As early as 2008, high-definition video surveillance has been proposed by the industry and once became a hot spot of concern. However, due to various reasons such as technology, cost, and actual customer demand at that time, the market for high-definition video surveillance has not actually started. However, from the present point of view, high-definition video surveillance no longer stays on the slogan, various manufacturers began to use it as the key product technology development direction, but also as the focus of market promotion. Tiandi Weiye also grasped the industry trends, integrated cutting-edge technology and combined with mature project applications to launch high-definition video surveillance solutions for various industries. As a typical representative of modern security technology, the new generation of video surveillance technology with the combination of high-definition, network and intelligent features is gaining more and more attention and practical application. It will gradually replace the traditional video surveillance technology. Play an irreplaceable role in the social security monitoring system.
In the face of a growing market, the increase in demand will bring about higher performance and functional requirements. The innovation of the core chip technology of HD camera products and the improvement of performance will play a decisive role in the state of the HD video surveillance market. First, let's briefly analyze the common component architecture of current high-definition camera products. Common high-definition cameras are divided into three common parts: image sensor, ISP (image signal processor), compression processor or digital video conversion. Some newly released high-definition cameras on the market will also include an intelligence between ISP and compression processor. Analysis processor.
Megapixel camera chip technology analysis
Image Sensor
The image sensor is an important part of the digital camera. According to different components, it can be divided into CCD and CMOS. Such as SONY ICX 445, ICX274, IMX035 / 036, ApTIna MT9M033, MT9D131, MT9T031, Omnivison OV2715 and so on. The role of the image sensor is to collect and convert optical images into electrical signals available to the back-end ISP.
In the past, we often said that CCD is a high-end technology component used in imaging products, and CMOS is used in low-image quality products due to its limited technical performance such as low light performance and exposure mode. Nowadays, CMOS technology is developing rapidly. For example, SONY introduced the IMX035 / 036 image sensor using Exmor technology. Its low light performance, image resolution and frame rate, and chip processing speed have greatly improved performance.
ISP image signal processor
The main function of the ISP (Image Signal Processor) image signal processor is to post-process the signal output by the front-end image sensor. Different ISPs are used to match image sensors of different manufacturers. The excellence of ISP is very important in the whole camera products. It should be said that it directly affects the quality of the image quality presented to users. After the image is collected by CCD or CMOS, it needs to be post-processed to adapt to different environments, and it can restore the field details under different optical conditions. In ISP it will complete 2A (AWB / AE, automatic white balance / auto exposure) or 3A (AWB / AE / AF, automatic white balance / auto exposure / auto focus) that we often mention. In the traditional mode, a DSP or an FPGA is generally used to complete the post-processing of the image. Some camera products support 3D noise reduction, wide dynamic, slow shutter, frame accumulation, strong light suppression and other functions are also completed by ISP.
ISPs currently used in high-definition camera products generally have the following sources:
Developed by the manufacturers themselves: In order to better cooperate with the back-end compression and function development, the high-definition camera equipment manufacturers develop their own ISP processing algorithms, integrate the algorithms into FPGA or DSP chips, and connect the front-end image sensors.
Third-party research and development: In 2010, a number of ISP solutions launched by non-HD camera manufacturers have been gradually born. They directly sell different ISP chips to camera manufacturers to cooperate with Sensors of different manufacturers.
Set film mode: The sensor manufacturer will develop the ISP combined with its own sensor to form an image acquisition and processing solution to the customer. The image processing algorithm and various debugging work have been completed. The camera manufacturer only needs to do interface docking and back-end compression or Just convert to digital video (HD-SDI). This model is called Stand-Alone Devices or Camera System Onchip.
The first source method has high flexibility, which allows developers to have more combinations when choosing solutions (mainly to choose Sensors from different manufacturers). But for products, on the one hand, it increases the power consumption and heat dissipation of the whole machine, and it also increases investment in product development, which also means that manufacturers who develop high-definition camera products need more strong technical strength. The latter two source solutions undoubtedly greatly lowered the threshold of product development, but relatively independent research and development of ISP must increase part of the cost. It is envisaged that if there is a more integrated high-definition camera chip solution, it is undoubtedly a better choice to integrate ISP and video compression encoding functions.
Compression processor or digital video conversion
First let's understand the concepts of compression processing and digital video conversion. After the ISP processes the front-end image sensor signals, it is generally transmitted to the back-end processing chip in digital interface formats such as MPTE296M / BT.1120 / YUV 4: 2: 2. The compression processor (SoC or DSP) can encode and compress the video signal with the H.264 / MPEG-4 / MJPEG algorithm, and then transmit it to users through the built-in network service as a network signal of the TCP / IP protocol. Digital video conversion is an uncompressed method. The digital signal output from the ISP is converted into SD-SDI / HD-SDI / 3G-SDI signals through a digital video conversion chip, respectively corresponding to standard definition (VGA) and high definition standards (1080P @ 30fps) , 1080P @ 60fps and even higher resolution. HD-SDI high-definition video signals need to use special transmission peripheral equipment, such as SDI optical transceiver, SDI matrix and so on.
Here, we focus on the compression processor. When we see the parameter performance of a high-definition camera product, we often see the word SoC. The definition of SoC (System On Chip) is diverse. Because of its wide range of application fields, it is difficult to give a specific definition because of its rich connotation. Generally speaking, we call it a system-on-chip, also known as a system-on-chip, which means it is a system, a dedicated integrated circuit, which contains a complete high-definition camera system and embedded software services.
Common manufacturers in the SoC market of high-definition cameras are TI (Texas Instruments), Ambarella (Ambarella), Hislicon (His Semiconductor), NXP (NXP Semiconductors), etc. The hardware compression processors of different manufacturers have their own characteristics, such as low power consumption, high performance, high video compression quality, and high compression ratio. We mentioned the concept of integrating ISP image signal processing and back-end video compression in the previous article. Traditionally, several important components of the high-definition camera introduced in the previous article are separated from each other, and different processing tasks are completed by different chips. With the development of SoC chip technology and the general trend of the market, more and more manufacturers will integrate ISP with video compression processing and even intelligent analysis technology to solidify the functions in one chip.
NXP ASC8850 and Hislicon Hi3516 used in high-definition cameras have integrated 3A, 3D noise reduction, wide dynamic (WDR), strong light suppression, backlight compensation, digital image stabilization and other image processing functions implemented in ISP. The intelligent analysis acceleration engine supports various analysis applications such as intelligent motion detection, perimeter prevention, face detection, and lens protection. In addition, these SoC chips have also opened ISP-related APIs (program interface) to our manufacturers, so that we can develop and optimize the secondary adjustment of ISP effects. These chip technologies make the integration of high-definition cameras higher and higher, and the integration of chips will be a trend.
The author believes that the development of high-definition camera SoC chips will make technological breakthroughs in terms of power consumption, coding performance, ISP, and intelligent analysis to seek development, then it will drive the development of high-definition camera products.
The lower chip power consumption can make the HD camera smaller in size, can be used in harsher environments, and can produce a variety of HD camera product forms.
Higher encoding performance can make HD cameras have higher pixel real-time compression capability. Most HD chips such as TI's DM368, HiSilicon Hi3515 / 3516, NXP's ASC8850, etc. can achieve 1080P @ 30fps, 3 trillion and Real-time compression cannot be achieved at the 5-megapixel level. Higher-resolution HD cameras can replace our traditional mode of multi-point multi-zone monitoring mode with multiple machines, which can effectively reduce equipment investment costs and peripheral wiring costs.
Now most of the video chips with built-in ISP function support the CMOS chip, and can directly connect the main products of the major Sensor manufacturers, but the support for the CCD chip is relatively limited, and developers need to do a secondary conversion.
The current high-definition camera with intelligent analysis function reserves a higher-frequency DSP or ARM core in the device. Developers can choose to transplant some or all functions in the intelligent analysis algorithm to the DSP or ARM. To form an intelligent high-definition camera with intelligent analysis.
At present, the major SoC manufacturers in the industry have realized the integration trend of the main control chip, and have invested a lot of research and development efforts to develop a new generation of high-definition SoC chips, whether it is the first to launch ASC8850 NXP and the DM368 TI, or the newly released Hi3516 Hisilicon has already begun to make achievements in the highly converged HD camera master chip, and there are also some influential IC manufacturers that are eager to try. I believe that with the efforts and promotion of chip manufacturers, combined with the downstream equipment manufacturers ’ Driven by market promotion and user demand, the highly integrated new generation of high-definition camera SoC chips will achieve greater and greater development and will gradually become a mature industry.
Conclusion
The related chip technology of high-definition cameras is developing rapidly, and the market's performance requirements for high-definition surveillance products are also increasing. The general 720P resolution is already a little stretched, and the demand for 2 million pixel, 3 million pixel, or even 5 million pixel high-definition cameras is constantly emerging. These requirements pose greater challenges to the related chip performance of high-definition cameras. And to truly realize high-definition video surveillance in all directions, it is bound to support high-definition video surveillance from the front-end products' high-definition to network transmission, centralized storage, display control, platform management and other aspects.
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