Sony announces first AI sensors
The company officially presented the imaging devices, which integrate Artificial Intelligence functions
Sony introduced a “paradigm shift” in the production of image sensors with the announcement of the new IMX500 and IMX501, the first devices with Artificial Intelligence (AI) functions built into the sensor, allowing for less dependency on the use of the cloud and reduce energy consumption.
The new product is “the first in the world to incorporate AI in itself”, explained Antonio Avitabile, director of Semiconductor Solutions at Sony Europe, at an online event.
The Sony IMX500 and IMX501 image sensors offer a resolution of 12.3 megapixels (4056 x 3040), with 4K video at 60fps, and have a diagonal size of 7.857 millimeters, but they stand out for the use of intelligent image processing.
Sony’s new technology eliminates dependence on the use of the cloud for various professional applications, reducing data transmission latency. It also provides faster speed, adding processing results as metadata at the end of each frame every 33 milliseconds.
The rest of the benefits focus on privacy, by not having to share the image data with the outside, and on the reduction of energy consumption and the cost of communications, since it does not see the need to use networks from Internet. This product will provide “the lowest power consumption on the market per GB,” as described by Avitabile.
By including AI in the image sensor, they employ an AI Image Signal Processing (ISP) layer that makes the sensor smart, and enables direct imaging with smart features.
K. Tovar
Source: dpa
