Not only is it 3D sensing components, the power of ST is that it has a cross-section of multi-domain product lines, including MEMS products, power devices, RF devices, microcontrollers, discrete and advanced analog products, etc. Some people say that today's society, Can not say life is inseparable from ST products, but can be said that almost everyone has used ST products.For example, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, OPPO and other mobile phone manufacturers are loaded with ST components.
Recently, Zhang Chengyi, Technical Marketing Manager of ST Imaging Products Division, introduced to the media two products coming out and affecting our lives: one is FlightSense laser ranging technology; the other is a new onboard camera solution.
Figure: ST Imaging Products Technical Marketing Manager Zhang Chengyi
The third generation laser ranging: up to 4 meters, the first quarter of the market
In fact, ST launched its first FlightSense laser range sensor as early as the second quarter of 2014, and released its second generation product in June 2016. The laser can measure the distance and can be used in cell phone focusing, Object recognition and other fields.
In principle, the FlightSense laser ranging sensor consists of two parts: a laser emitter and a photon-sensing sensor. The basic principle is that the laser emitter emits photons which will be reflected when the photons hit the target object. The photon-sensing sensor The photon is received.The MCU inside the sensor measures the distance of the target object by counting the time the photon is emitted to reception.
The most common scene is the smart phone laser rapid focus function.It is reported that using ST laser rangefinder sensor phone has more than 15 cell phone manufacturers more than 70 cell phones.For example, Huawei mate9, P9, Glory 8, ZTE Secret 7max, Meizu pro6 and so on.
Of course, in addition to cell phones, as well as tablets, sweeping machines, bathroom faucet switches, etc. According to Zhang Cheng Yi said that at present ST is the world's largest manufacturer of flight time products, laser range sensor shipments have more than 350 million, average annual The growth rate reached 300%.
It is reported that, with the previous two generations of different, this generation maximum measuring distance of 4 meters, but also in the appearance of size, packaging, power consumption, etc. The parameters are better than the previous generation.
Distance and performance increase, but also greatly expanded the VL53L1X range of applications.In addition to cell phones, bathroom switches, but also should be due to indoor UAV obstacle avoidance, projection focus, exquisite close to the measurement, etc., Zhang Chengyi show you a Make-up mirror, this mirror has auto-fill function, when people close to make-up when the light will be lit. The biggest difference is that its light can simulate the outdoor light, evening light, bar light and other environment. Visual bias on site.
'There are many such applications, developers and vendors can open their minds, you can find many due opportunities.' Zhang Cheng Yi said.It is reported that the third generation VL53L1X product will be available in the first quarter of this year.
Dedicated to the car dedicated flicker-free camera
Another new car camera program is also a quarter of ST focused on promoting the product.
And security cameras, home cameras, mobile phone camera, the biggest difference, the car camera is always moving, and the light is always in the changing state.For example, the car entering and leaving the tunnel for a moment, the streets of various LED light flashes, etc., will affect visual effect.
In particular, LED light flashes, the screen projected onto the car display will distract the driver's attention, while LED blinking also allows drivers and camera systems can not see traffic conditions, serious cases can lead to a collision accident. Blinking the camera solves this problem.
The principle is the use of dual two-body program, effectively control 60Hz to 4KHz LED flash rate range of the program by the VG6768 + STV971 two parts from the combination.
Which, VG6768 is a high performance, high dynamic range image sensor, no LED strobe, pixel 2.5M. This sensor designed specifically for automotive applications, to solve the traditional imager placed in front of LED lighting generated by the well-known The product is based on the new ST patented HDR LED no-flicker pixel technology that is completely immune to LED strobing while capturing 145dB of high dynamic range per picture. The device offers excellent low-light performance and is fully compliant Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) Level B. Available in 10x10mm im2BGA package.
The STV0971 is a standalone image processing chip, and state-of-the-art embedded algorithms allow the system to benefit from any HDR camera with up to three exposures, defect pixel correction, HDR merge, global tone mapping, adaptive colorization , Adaptive lens shading correction, auto white balance, noise reduction and sharpness enhancement.
The camera system is targeted at every automotive display application such as streaming media rearview mirror, looking around, rear view, but it also enhances machine vision applications such as look-ahead to provide specific data pipelines thanks to its AEC-Q100 Level 2 Car certification, it can support any automotive application system architecture.According to Cheng-Yi Zhang revealed that the system will be 3 to 4 months of this year to market.