Israel-based startup, Newsight Imaging, a leading semiconductor innovator developing machine vision sensors, spectral vision chips, and systems, releases of the NSI9000 one-chip (non-stacked) CMOS image sensor solution for depth imaging.
The new chip has 491,520 depth 5×5 micron pixels (1024×480), global shutter (with up to 132 fps on full resolution), and an estimated depth accuracy of less than 1% of the distance. The sensor is designed for an optimal distance of 0-200 meters. The new chip offers new capabilities at a competitive price to significant growth markets for LiDAR systems, automotive ADAS, Metaverse AR/VR applications, Industry 4.0, and smart city/IOT, including smart traffic 3D vision systems.
The sensor is a result of five years of collaborative innovation by Newsight and its partners such as Fraunhofer and Tower-Jazz. The product offers unique features, including:
- Newsight’s patented enhanced Time-Of-Flight (eTOF) technology that is well demonstrated on the currently available NSI1000 sensor chip. This technology enables maximal flexibility using multi-sets of configurations, in-pixel accumulation, and a novel depth calculating method that does not require heavy calculations and expensive MCU.
- Event aware unique circuit, which was developed as part of the Israeli smart imaging consortium. The solution enables event driven imaging, while a unique circuit attached to each pixel makes it possible to broadcast only lines with pixels that were changed from a previous frame. This feature is specifically designed for smart-city enabled cameras and smart traffic solutions.
- Multi-triangulation: a unique solution for industry 4.0 applications and measurement devices of 480 ultra-accurate depth points, down to micron accuracy for close 3D inspection of production rail objects.
- Built in fusion, allowing the sensor to extract a full resolution B/W image together with a depth image from the same frame data, and making image and depth fusion trivial for systems developers.
- Chip design using a standard CMOS image sensor process, with only two system power source requirements (1.8V, 3.3V), making it a low-power, easy to integrate, and affordable solution for mass markets.
| Newsight NSI9000 | Competitor | |
| Sample price | 1,800 Yen | 15,000 Yen |
| Pixel size Global shutter | 5 x 5 Global shutter | 10.08 x 10.08 Global shutter |
| Array resolution | 491K pixels | 100K pixels |
| Technology | One chip CIS non stacked | Stacked |
| Frame Rate | 130 fps | Tens of fps |
| System complexity / Power supply | 3.3 V Analog
1.8 V Digital |
-20.5 V, 3.3 V (Analog), 1.1 V (Digital), 1.8 V (Interface) |
| Maximum distance | 200 meters | 300 meters |
| Accuracy | Better than 1% | 3% |
| Event based circuit | Full | None |
| Multi-triangulation depth points | 480 | None |
| Built-in depth and B/W image fusion | Yes | No |
| Gated imaging feature (“see beyond fog”) | Yes | No |
| Chip package footprint | 12.7 mm x 12.7 mm | 15.65 mm x 15.35 mm |
Eyal Yatskan, Newsight CTO and Co-founder, noted, “Newsight has implemented significant, proven, and innovative ideas in this sensor and accelerated the capabilities of the solution to match the high-end requirements of our customers’ target applications. Newsight believes that such advanced solutions can be offered at affordable prices for building high volume best ROI depth imaging products.”
