Bringing artificial intelligence (AI) to smart products - How Mira Family image sensors empower intelligent machine-learning

The Mira Family global shutter visible and near infrared (NIR) image sensors offer the low-power characteristics and small size required in the latest 2D and 3D sensing systems. These are in demand for augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) products, in industrial applications like drones, robots and automated vehicles as well as in consumer devices like smart door locks.

Growing demand in emerging markets for AR and VR equipment depends on manufacturers' ability to make products like smart glasses smaller, lighter, less obtrusive and more comfortable to wear. This is where the Mira Family image sensors adds value, reducing the size of the sensor itself and giving manufacturers the option to shrink the battery thanks to the sensor's extremely low power consumption.

A further Mira Family innovation is the ability to process mono and color (RGB) and even color combined with infrared information (RGB-IR) in the same small space to add a wealth of design flexibility - and gaining human sensing and recognition benefits.

ams OSRAM uses back side illumination (BSI) technology in the Mira Family image sensors to implement a stacked chip design, with the sensor layer on top of the digital/readout layer. This allows it to produce the sensor in a chip-scale package, e.g.: Mira050 is a tiny 2.3mm x 2.8mm. The ultra-small footprint gives manufacturers greater freedom to optimize the design of space-constrained products such as smart glasses and VR headsets.

Mira Family image sensors combine excellent optical performance with extremely low power consumption. The Mira220 image sensor operates at only 4mW in sleep mode, 40mW in idle mode and at full resolution and 90 fps the sensor has a power consumption of 350mW. Mira Family image sensors offer a high signal-to-noise-ratio as well as high quantum efficiency allowing device manufacturers to reduce the output power of the NIR illuminators used alongside the image sensor in 2D and 3D sensing systems, reducing total power consumption.
Sensing technologies for 3D Sensing like structured light or active stereo vision require NIR image sensors, which enable functions like eye and hand tracking, object detection and depth mapping. Additionally, RGB-version of the image sensor delivers additional color information, which is used for machine-learning algorithms, improving face recognition and object identification.

A key use of the Mira Family image sensors combined with an AI processor including integrated machine-learning algorithm is to improve safety for humans when they interact or collaborate with intelligent products - especially free-moving robots. Using high-quality image sensors in conjunction with AI processors to recognize that a human is present and interpret their shared environment, different operational rules can be applied to ensure safe interaction.