A Low Noise 8Mpixel CMOS Image Sensor with 5.36GHz Global Counter and Dual Latch Skew Canceler for Surveillance AI Camera System

CMOS image sensors (CIS) are widely used in automotive, industrial, and consumer applications. In recent years, they have become increasingly important in automatic driving, face recognition, and other automatic recognition technologies combined with AI, and are used in surveillance network systems, etc [1]–[3]. Important performance features for CIS include low noise, high speed, HDR, and high resolution, but in surveillance camera systems used for crime prevention and search purposes, the ability to capture clear images at high frame rates, especially in low light, is required to target fast-moving objects in a variety of environments [4]. Therefore, we propose an image sensor that uses a new high-speed circuit technology to achieve both low noise and high frame rate. We believe that this image sensor will be useful for a wide range of surveillance solutions. A prototype AI camera system combining this image sensor and an AI accelerator has successfully achieved AI recognition even in dark areas by reducing noise while maintaining a high frame rate of 30 fps at 8M pixels.