A CMOS video sensor for High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging

Abstract

A CMOS video sensor for high dynamic range (HDR) imaging is discussed. Unlike traditional memory-intensive methods for HDR imaging where frames with different exposure times are digitally combined to obtain an HDR frame, HDR imaging is accomplished in the sensor at pixel level by digitally combining sub-pixels with different exposure times to obtain an HDR pixel. In HDR mode, the prototype video sensor demonstrated a phenomenal 26 dB improvement in dynamic range over normal mode.