Dimensions 0.45 in. x 0.45 in.
  

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The OV2630 CameraChip™ is a high performance 2.0 MegaPixel CMOS image sensor for digital still image and video/still camera products. The device incorporates a 1600 x 1200 (UXGA) image array and an on-chip 10-bit A/D converter capable of operating at up to 15 frames per second (fps) with full resolution. Proprietary sensor technology utilises advanced algorithms to cancel Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), eliminate smearing, and drastically reduce blooming. The control registers allow for flexible control of timing, polarity, and CameraChip operation, which in turn allows the engineer a great deal of freedom in product design.

Features:

• High sensitivity 3.18µm pixel for low light operation
• Video snapshot operations
• Very low power consumption
• Optical black level calibration
• Programmable/Auto Exposure and Gain Control
• Programmable/Auto White Balance Control
• High frame rate output in sub-sampling mode
• Programmable image controls: windowing, zooming and panning
• Optical lens correction
• Variable frame rate control
• On-chip R/G/B channel and luminance average counter
• Standard serial control interface
• Power on reset and power down mode

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OV2640 Colour CMOS UXGA (2.0 MegaPixel) CameraChip™ with OmniPixel2™ Technology

The OV2640 CameraChip™ is a low voltage CMOS image sensor that provides the full functionality of a single-chip UXGA (1632x1232) camera and image processor in a small footprint package. The OV2640 provides full-frame, sub-sampled, scaled or windowed 8-bit/10-bit images in a wide range of formats, controlled through the Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) interface.

This product has an image array capable of operating at up to 15 frames per second (fps) in UXGA resolution with complete user control over image quality, formatting and functions, including exposure control, gamma, white balance, colour saturation, hue control, white pixel cancelling, noise cancelling, and more, are also programmable through the SCCB interface. The OV2640 also includes a compression engine for increased processing power. In addition, OmniVision CameraChips use proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting/electrical sources of image contamination, such as fixed pattern noise, smearing, etc., to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.

Features

• High sensitivity for low light operation
• Embedded compression engine supporting most common compression formats
• Output support for raw RGB, RGB (RGB565/555), GRB422, YUV(422/420) and YCbCr (4:2:2) formats
• Supports image sizes: UXGA, SXGA, SVGA, and any size scaling down from SXGA to 40x30
• VarioPixel for increased sensitivity when sub-sampling
• Automatic image control functions including automatic exposure control (AEC), automatic white balance (AWB, automatic gain control (AGC), automatic band filter (ABF), and automatic black-level calibration (ABLC)
• Image quality controls including colour saturation, gamma, sharpness (edge enhancement), lens correction, white pixel cancelling, noise cancelling, 50/60Hz luminance detection and variable frame rate control

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OV7431 B&W CMOS Analogue CameraChip™

The OV7431 sensor is a high performance quarter-inch black and white CMOS CameraChip™ designed for all applications requiring a small footprint, low voltage, low power consumption, and low cost B&W video cameras.

The device supports EIA video output and can directly interface with a VCR TV monitor or other 75 Ohm terminated input with 2x standard TV signal range. The OV7431 camera chip requires only a single 5V dc supply and has been designed for very low power operation.

Features

• Single chip 1/4" format video camera
• EIA/NTSC video format
• Sensitivity boost (+27dB) / AGC ON/OFF
• Automatic exposure/gain
• External frame sync capability
• Aperture correction
• SCCB programmable controls
  • Brightness
  • Exposure
  • Gain
  • Gamma curve
  • Aperture correction
• Gamma correction (0.45) ON/OFF
• Low power consumption
• +5V only power supply
• Wide dynamic range, anti-blooming, zero smearing

Please note that MOQs apply to B&W devices. It is recommended that you consider using a colour device unless you specifically require B&W (e.g. infra-red applications).

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The OV76xx CameraChip™ range is a low voltage CMOS image sensor that provides the full functionality of a single-chip VGA camera and image processor in a small footprint package. They provide full-frame, sub-sampled or windowed 8-bit images in a wide range of formats, controlled through the Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) interface.

These products have an image array capable of operating at up to 30 frames per second (fps) in VGA with complete user control over image quality, formatting and output data transfer. All required image processing functions, including exposure control, gamma, white balance, colour saturation, hue control and more, are also programmable through the SCCB interface. In addition, OmniVision CameraChips use proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting/electrical sources of image contamination, such as fixed pattern noise (FPN), smearing, blooming, etc., to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.

Features

• High sensitivity for low-light operation
• Low operating voltage for embedded portable apps
• Standard SCCB interface
• VGA, QVGA, QQVGA, CIF, QCIF, QQCIF and windowed outputs with Raw RGB, RGB(GRB 4:2:2), YUV (4:2:2) and YCbCr (4:2:2) formats
• VarioPixel method for sub-sampling formats
• Automatic image control functions including: Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Automatic White Balance (AWB), Automatic Brightness Control (ABC), and Automatic Black-Level Calibration (ABLC)
• Image quality controls including colour saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness (edge enhancement), and anti-blooming

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OV7940 Colour CMOS NTSC/PAL CameraChip with OmniPixel® Technology

The OV7940 is a single chip CMOS camera. This device is ideally suited to applications that need small footprint and low power consumption from a colour video camera. The OV7940 is optimised for automotive applications but other typical uses for this device are handheld products like video phones, toys, security cameras and medical/dental equipment.

Features
• Single chip 1/3” format video camera
• Composite video (NTSC/PAL) differential output drive
• Sensitivity boost (+42dB)
• Automatic exposure/gain with 16 zone control
• Auto white balance control
• Aperture/Gamma correction
• 50/60 Hz flicker cancellation
• External frame sync capability
• SPI/EEPROM used to control overlay and set other customer variables
• I²C control interface for register programming
• Low power consumption
• Extreme low dark current for high temperature applications
• Defective pixel correction
• Genlock
• Differential analogue output

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OV7663/OV7163 CMOS VGA (640 x 480) CameraChip™ with OmniPixel® Technology

The OV7663/OV7163 CameraChip™ is a low voltage CMOS image sensor that provides the full functionality of a single-chip VGA camera and image processor in a small footprint package. The OV7663/OV7163 provides full-frame, sub-sampled or windowed 8-bit images in a wide range of formats, controlled through the Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) interface.

This product has an image array capable of operating at up to 30 frames per second (fps) in VGA with complete user control over image quality, formatting and output data transfer. All required image processing functions, including exposure control, gamma, white balance, colour saturation, hue control and more, are also programmable through the SCCB interface. In addition OmniVision CameraChips use proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting/electrical sources of image contamination, such as fixed pattern noise (FPN), smearing, blooming, etc., to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.

Features

• High sensitivity for low-light operation
• Low operating voltage for embedded portable applications
• Standard SCCB interface
• VGA, QVGA, QQVGA, CIF, QCIF, QQCIF and windowed outputs with Raw RGB, RGB, (GRB 4:2:2), YUV (4:2:2) and YCbCr (4:2:2) formats
• VarioPixel® method for sub-sampling formats
• Automatic image control functions including: Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Automatic White Balance (AWB), Automatic Brightness Control (ABC), and Automatic Black-Level Calibration (ABLC)
• Image quality controls including colour saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness (edge enhancement), and anti-blooming

Ordering Information

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The OV3620 (colour) CameraChip™ is a high performance 3.2 MegaPixel CMOS image sensors for digital still image and video/still camera products.

The device incorporates a 2048 x 1536 (QXGA) image array and an on-chip 10-bit A/D converter capable of operating at up to 7.5 frames per second (fps) in full resolution mode. Proprietary sensor technology utilises advanced algorithms to cancel Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), eliminate smearing, and drastically reduce blooming. The control registers allow for flexible control of timing, polarity, and CameraChips operation, which, in turn, allows the engineer a great deal of freedom in product design.

Features

• Optical black level calibration
• Line optical black level output capability
• Video or snapshot operations
• Programmable/Auto Exposure and Gain Control
• Programmable/Auto White Balance Control
• Horizontal and vertical sub-sampling (4:2 and 4:2)
• High frame rate output for auto focus mode
• Programmable image windowing
• Zooming and panning functions
• Variable frame rate control
• On-chip R/G/B Channel and Luminance Average Counter
• Internal/External frame synchronisation
• SCCB slave interface
• Power on reset and power-down modes

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OV7910 / OV7411 CMOS NTSC/PAL CameraChip™

The OV7910 (colour) and OV7411 (black and white) single chip CMOS camera chips are designed to provide a high level of functionality in a small footprint package. Both devices support NTSC/PAL, composite video, and S-Video. The OV7910 imager also provides RGB and YCbCr video signals, and each device directly interfaces with a VCR TV monitor or other 75 Ohm terminated input. A minimal number of external components are required to complete a fully functional camera subsystem. The OV7910/OV7411 video cameras require only a single 5 Volt dc supply and have been designed for very low power operation. These products are ideal for all applications requiring a small footprint, low voltage, low power and low cost colour or black and white video camera.

Features

• Single chip 1/3" format video camera
• 628 x 582 pixels (PAL) or 510 x 492 pixels (NTSC)
• Composite video: NTSC
• Component video: RGB, YUV, or S-Video
• Sensitivity boost (+18 dB)/AGC ON/OFF
• Automatic exposure/gain/white balance
• External frame sync capability
• Aperture correction
• SCCB programmable controls
  • Colour saturation
  • Gain
  • Brightness
  • Contrast
  • White balance
  • Exposure time
• Gamma correction (0.45) ON/OFF
• Low power consumption
• +5V only power supply

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OV7670 CMOS VGA (640 x 480) CameraChip™ with OmniPixel® Technology

The OV7670 CameraChip™ is a low voltage CMOS image sensor that provides the full functionality of a single-chip VGA camera and image processor in a small footprint package. The OV7670 provides full-frame, sub-sampled or windowed 8-bit images in a wide range of formats, controlled through the Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) interface.

This product has an image array capable of operating at up to 30 frames per second (fps) in VGA with complete user control over image quality, formatting and output data transfer. All required image processing functions including exposure control, gamma, white balance, colour saturation, hue control and more, are also programmable through the SCCB interface. In addition, OmniVision CameraChips use proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting/electrical sources of images contamination, such as fixed pattern noise (FPN), smearing, blooming, etc., to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.

Features

• High sensitivity for low-light operation
• Low operating voltage for embedded portable applications
• Standard SCCB interface compatible with I²C interface
• Output support for Raw RGB, RGB (GRB 4:2:2, RGB565/555/444), YUV (4:2:2) and YCbCr (4:2:2) formats
• Supports image sizes: VGA, CIF, and any size scaling down from CIF to 40x30
• VarioPixel® method for sub-sampling
• Automatic image control functions including: Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Automatic White Balance (AWB), Automatic Band Filter (ABF), and Automatic Black-Level Calibration (ABLC)
• Image quality controls including colour saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness (edge enhancement), and anti-blooming
• ISP includes noise reduction and defect correction
• Supports LED and flash strobe mode
• Supports scaling
• Lens shading correction
• Flicker (50/60 Hz) auto detection
• Saturation level auto adjust (UV adjust)
• Edge enhancement level auto adjust
• De-noise level auto adjust

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Omnivision CameraChips™ are low voltage CMOS image sensors that provides the full functionality of a single-chip SXGA (1280x1024) camera and image processor in a small footprint package. They provide full-frame, sub-sampled or windowed 8-bit/10-bit images in a wide range of formats, controlled through the Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) interface.

These products have an image array capable of operating at up to 15 frames per second (fps) in SXGA resolution with complete user control over image quality, formatting and output data transfer. All required image processing functions, including exposure control, gamma, white balance, colour saturation, hue control, white pixel cancelling, noise cancelling, and more, are also programmable through the SCCB interface.

In addition, OmniVision CameraChips use proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting/electrical sources of image contamination, such as fixed pattern noise, smearing, etc., to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.

Features

• High sensitivity for low-light operation
• Low operating voltage for embedded portable applications
• Standard SCCB interface
• Supports SXGA, VGA, QVGA, QQVGA, CIF, QCIF, QQCIF, and windowed outputs with Raw RGB, RGB (GRB 4:2:2), YUV (4:2:2) and YCbCr (4:2:2) formats
• VarioPixelTM method for sub-sampling formats (VGA, QVGA, QQVGA, CIF, QCIF, and QQCIF)
• Automatic image control functions including: Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Automatic White Balance (AWB), Automatic Band Filter (ABF), and Automatic Black-Level Calibration (ABLC)
• Image quality controls including colour saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness (edge enhancement), lens correction, white pixel cancelling, and noise cancelling

Key Specifications

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OV09653 1.3MPixel CMOS CameraChip™

The OV9653 CameraChip™ is a low voltage CMOS image sensor that provides the full functionality of a single chip SXGA (1280 x 1024) camera and image processor in a small footprint package. The OV9653 provides full-frame, sub-sampled or windowed 8-bit/10-bit images in a wide range of formats, controlled through the Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) interface.

This product has an image array capable of operating at up to 15 frames per second (fps) in SXGA resolution with complete user control over image quality, formatting and output data transfer. All required image processing functions, including exposure control, gamma, white balance, colour saturation, hue control, white pixel cancelling, noise cancelling, and more, are also programmable through the SCCB interface. In addition, OmniVision CameraChips use proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting/electrical sources of image contamination, such as fixed pattern noise, smearing, etc., to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.

Features

• High sensitivity for low-light operation
• Low operating voltage for embedded portable applications
• Standard SCCB interface
• Supports SXGA, VGA, QVGA, QQVGA, CIF, QCIF, QQCIF, and windowed outputs with Raw RGB, RGB (GRB 4:2:2), YUV (4:2:2) and YCbCr (4:2:2) formats
• VarioPixel method for sub-sampling formats (VGA, QVGA, QQVGA, CIF, QCIF, QQCIF)
• Automatic image control functions including: Automatic Exposure Control (AEC), Automatic Gain Control (AGC), Automatic White Balance (AWB), and Automatic Black-Level Calibration (ABLC)
• Image quality controls including colour saturation, hue, gamma, sharpness (edge enhancement), lens correction, white pixel cancelling, and noise cancelling

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OV7950 Colour CMOS NTSC & OV7451 B&W CMOS NTSC CameraChips™ with OmniPixel® Technology

The OV7950 (colour) and OV7451 (black & white) single chip CMOS CameraChips™ are designed to provide a high level of functionality for all applications requiring a small footprint, low voltage, low power consumption and high performance colour or B&W video camera.

Both devices support NTSC composite video output and can directly interface with a VCR TV monitor or other device with 75 Ohm loading.

Features
• Single chip ¼” format video camera
• Composite video (NTSC) differential output drive
• High sensitivity
• Automatic exposure/gain with 16 zone control
• Horizontal and vertical windowing capability
• Auto white balance control
• Aperture/Gamma correction
• 50/60 Hz flicker cancellation
• External frame sync capability (Genlock)
• SPI/EEPROM used to control overlay and set other customer variables
• Two sets of dynamic overlay controls
• Master/slave compatible Serial Camera Control Bus (SCCB) control interface for register programming
• Low power consumption
• Extremely low dark current for high temperature applications
• Defective pixel correction

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OV7930 Colour CMOS Analogue CameraChip™

The OV7930 (colour) is a high performance quarter-inch CMOS CameraChip™ designed for all applications requiring a small footprint, low power consumption and low cost colour video camera.

The device supports NTSC composite video output and can directly interface with a VCR TV monitor or other 75 Ohm terminated input with 2X standard TV signal range. The OV7930 CameraChips require only a single 5V DC power supply and have been designed for very low power operation.

Features

• Single chip 1/4" lens video camera
• Composite video: NTSC
• Sensitivity boost (+27dB) / AGC ON/OFF
• Automatic exposure/gain/white balance
• External frame sync capability
• Aperture correction
• SCCB programmable controls:
  • Colour saturation
  • Brightness
  • Hue
  • White balance
  • Exposure
  • Gain
  • Gamma curve
  • Aperture correction
• Gamma correction (0.45) ON/OFF
• Low power consumption
• +5V only power supply
• Wide dynamic range, anti-blooming, zero smearing

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OV9620 Colour and OV9121 B&W CMOS SXGA (1.3MPixel) CameraChip™

The OV9620 (colour) and OV9121 (black and white) are high-performance 1.3 MegaPixel CameraChips for digital still image and video camera products.

Both devices incorporate a 1280 x 1024 (SXGA) image array and an on-chip 10-bit A/D converter capable of operating at up to 15 frames per second (fps) at full resolution. Proprietary sensor technology utilises advanced algorithms to cancel Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), eliminate smearing, and drastically reduce blooming. The control registers allow for flexible control of timing, polarity, and camera chip operation, which, in turn, allows the engineer a great deal of freedom in product design.

Features:

• Optical Black Level Calibration (BLC)
• Video or snapshot operations
• Programmable/Auto Exposure and Gain Control
• Programmable/Auto White Balance Control
• Horizontal and vertical sub-sampling (4:2 and 4:2)
• Programmable image windowing
• Variable frame rate control
• On-chip R/G/B channel and luminance average counter
• Internal/External frame synchronisation
• SCCB slave interface
• Power-on reset and power-down mode

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OmniVision CameraChips™

The imaging devices in the OmniVision range are highly integrated, high performance, CMOS chips. Typical camera applications utilising CMOS devices use a chipset to take care of the image capture and processing requirements. Often these functions will be split between two or more separate ICs. However, the OmniVision camera chip is true to its name as it is a camera solution on a single chip which has the obvious benefits associated with a reduction in the number of parts used to realise a product.

One of the great advantages of using an OmniVision CameraChip is that they are made on a standard CMOS production line. This enables a relatively inexpensive device to be made when compared to technologies such as CCD. CCD devices are made in special fabrication facilities which demand a high value of investment and provide a relativley limited production capability. While the cost and power consumption of CCD devices are very high, it is true that the picture quality and level of noise in images are better than their CMOS counterparts. However, these advantages are being quickly eroded with the improvements in CMOS production, patented OmniVision techniques, and device technologies.

CameraChips™ are available with an analogue (composite video) or a digital output. The main difference between these two devices is in the signal processing section that is connected to the image sensor. It is the unique technology in the image sensor that really sets these products apart from the competition.

OmniPixel technology is a new pixel architecture that uses 4 transistors (1 x red, 1 x blue pixel, and 2 x green pixels) instead of 3 per pixel. This new architecture has the advantage of eliminating dark current noise and providing a more efficient fill factor. The benefit of this is higher sensitivity, greater dynamic range, and smaller pixels can be used. OmniVision have further developed the OmniPixel technology with improvements to both the manufacturing process and the technology itself.

OmniPixel2 technology improves the overall quality of images by improving the way light is fed to the photosensor and subsequently converted to electrical energy. One of the greatest improvements is to the micro-lens design.

As can be seen in the picture the gap between the lens of each image element has been made smaller. This has the effect of allowing the sensor to capture up to 20% more light thus using the pixel's active area more effectively. When combined with OmniVision's proprietary 0.13 micron process, which is designed to improve the pixel's ability to convert photons to electrons, this new level of technology provides devices with a higher dynamic range and vibrant true-to-life colours. All of this is achieved using the same basic CMOS process as before, offering good reliability and cost effective products.

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Tech Tip: OmniVision Part Numbers Decoded

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