The inVISION Top Innovation Award 2019 has been awarded to Sony Semiconductor’s IMX250MZR image sensor. The prize, which has been running since 2015, is given to ten trend-setting or innovative products every year. The IMX250 is the first sensor that has an on-chip polarizer which minimises system complexity and improves incident angle dependence and extinction ratio.
The IMX250 CMOS Pregius sensor comes equipped with a four-directional polarisation square pixel array which filters light from four directions in one single capture.Sensor expert at FRAMOS, Sibel Yorulmaz-Cokugur, explains; “Conventional cameras have to shoot three times while rotating a polarizer in front of the camera to filter the light. Sony’s new IMX250 CMOS sensor with its four-directional polarization only needs one shot to capture the same polarization in any direction. This increases the vision systems speed by increasing the throughput while reducing post-processing efforts – both very important factors for automation applications and detection of fast-moving objects. "I have seldom seen a new technology in image processing become so popular with camera manufacturers so quickly," says Dr. Peter Ebert, Editor-in-chief of inVISION magazine. "That's why the inVISION Top Innovation Award 2019 for Sony's IMX250MZR Pregius polarization sensor is more than deserved.“
Phoenix cameras featuring Sony’s IMX250MZR/MYR and IMX264MZR/MYR CMOS polarized sensors with Polarsens technology. Image: courtesy of LUCID Vision Labs
Polarization helps as part of the inspection process in factory automation. It improves the form recognition of transparent or low-contrast objects, which leads to a lower fail rate and higher product quality. The polarization can be leveraged by ITS applications, removing reflections, distinguishing direct light from reflection and allowing for better shape recognition in low light. With this additional light information Sony’s IMX250 sensor improves recognition without the need for filter wheels or external polarization filters.
The 5 Megapixel sensor has a 1/2.3“-type format and a pixel size of 3,45µm. The Global Shutter imager reaches frame rates up to 144 fps at 10-bit, which makes it a strong candidate for factory automation as well as for ITS systems and imaging in infrastructure applications.
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