Good things are said to come in small packages. Enabling developers to integrate a solution in the tiniest space can be the greatest challenge of all. The ultra-compact NanEye camera module can now go where no camera module has gone before.
As small as a pinhead, NanEye fits in the smallest of locations, is lightweight, but importantly also benefits from a low Z-height. The full NanEye camera module not only occupies minimal board area, it also provides system designers with maximum integration flexibility as it measures less than 2.3 millimeter in height. This is an enormous advantage to developers, adds design value and even creates new potential applications. Whether our customers are aiming to make their AR/VR headsets and other wearables lighter and more comfortable to wear, maximize the power-to-size ratio of mini-drones or robotics, or allow greater flexibility and performance in smart computing, this technological innovation from ams OSRAM will certainly enable many new applications we have not yet imagined.
There is also an added competitive advantage in using NanEye camera modules that – at as small as 1mm2 – are virtually invisible to the human eye, for example while enabling eye or facial tracking, not to mention gesture recognition, when integrated in AR/VR headsets. Meanwhile, in micro drones or robotics the camera can help detect objects and avoid collisions to ensure a safe journey. We can even envision their use in toys to expand excitement and learning through play, like seeing the driver’s view from a model car or train.
Enabling all types of visual sensing, NanEye – the world’s smallest digital camera – supports two different digital interfaces for additional flexibility and is affordable for single-use medical applications. This Micro Camera Module family is currently available in two versions: NanEyeC for Consumer Applications and NanEyeM for medical use.
In medical application, the original purpose for which NanEye was developed, the advantage is obvious: endoscopic cameras travel into the human body, delivering accurate, reliable pictures enabling better, faster, or less-invasive clinical decision making and action. Although endoscopy is a standard examination method for detecting disease, it has a critical limitation: reaching narrow places. Only the smallest camera modules allow endoscopes to reach previously inaccessible places, and ever smaller anatomical features. Now, NanEyeM enables single-use applications in bronchoscopy, urological endoscopy, or endoscopic procedures in the kidney.
In comparison to the first generation of micro camera modules, the second generation NanEyeM now offers more resolution and a highly sensitive pixel, requiring much less illumination. It also comes with a significant improvement on lens technology, including ams OSRAM’s design of a multi-element lens for greater sharpness at close distances.
A mini-CMOS image sensor is combined with a lens stack and a front glass to form a tiny camera module. The lens deck is optimized to limit any distortion while the digital interface ensures easy integration. A significantly reduced amount of power is needed for the sensor and a minimal number of electrical connections. Via a single bi-directional serial interface, each NanEyeM draws both power and communicates.
With its compact size, high speed, low noise, ease of use, and lower power consumption the second generation NanEye is an exciting innovation with a wide variety of powerful applications, but solidly founded on its earliest use in medical endoscopy. The NanEye family is designed with a focus on cost efficiency. This unique, tiny camera module enables great possibilities to explore and experience the world about us (or even inside us!) at whatever scale we choose. The only limit is our imagination.
Get your sample now: In addition to NanEyeC, the NanEyeM image sensor is now also available for ordering. Additionally an evaluation kit can be requested.
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