OmniVision Automotive Image Sensors Compatible with NVIDIA DRIVE Platform, Including Driver Monitoring Imagers for NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion

April 19, 2021

News

OmniVision announced at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference (GTC) that it has officially joined the NVIDIA DRIVE autonomous vehicle development ecosystem

The company also unveiled the first group of OmniVision automotive image sensor families compatible with the modular NVIDIA DRIVE AGX AI computing platform for self-driving vehicles.

OmniVision created drivers and camera modules using its OX08B40 image sensor for front-view automotive applications, including ADAS and Level 3+ autonomous systems. Likewise, drivers and camera modules are now available for its OX03F10 and OX03C10 viewing camera image sensors, allowing the development of surround view systems (SVSs), rearview cameras (RVCs), and e-mirror camera monitoring systems with NVIDIA DRIVE. In addition, OmniVision’s OV2311 and a new 5MP sensor are the exclusive driver monitoring system (DMS) image sensors for the NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion turnkey evaluation architecture.

The NVIDIA DRIVE AGX AI computing platform offers automotive designers the flexibility to use NVIDIA hardware with its full stack DRIVE software, or develop their own custom software. Additionally, they have the freedom to use the platform solely for in-cabin or autonomous driving applications, or for both. Regardless of the application, OmniVision offers platform software drivers for its image sensors, as well as complete camera modules that customers can connect to the NVIDIA DRIVE platform for immediate evaluation. OmniVision also provides custom tuning services.

The first three qualified image sensor families offer benefits to automotive system designers. The OV2311 features 2MP resolution for DMS applications, and was the industry’s first automotive-grade imager to offer a global shutter for minimal driver-motion artifacts. The new 5MP image sensor maintains OmniVision’s record as the only provider of automotive global shutter-image sensors, while increasing the resolution to 5MP. It also adds OmniVision’s Nyxel near-infrared (NIR) technology, for image captures in low- to no-light conditions. Nyxel technology uses silicon semiconductor architectures and processes to achieve high quantum efficiency for DMS of 36-percent at the invisible 940nm NIR light wavelength, providing clear driver images for use by AI software algorithms.

As the industry’s first automotive image sensor with 140dB HDR, along with the best LED flicker mitigation (LFM) performance and high 8.3MP resolution, the OX08B40 enables  front-view captures, regardless of external lighting conditions. This feature is powered by OmniVision’s on-chip HALE (HDR and LFM Engine) combination algorithm, which simultaneously provides LFM and HDR over the entire automotive temperature range.

Per the company, the OX03C10 and OX03F10 are still the world’s only automotive viewing camera image sensors to combine a large 3.0-micron pixel with the HALE algorithm for minimized motion artifacts and the best LFM performance. The OX03C10 also has a low power consumption of any 2.5MP LFM image sensor—25-percent lower than the nearest competitor. Additionally, it providesa small package size, enabling the placement of cameras that continuously run at 60 fps in even the tightest spaces for stringent styling requirements, all of which are ideal for RVCs and SVSs. The OX03F10 widens the vertical resolution to 1920x1536p, which provides the high image quality needed when feeding SVS captures into autonomous machine vision systems. The OX03F10’s wider array is also essential in e-mirror applications, for ideal coverage and blind-spot elimination.

All three of OmniVision’s initial NVIDIA DRIVE AGX platform-compatible sensor families are available now for sampling and mass production, featuring advanced ASIL functional safety and AEC-Q100 Grade 2 certification. The platform drivers and evaluation camera modules are also available now by contacting your OmniVision sales representative at www.ovt.com/contact-sales.

OmniVision’s NVIDIA GTC technical talks, featuring overviews and video demos, are available on-demand throughout the virtual conference, taking place April 12-16.

Learn more and register for free here: https://www.ovt.com/news-events/events/gtc-2021.