Development of Industry’s First Video Encoder IC with Fog-Reduction function by ROHM
Here is an interesting product by Rohm, where they recently announced the development of industry’s first video encoder IC capable of capturing video with clear visibility even in foggy conditions. The new BU6521KV is targeted to be used in surveillance cameras as well as automotive drive recorders. The development of BU6521KV was a direct response in growing demands for vehicle and surveillance cameras capable of increased visibility in outdoor setting and environments with rapidly changing conditions. The BU6521KV is equipped with unique hardware based Adaptive Image Enhancer (AIE) capable of providing real-time image correction that results in significant improvement in visibility in dark, harshly backlit, or unclear foggy conditions.
The fog reduction technology works based on creating histogram of the brightness distribution of the input image, and later on based on this information the contrast and color correction are performed resulting in an optimized image. Through use of this technology the camera is capable of adjusting the contrast ratio of images that become pale due to foggy conditions and restoring the fading colors resulting in dramatic improvement in visibility. The newly developed BU6521KV is also comes with automatic correction function capable of determining the presence of foggy condition and perform the correction process based on the level of whiteness, eliminating any needs for external CPU to detect changes in the environment. The BU6521KV also comes with advantage of using optimized computational algorithms which is embedded in hardware resulting in increased frame rates of up to 30fps. The BU6521KV is already available for sampling and the OEM quantities will be available sometimes in December of 2009. The cost of BU6521KV is 1200 yen per unit.
