How important is 3D technology to Industry 5.0? ams is finding new ways to enable our customers to create differentiating products for industrial use.
While ams is well known for its industry-leading 3D sensor technology for the mobile device market, we are also actively working to transfer our 3D sensor innovation, significant IP and technology expertise, plus our selection of partner ecosystems and acquisitions, to the industrial market. By understanding how important 3D technology is to Industry 5.0, where machines and humans directly interact, we constantly find ways to enable our customers to create differentiating products. To maximize customer choice and hit the right price points and functionality, ams continues to develop products based on all three forms of 3D technology: Active Stereo Vision (ASV), Time-of-Flight (ToF), and Structured Light (SL). By supplying all the main parts of the 3D system (illumination, receiver, software), ams enables superior system performance with lower costs and a faster time to market for its customers.
ams already serves a wide range of customers in industrial and factory automation, home and building automation (HABA), imaging and other industrial sensing and offers an extensive industrial imaging and machine vision portfolio.
Take a look at our new, short ‘3D Sensing for Industrial’ video to learn more about some of the exciting applications we are investigating with customers, including: access control; autonomous robots for the home and industrial use; secure and touchless 3D authentication at e-payment point-of-sale; drone implementation, volume scanning, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and industry automation:
Ultra-sensitive NIR image sensor delivering power savings in 3D optical sensing systems
ams was the first to introduce high quantum efficiency near infrared sensors. Four times more sensitive to NIR wavelengths than most other image sensors on the market, the MIRA family image sensors reliably detect reflections from very low-power IR emitters in 3D sensing systems. Since the IR emitter consumes most of the power in face recognition and other 3D sensing applications, the use of high quantum efficiency image sensors enables manufacturers to extend battery run time in mobile devices. The sensor also offers the opportunity to implement face recognition in a range of products, which are powered by a very small battery, or to enable a new range of applications beyond face recognition as the increased sensitivity extends the measurement range for the same power and thermal budget.
Compact random dot pattern projector, a key component for ASV/SL
ams’ Belago dot projectors offer a focus free dot pattern to create texture on a scene for high quality ASV or SL 3D imaging. Thanks to its patented micro lens array that in combination with the VCSEL generates a high contrast dot pattern, ams can offer dot projectors with a high optical efficiency at attractive price points, making high-quality 3D sensing affordable for industrial as well as consumer applications.
3D face authentication reference design, the key to smart locks
With the trend towards touchless authentication, accelerated due to COVID-19, we see increasing demand and adoption of 3D face authentication solutions for electromechanical locks used in residential building access as well as in the commercial space.
In anticipation of this market opportunity, ams developed a 3D long-range face recognition demonstration for a residential biometric lock based on active stereo vision. It illustrates the appliation of our 3D face authentication technology to recognize a subject between 30-150cm from the door, including the functionalities of system wake-up, person authentication, and present attack detection (PAD). See in this video, how that went:
To leverage our expertise and enable fast adoption of 3D face authentication based on ams key components, we provide Athena, a reference design for a self-contained 3D face-authentication module.
Hermes USB 3D camera evaluation kit
3D sensing enables new industrial applications in robotics, factory automation, and more, accelerating the transition to industry 5.0. To evaluate ams’ 3D sensing solution either based on ASV or SL, we offer Hermes, a USB 3D camera evaluation kit. Based on ams’ key components, Hermes allows designers to evaluate our active stereo vision performance with a baseline of 50mm or the SL performance with a baseline of 25mm and 42mm. Proof of concepts for 3D sensing applications like volume measurement in logistics or factory automation, obstacle recognition for avoidance in robotics, etc., can be realized quickly with Hermes.
3D sensing enables new industrial applications in robotics, factory automation, and more, accelerating the transition to industry 5.0. To evaluate ams’ 3D sensing solution either based on ASV or SL, we offer Hermes, a USB 3D camera evaluation kit. Based on ams’ key components, Hermes allows designers to evaluate our active stereo vision performance with a baseline of 50mm or the SL performance with a baseline of 25mm and 42mm. Proof of concepts for 3D sensing applications like volume measurement in logistics or factory automation, obstacle recognition for avoidance in robotics, etc., can be realized quickly with Hermes.