Gasgoo Awards 2022 applicant: Auto-grade Image Sensor AR0820AT from onsemi

For the Gasgoo Awards 2022, High Resolution Automotive Image Sensor AR0820AT from onsemi has applied for the Top 100 Players of China's New Automotive Supply Chain. 

Photo credit: onsemi

Product: high resolution automotive image sensor AR0820AT

Description

The AR0820AT is an 8.3-megapixel, 2.1-micron (μm) DR-Pix wafer-stacked automotive sensor with 100 times the perception capability of human eye vision under all conditions. Wafer stacking technology enables compact camera designs. It is optimized for both low light and challenging high dynamic range (HDR) scenes, with a 2.1 µm DR-Pix BSI pixel and on-chip 140 dB HDR capture capability. 

Photo credit: onsemi

The sensor includes advanced functions such as in-pixel binning, windowing, and both video and single frame modes to provide flexible Region of Interest (ROI). The high resolution of this sensor, coupled with the ability to operate effectively in poor lighting conditions, enhances the capabilities of ADAS systems. Higher resolution allows smaller objects and other hazards to be detected and identified by the system at a greater distance, allowing the vehicle to alert the driver or take avoiding action earlier, thereby enhancing road safety. The advanced fault detection features and embedded data on the AR0820AT are key to enabling ASIL B compliant cameras that are critical for higher levels of autonomy.

Unique advantages

• The AR0820AT provides high resolution and high dynamic range in a variety of poor lighting conditions, enabling detection and identification of smaller objects and other dangerous situations at longer distances (up to 185 meters), making contributions to enhance ADAS systems and more advanced autonomous driving systems, thereby improving road safety.

• The sensor includes sophisticated onboard fault monitoring and detection to ensure that the image can be relied upon. By moving the responsibility for fault detection from the main processor to the sensor itself, significant processing power is saved and any faults or issues are able to be detected far more quickly, allowing the vision system to return to a safe state before a potentially hazardous event occurs. The inbuilt cybersecurity ensures reliable and secure operation.

• With a scalable family of image sensors from onsemi (of which the AR0820AT is a key part), automotive OEMs are able to deploy the optimum sensor for each application within each vehicle they produce while leveraging software and algorithm development across all devices. This both reduces development time and diminishes design risk.

Application

Specifically designed for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), the AR0820AT forms a fundamental part of the vision system that will detect objects in the vehicle’s path, including pedestrians and other vehicles, increasing road safety. With features such as higher dynamic range, enhanced low light performance, real-time functional safety mechanisms and fault detection, this sensor is aimed at assisting drivers and ultimately enables a new generation of fully autonomous vehicles with essential 360-degree vision.

The AR0820AT is at the heart of the vision system on the AutoX RoboTaxi – the first licensed fully autonomous taxi in China with hundreds of vehicles deployed in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan as well as a pilot roll-out of RoboTaxis and RoboDelivery in California. The RoboTaxis each incorporate a total of 28 AR0820AT sensors, providing a full surround view with zero blind spots ensuring that they can handle the densest and most dynamic traffic conditions.

Prospects

Autonomous vehicles are one of the most highly anticipated innovations with a potential impact that will change people’s lives globally. The AR0820AT image sensors enable AVs to see further and have the ability to detect objects of all sizes. As this technology becomes accessible to the general public, it will surely change the way we drive and use transportation. But most significantly, we can keep the drivers, passengers, and vehicles safe on the road.