SmartVision launches SC220AT, a new vehicle-grade full HD CIS product, enabling high-end automotive sensor applications

As the penetration rate of smart cars accelerates, in-vehicle cameras will fully benefit from the demand expansion brought about by technology upgrades.Among them, the2MP pixel chip has become the most mainstream vehicle camera vision solution. According to Yole, the penetration rate of the 2MP pixel chip will reach 55% by 2023 and willcontinue to dominate the mainstream for a long time in the future.

Recently, SmartSens, a CMOS image sensor supplier with advanced technology, launched a new2.5MP automotive-gradeimage sensor -SC220AT.The new product is equipped with SmartVision's innovativeSmartClarity®-2imaging technology,upgraded self-developed ISP algorithm,innovativeSFCPixel®,PixGain HDR®patented technology,LFS technology, on-chip ISP two-in-one, high sensitivity, high dynamic range , Excellent LED flicker suppression four performance advantages in one.In addition, as a new product of the Automotive Sensor (AT) Series, SC220AT is developed based on theASIL-D functional safety process, meetsAEC-Q100 Grade 2andfunctional safety ISO 26262 ASIL Blevel requirements, fully meets vehicle safety standards, and isbetter with five advantages It enables the performance upgrade of360°surround view applications, automatic parking, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and other intelligent in-vehicle imaging and perception applications.

Blessed by innovative technologies, creating better vehicle night vision imaging performance

Intelligent vehicle vision applications have very high requirements on the performance of cameras under dark light conditions, and have become an important parameter for the golden track of vehicle CIS manufacturers.SmartClarity ® -2 technology is adopted inSmartClarity®-2 technology. Relying on SmartCare's uniqueSFCPixel®patented technologyandHigh Gain high conversion gain technology underPixGain technology , thesensitivityof SC220AT can be as high as8200mV/lux·s. Compared with in-vehicle products of the same specification in the industry, the sensitivity has been greatly increased by28%.

On the other hand, with SmartVision'sultra-low noise peripheral reading circuit technologyandupgraded color process ,the pixel response non-uniformity(PRNU) andelectrical crosstalk(Blooming)can be greatly improved , which can be as low as0.5% respectively.Inaddition, compared with other mainstream products in the industry, the working power consumption of SC220ATisgreatlyreduced by more than11%. With its ultra-high performance, it presents aclear and delicate night vision full-color imaging effect at night,enabling the night vision.Driving dark light application scene.

Self-developedISPalgorithm upgrade to create excellent picture quality

SC220AT, as SmartVision's second vehicle-grade image sensor with integrated on-chip ISP two-in-one function, has beenfully upgradedon the basis of the previous generation's self-developed ISP algorithm .For the overall ISP pipeline (ISP Pipeline), includingdead pixel correction(DPC),color correction(CCM),noise reduction processing(Denoising) andimage sharpeningand other aspects have been fully optimized, coveringRAW,RGB,YUVmultiple domains.Not only can greatlyimprove image clarity, but also betterpreserve color edges,eliminate purple fringing, and improve image quality.At the same time, relying on noise reduction and other processing methods to retain important details in the image, presenting aclean and delicate image.

It is suitable for night scenes, especially urban road conditions with complex lighting in evening peak hours.The upgraded self-developed ISP algorithm can furtherimprove the over-exposure or over-darkness of the pictureand theoverflow of the light rangecaused by direct light , so as to better suppress the reflection and interference of strong light in the driving state at night.Comprehensively enhance the details of the image and improve driving safety.

DualHDRtechnology helps enrich the texture of light and dark details

For high-speed motion driving application scenarios, traditional HDR technology is prone to artifacts in image synthesis.The SC220AT adopts SmartVision's innovativePixGain HDR®technology . Through the combination ofHigh Gain(high conversion gain) andLow Gain(low conversion gain) dual images under the same frame exposure, it can achieve no motion artifacts during sports shooting. ofhigh-quality HDR imaging.

In addition, SC220AT can also supportup to 120dB triple exposure line overlap wide dynamic. Throughthe combined application oftwo high dynamic range technologies,the camera canmore accurately obtain highlights and shadow details, enrich colors and picture levels, thereby improving the overall picture detail.

Advanced LFStechnology addition to achieve excellent LEDflickersuppression

Under the current road signal system dominated by LED signal lights, suppressing the "flicker" of LED lights is a key challenge for smart vehicle CIS.

SC220AT is equipped with SmartVision's self-developedLFS technology (LED flicker suppression technology). With an innovative dual-pixel structure design, the large pixel maintains the normal exposure time, while the small pixel reduces the sensitivity and prolongs the exposure time to cover the LED flicker frequency. The final outputNo LED flickering images.It ensures that the product canquickly and accurately obtainLEDtraffic signal image information in scenes with huge changes in light and shade,such as garages and tunnels .

Two major vehicle-level verifications to improve the vehicle product certification system

As the core component of a smart car, the on-board chip runs through the entire life cycle of the car in terms ofsafetyandreliability.In the field of automotive semiconductors, in addition toAEC-Q100reliability certification, passing the stringentISO 26262 functional safety certificationhas become an important criterion for the automotive electronics industry.

SmartVision's automotive-grade chip SC220AT not only meetsAEC-Q100 Grade 2product reliability certification requirements, but also meetsISO 26262 ASIL B functional safety product certification standards.It fully guarantees the safety and reliability of SC220AT and provides a solid foundation for its rapid introduction to the vehicle application market.

Mr. Shao Ke, Vice President of Smartway's Automotive Chip Department, said: "With the trend of automotive intelligence, the demand for automotive CIS continues to increase, and the products are widely used in the fields of driving records, surround rearview images and intelligent perception. Performance such as resolution and low-light imaging continue to have higher requirements. In response to the needs of automotive customers for applications such as assisted driving, automatic parking, and surround view upgrades, we have launched SmartClarity®-2 technologyThe image sensor of the platform, SC220AT, is equipped with SFCPixel®patented technology and PixGain and other upgraded technologies, and has excellent low-light performance. In addition, SC220AT not only integrates an upgraded self-developed ISP algorithm on-chip to achieve better image quality, but alsodynamic line overlapping HDR and PixGain HDR®, to meet the diversified HDR performance requirements in various speed sports application scenarios. At the same time, with SmartVision's innovative LFS technology, SC220AT can achieve excellent LED flicker suppression functions, and empowers the performance upgrade needs of automotive customer products. As a high-tech enterprise that rarely provides automotive-grade CMOS image sensor solutions in China, Smartway has already forward-lookingly carried out technological innovation and research in accordance with the automotive-grade R&D system. Therefore, SC220AT not only has advantages in CIS performance, but also complies with the two major standards of AEC-Q100 Grade 2 and ISO 26262 ASIL B functional safety product certification. The high-performance automotive-grade chips fully protect the safety and stability of the intelligent driving system. In addition, SC220AT provides iBGA and CSP packaging forms to provide customers with more choices.”

Mr. Wang Xiaoyong, Vice President of SmartVision's SoC Design Department, said: "SC220AT is equipped with SmartVision's upgraded self-developed ISP algorithm, which covers the full-link RAW domain, RGB domain and YUV domain of ISP image processing, greatly improving the imaging capabilities of SC220AT. Performance. At the HDR level, the dynamic range of the image sensor can be further improved by the upgraded high-detail-preserving HDR fusion algorithm, supplemented by the global and local tone mapping (Tone Mapping) algorithm, so that the SC220AT can not only achieve an excellent 120dB triple exposure line overlap Wide dynamic range, it can also present excellent color fidelity and strong contrast. In addition, for LFS technology, namely LED flicker suppression technology, based on the different sensitivity of dual pixels to LED lights, SmartVision's upgraded algorithm can effectively distinguish scenes This can eliminate the artifacts and flicker problems caused by high-frequency LEDs in the scene, and achieve excellent LED flicker suppression performance."

The launch of SC220AT is the prelude to the launch of Smartway's new in-vehicle products.At present, SmartVision has released 6 automotive-grade high-performance CIS products, covering 1MP~8MP intelligent vehicle imaging solutions.In the future, SmartVision will further comprehensively deploy automotive chip products for the three major applications of in-vehicle imaging, perception and in-cabin, and empower customer applications with high-performance imaging quality.At present, SC220AT has accepted samples and is expected to achieve mass production in Q4.For more information about SC220AT, please contact Smartway sales.