Infineon Technologies Launches High-Resolution 3D Image Sensor for Automotive Applications

3D depth sensors play a pivotal role in automotive cockpit monitoring systems, helping to create innovative smart cockpits, supporting seamless access to new services, and improving passive safety. They are essential for meeting regulatory requirements and NCAP safety ratings, as well as realizing the vision of autonomous driving. In view of this, Infineon Technologies has collaborated with pmd, a company specializing in 3D ToF (time-of-flight) systems, to develop the second-generation automotive REAL3 image sensor, which complies with the ISO 26262 standard and has a higher resolution.

Christian Herzum, Vice President of Infineon 's 3D Sensing Business, said that Infineon has always been in a leading position in the field of 3D sensors for mobile consumer terminals. With this advantage, we have expanded the application scope of 3D sensors to the automotive field and provided high-resolution image sensors for the automotive industry. This product can achieve the same functions as consumer terminals in the car, while always meeting automotive-grade standards and even improving passive safety. For example, reliable and secure facial recognition allows seamless access to any service that requires identity authentication, such as payment, battery charging or access to private data.

In addition, the 3D sensing camera also meets the various conditions required for driver status monitoring, and can accurately determine whether the driver has dangerous driving behaviors such as distraction and fatigue. In this way, only one ToF camera is needed to create a driving status monitoring system through safe 3D face detection.

"We have been working hard to improve the robustness of the 3D image sensors developed based on Pai's ToF technology to ensure that they are not affected by external factors such as sunlight and other interfering light sources. As a result, the new image sensors can perform excellently even in harsh conditions," said Bernd Buxbaum, CEO of Pai's ToF technology.

The sensor is packaged in a 9x9mm2 plastic BGA (ball grid array) package, and uses a micro-photosensitive area of ​​only 4mm to achieve a VGA system resolution of 640x480 pixels. Thanks to this, the on-board lens in automotive applications can now be made as small as the lens in a smartphone. The high resolution of the REAL3 sensor makes it suitable for camera applications with a wide field of view, such as all-round monitoring systems for front seat occupants.

The generated 3D object model can accurately estimate the size and weight of passengers, and obtain highly accurate passenger and seat position data, thereby providing key information for the deployment and restraint system of smart airbags. This single-chip solution is not only compact, but also meets the AEC-Q100 Grade 2 standard and is the first solution developed in accordance with the ISO 26262 (ASIL-B) standard.

In addition to safety-critical applications, 3D data can also be used to implement body comfort features, such as gesture control, or interior lighting systems that can intuitively sense the movements of passengers and automatically adjust the lights. In addition, the image sensor can also be used in environmental perception scenarios in the car like Flash LiDAR. In terms of safety, it is also an ideal choice for mobile robots, drones and other similar autonomous control applications. Because in these application scenarios, reliability and safety are necessary to protect operators.

Infineon Technologies and Pai Ande jointly launched depth sensor technology, the ToF technology used has laid the foundation for a variety of applications. It provides highly reliable distance information and can also provide a 2D grayscale image of the entire scene in various environments and lighting conditions, whether at night, during the day, or under rapidly changing lighting conditions.