We propose that the technologies used in advanced telecommunication circuits be applied to the development of a novel active pixel image sensor capable of exceeding the bandwidth-resolution product of present image sensors by a factor of 10x. We will use a bipolar-CMOS (BiCMOS) process to combine the high performance pixels available in CMOS technologies with the high-speed signal processing circuits made possible by utilizing bipolar transistors. BiCMOS has found wide usage in high-speed telecommunication circuits and has proven itself as an economical and reliable process. We intend to use this technology to develop a 1000 frames per second, 12Megapixel, 12-bit image sensor. To support such a sensor, an equally high-performance data acquisition system is required. A critical element in this system is a compression chip (ASIC) that can interface with the pre-compression input/output (I/O) circuitry on the image sensor on one side, and with high-speed network transceivers on the other. We are proposing a detailed study of and solution to the issues related to achieving "lossless" data compression at a ratio of 15:1 or better. Finally, we will create a preliminary design of a full data acquisition system capable of supporting a 12Megapixel, 12-bit, image sensor operating at 1000 fps. We believe the sensor and data acquisition system we are proposing will have a direct benefit to the US Military in their efforts to characterize weapon systems performance. Further, we believe the products of this SBIR effort, both image sensors and data acquisition systems, represent viable products of great interest to several different imaging markets. These commercial markets include machine vision, motion analysis, cinematography and markets that use elements derived from the overall image sensor technology we are proposing. The results of this SBIR can be directly turned into commercial value as marketable products.
