3D Image Sensor REAL3™

Overview

3D Image Sensor REAL3™ subcategories

Sensing the world in 3D with REAL3™ 3D image sensor

REAL3™ is Infineon's broad 3D imager family consisting of highly integrated time of flight sensors (ToF sensors). These single-chip imagers are sunlight-robust, highly scalable and ready for integration into a wide range of consumer electronics, industrial and automotive applications.

Details

Get more Information about REAL3™

How does ToF work?

Time of flight (ToF) technology projects a single modulated, infrared light source onto an object, user or scene of interest. The reflected light is captured by the ToF imager, which measures depth, amplitude and phase difference per pixel. The result is a highly reliable image of the distance or depth plus a gray-scale picture of the entire scene.

REAL3™ Benefits

Time of flight (ToF) supports real-time sensing thanks to rapid data acquisition. In addition, it minimizes power consumption as ToF depth data processing is less compute-intensive than other depth-sensing technologies like structured light or stereovision. This reduces the application processor power drain.

Other REAL3™ highlights include simple and robust ToF camera module designs. The outstanding imager performance and proven sunlight robustness due to the patented Suppression of Background Illumination (SBI) circuitry in every pixel  reduces the active light required to a minimum. So camera modules only need two key components: the imager and a flash illuminator. No mechanical baseline is required. This results in very compact camera modules with high integration flexibility to support demanding applications. Our REAL3™ technology also enables fast, lean calibration for easy and robust mass production.


REAL3™ ToF benefits at a glance:

Benefit REAL3™ Image Sensor based on Time-of-Flight
Robust and accurate depth data
  • Direct measurement of depth and amplitude in every pixel; no intensive calculations needed
  • Optimized CMOS technology for highest infrared photo sensitivity
Full operation in bright sunlight and darkness
  • Active modulated IR-light
  • Extended dynamic range by patented Suppression of Background Illumination (SBI) functionality in every pixel
System design flexibility; small form factor
  • Single-chip ToF imager with integrated standard camera interface
  • Single lens design: no mechanical baseline needed
Low depth map calculation efforts; low CPU usage
  • Sensor directly provides raw depth data; no intensive calculations needed
Ease of calibration
  • Easy once-in-a-lifetime calibration
  • Monocular system architecture: i.e. no meachnical alignment and angle correction
Robustness over lifetime
  • Monocular system architecture: no risk of de-calibration due to drops, vibrations or thermal bending
Usability in a mobile device
  • Indoor- and outdoor usability through sunlight robustness
  • High design flexibility because of monocular design (no mechanical baseline)
  • Dynamically configurable: run-time adaption for optimal performance and power consumption
Usability in automotive
  • Optical plastic LFBGA-84 package supporting standard soldering without underfiller  material
  • AEC-Q100, grade 2 qualification
  • Tamb: -40°C to 105°C

 

Tools & Software

3D reference cameras

To evaluate REAL3™ Time-of-Flight technology, various 3D reference cameras are available. The CamBoard pico family is designed by our development partner pmdtechnologies. These reference cameras come with a powerful SDK providing a high-quality depth map for evaluation and application software development. For consumer mobile applications, the CamBoard picoflexx camera is the product of choice as it can be easily integrated into a mobile device. The CamBoard pico flexx features flexible working ranges, flexible frame rates, Android support, MacOS support and reduced depth noise. For further details and to order one of these reference cameras, please visit http://pmdtec.com/picofamily/

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3D vision to sense the world:

New Infineon 3D image sensor specially designed to fulfill the requirements of the consumer and mobile communication markets.

Partners

Cooperation between Infineon and pmdtechnologies

Infineon co-developed the 3D image sensor family REAL3™ in collaboration with pmdtechnologies AG, based in Siegen, Germany. Both partners are providing joint technical support for camera module makers. pmdtechnologies contributed the ToF pixel matrix to the REAL3™ chip family, whereas Infineon contributed all the functional blocks required for system-on-chip (SoC) integration, and also developed the ToF-optimized CMOS manufacturing process.

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