Embedded vision comes to space-constrained consumer and industrial systems

ams announced the pre-release of the NanEyeM, a miniature integrated Micro Camera Module (MCM) assembly with a tiny footprint at the image sensor end of just 1mm2. With its compact design and convenient interface, the NanEyeM is easy to integrate into space-constrained industrial and consumer designs, providing new embedded vision capabilities in products such as smart toys and home appliances.

The NanEyeM offers a high-resolution 100kpixel, 10-bit digital readout, and features a Single-Ended Interface Mode (SEIM). Like a standard Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), the SEIM channel is easy to implement in any host processor and provides a cost-optimized solution without the need for LVDS deserialization. The maximum frame rate over the SEIM interface is 58 frames/s at a clock rate of 75MHz.

The slave configuration in SEIM enables control of the frame rate via the host application processor, down to rates of a single frame per second or even slower. Synchronization of two or more cameras – a useful capability in applications such as eye tracking or stereo vision – can easily be performed by providing a centralized clock from the application processor (more info; for medical imaging applications).