Core components of a ToF camera are similar to, but more complex than, an image sensor: it contains 2 or more shutters that sample reflected light at different times.
Taking the DOMI ToF camera as an example, the DOMI ToF technology can directly measure the depth and amplitude information in each pixel using an infrared light source: the camera module emits modulated infrared light to the object to be measured, or to the entire scene, through the DOMI image sensor, namely The ToF imager captures the emitted light, and the raw 3D image information is obtained. At this time, by measuring the amplitude value and phase difference between the emitted light and the received light, the grayscale information and highly reliable depth information of the complete scene can be obtained, and two visualized 2D grayscale amplitude maps and 3D depth can be formed. Infographics, which in turn provide accurate and reliable data for subsequent application verification.
ToF camera is an ideal choice for AR/VR applications. AR/VR technology has been applied in various fields such as home furnishing and robotics. For AR applications, the response speed is one of the key indicators. When the time difference between the corresponding images exceeds 20ms, people will feel dizzy. Excluding the time for display and system calculation, the imaging time of the camera needs to be less than 10ms.
At present, 3D imaging and sensor modules include three key technologies: ToF, binocular ranging and structured light. Binocular ranging is a combination of two 2D sensors imitating the human eye, requiring more than two cameras. The software has high complexity and average accuracy, but the speed is slow. Structured light technology projects about tens of thousands of lattices onto the object through infrared light, and uses a huge number of lattices to obtain the depth information of the object, with high precision but limited effective distance.
The ToF camera technology measures depth information through the time-of-flight of the light source, with lower software integration and faster speed, and lower material cost than structured light. Although its accuracy is inferior to structured light, it can also meet the requirements of face recognition, AR/VR The required precision, high speed and low price are integrated, so the ToF camera is the best choice for AR applications. This also means that with the growth of the AR application market, the core technology ToF camera will also grow.
Compared with the previous 3D ToF image sensor, the newly launched DOMI ToF camera is specially optimized to solve the pain point of power consumption, thereby enhancing the photo effect and AR function. Improved accuracy compared to previous generations. Power consumption is reduced, thereby increasing the battery life of smart devices. This is the key to AR/VR games, for example, the ToF camera is on for a long time. Due to its higher integration level, the new DOMI ToF camera is smaller, which provides greater freedom of space design for smart device design, thereby improving cost efficiency. The new DOMI ToF camera and system is designed to provide depth data up to 5 meters. It can fully meet the current AR/VR application distance requirements.
