Page 7 - EE|Times Europe Magazine - December 2020

EE|Times EUROPE 7

State-of-the-Art Photography and Immersive AR/MR Experiences

managed to bring suitable solutions to the
market because broad system competence
and deep understanding of the technology are
required. Infineon and pmdtechnologies see
themselves in a pioneering technology role
and have been cooperating since 2013. They
have jointly developed five generations of 3D
ToF imagers, which have been used in several
smartphones as well as in AR headsets, smart-
home devices, industrial cameras, and cars.

MR requires accurate 3D
depth data acquisition
under all light conditions
in real time and imposes

much higher requirements
on processing power than
Figure 2: Time-of-flight principle of REAL3™ 3D ToF imagers simpler AR effects.

and blend in real time. Mixed reality enables with a microlens. Thus, the majority of the Compared with the previous 3D image
a much higher level of immersion and incident light is directed to the sensitive area sensors, the sixth generation of REAL3™
ubiquitous interaction of virtual and real of a pixel; virtually no light energy is lost on 3D ToF sensors has been optimized specif-
objects, with the virtual images perfectly inactive surfaces, and the optical pixel sensi- ically to address smartphone pain points
rendered into the real world. tivity is significantly higher. Algorithms use for photo enhancements and AR/MR. The
MR requires accurate 3D depth data the measured data to detect the distances, sensor requires 40% less power than previous
acquisition under all light conditions in size, movement, and shape of the objects and generations, thus saving the smartphone’s
real time and imposes much higher require- create precise 3D models on this basis. battery life. This is key for AR/MR gaming,
ments on processing power than simpler AR Infineon developed its REAL3™ 3D ToF for example, in which the ToF camera is
effects with image superposition. Solutions sensors together with pmdtechnologies, on for a long time. The camera design with
based on 3D image sensing technologies a ToF-focused company based in Siegen, this new imager can be 35% smaller thanks
have recently gained attention because they Germany. So far, only a few companies have to a high SoC integration level, granting
deliver the depth level of detail that 2D cam-
eras fail to provide. But challenges remain,
as current commercial devices deploying
existing 3D image sensing solutions are not
yet able to provide a reasonable resolution
without significant tradeoffs in extended
distance ranges and power consumption.
Such shortcomings are now being
resolved by the latest 3D ToF imager
generation in Infineon’s REAL3™ portfolio.
Before exploring the advantages of this new
device in detail, let’s have a look at the ToF
principle.

3D IMAGER BASED ON
THE TIME-OF-FLIGHT PRINCIPLE
The new REAL3™ 3D ToF sensor chip works
with infrared light and uses the time-of-
flight operating principle (Figure 2). The
infrared light, modulated at a certain
frequency typically in the range of
several tens of megahertz, is emitted by the
camera’s illumination system to the object
and reflected back. Each individual pixel
measures the travel time of the modulated
infrared light pulse emitted by the camera
to the objects in question and back. Every
TM
pixel of the 3D image sensor chip is equipped Figure 3: Fact sheet for long-range REAL3 3D ToF sensor
www.eetimes.eu | DECEMBER 2020