The automobile is no longer a simple means of transportation. It has become the main trend of intelligent automobile development to provide users with a new and personalized intelligent electronic cockpit through on-board infotainment system and advanced man-machine interface (HMI). According to statistics, the global automotive digital cockpit market is expected to grow from $13.9 billion in 2018 to $32.3 billion by the end of 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of about 12.83 percent.
The intelligent cabin will integrate more information and functions to achieve a more natural human-computer interaction and provide users with more intelligent experience. At the same time, the demand for sensors in the cabin has also increased significantly, promoting the rapid development of the image sensor market in the cabin. Penetration of in-cabin image sensors will grow from 10% in 2021 to around 64% in 2026.
At present, the cabin image sensor has two main application directions: DMS (pilot monitoring system) and OMS (cockpit monitoring system). DMS measure drivers' concentration levels to ensure safer roads. With the development of automatic driving and intelligent network connection, DMS has also iterated more functions, such as man-machine co-driving assistance in automatic driving. When the machine cannot continue autonomous driving due to the current environment, DMS can intervene to judge whether the current driver can take over the driving, so as to ensure the safe and smooth transition of driving.
DMS also has the function of face recognition and identity recognition, can be used for engine start, vehicle system entry and seat automatic adjustment function. The OMS monitors the entire smart cabin for more applications, such as video calls and the ability to detect items left behind by children.
STMicroelectronics has long been committed to providing the required technology for automobile manufacturers, and has been deeply engaged in the field of machine vision image sensors, focusing on the application and market demand of in-cabin image sensing. The next generation hybrid dual shutter image sensor Vx1940 has been launched.
VX1940 is available in two packages: VB1940 based on OBGA package and VD1940 in bare wafer.Vx1940 is a new generation hybrid dual-shutter image sensor based on the first generation Driver Monitoring System (DMS) VB56G4A, which can monitor the entire interior of the vehicle, covering the driver and all passenger space in an all-round way. New applications targeted by the new image sensor include driver monitoring, video calling, passenger seatbelt detection, vital signs monitoring, child amnesia detection, gesture recognition, and high-definition photography. A single sensor covers all DMS and OMS applications.
VX1940 is also a very cost-effective solution for the car bay surveillance system. This is a combination of the global shutter and the shutter shutter. The NIR pixels and the RGB pixels are all different exposure times. The shutter can directly output high dynamic range (HDR) RGB images.
In terms of image output, the chip integrates some ISP functions and can directly output two kinds of images in NIR format and RGB format, which is very friendly to the back-end intelligent cabin system SoC chip. In terms of image output data, with the help of ST's unique Context technology, it can configure different output image formats according to the algorithm requirements of back-end DMS and OMS, and output in a self-defined image sequence cycle.
