Phaer

The Cheetah C4080 and C2880 cameras support the recently introduced high speed On Semiconductor KAC12040 12MP and KAC-06040 (6MP) CMOS sensors. These image sensors can output full 12MP images at rates in excess of 70 FPS and 6MP images at rates up to 160 fps, without any blurring, because they offer snap-shot operation (Global Shutter mode). In addition, the image sensors have inherently high anti-blooming capability (>10,000:1) to suppress the effects of locally intense illumination without bleeding into the rest of the image. These features make the Cheetah camera ideal for high speed image capture in well controlled lighting applications, but outdoor scenes present another set of challenges, because imaging in daylight typically require cameras with higher intra-scenic dynamic range. IMPERX has innovated to address this challenge. 

The intra-scenic dynamic range is the range of intensities that can be captured by the camera in a single image capture. This is typically limited by the inherent dynamic range of the sensor which is defined by the ratio of its full well pixel size to the noise of readout. For example, a sensor with 10,000 electrons full well capacity and 10 electrons readout noise will have a dynamic range of 1000:1. To express this in decibels, take 20 * Log (Dynamic Range) which equals 60 dB in this example. In this case, it is possible to record features in the image that range in intensity by 1000x at maximum. The Cheetah C4080 and C2880 image sensors have a full well capacity of 17,000 electrons and a readout noise of 25 electrons in Global Shutter (GS) [3.7 electrons in Rolling Shutter (RS)]. This means that the inherent dynamic range in the standard snap-shot mode (GS operation) is 680:1 which translates to 57dB of dynamic range. While this is suitable for some applications, the more demanding applications require the ability to see detail in the darkest regions of the image and the brightest regions simultaneously, hence a desire for wide dynamic range. 

Download the IMPERX Whitepaper on Wide Range Dynamic Imaging