Omnivision offers the OV6930 medical image sensor

The low power OV6930 is a 400 x 400 pixel graphics array, or SquareGA, CMOS image sensor with an optical format of 1/10 inch and a packaged footprint of 1.8 x 1.8mm.

These features make it ideal for camera applications that require less than 2.8mm outside diameter, such as medical endoscopes for minimally invasive medical procedures.

The OV6930 uses a three micron Omnipixel3-HS pixel, which allows it to achieve low-light performance of 3300 mV/Lux-second.

Grahame Cooney, product marketing director at Omnivision, said: 'The sensor's size and performance enable an even broader scope of medical endoscopy applications including colonoscopy, gastroscopy, OB/GYN, urology and bronchoscopy.' The OV6930 controls a serial I/O that allows two-wire cabling up to 14ft and contributes to low power consumption of 80mW with and 10mW without IO usage.

This provides full-frame or cropped analogue images in Raw RGB format.

It has an image array capable of operating at 30 frames per second (fps) in full 400 x 400 resolution and 60 fps at 400 x 200 resolution with simplified exposure control, which is programmable through the serial interface.

The OV6930 uses proprietary sensor technology to improve image quality by reducing or eliminating common lighting or electrical sources of image contamination, such as fixed pattern noise and smearing, to produce a clean, fully stable colour image.