BLINC Smart Digital Camera Has 100X Dynamic Range of Others, Low Power Draw, Faster Response
BLINC, announced at the SPIE Aerosense conference in Orlando, Fl, works equally well in still image and standard 30 frame per second video capture. It offers digital and analog output at VGA resolution (640 X 480) in a package only 1.2" square by 1.0" deep, making it ideal for surveillance, automotive, machine vision, and Internet imaging uses.
The BLINC assembly is built around Sarnoff's proprietary CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS) technology, allowing it to significantly outperform conventional cameras in resolving highlight and shadow detail. Automatic contrast detail enhancement is performed with an on-board real-time 16-bit DSP.
"BLINC's small size, low power draw, and simple hookup make it easy to integrate into imaging systems," said Niel McCaffrey, Sarnoff's Head, Advanced Imaging. "It is designed to show you more detail in any arbitrary scene than any other digital camera. And it responds so fast, you're always going to see everything in each frame of rapidly changing video."
The camera operates on a single 3.3 volt power supply, requiring less than 70 mJ to capture a frame. BLINC's response speed of 1/10th of a second allows it to remain in standby mode at zero power until just before exposure, further reducing power requirements. Other cameras require over 2 seconds to set exposure and capture an image.
Other cameras are incapable of rendering details in all areas of a high-contrast scene. But because of BLINC's exceptional 110 dB dynamic range, it delivers images with clear detail in both highlight and shadow areas. The result is natural-looking electronic images that more closely approximate photographic film.
Sarnoff Corporation, 201 Washington Road, CN5300, Princeton, NJ 08543-5300. Tel: 609-734-2000; Fax: 609-734-2040.