• 센서학회지
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.15-22
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• 2008

When designing image sensors including a CMOS vision chip for edge detection, resolution is a significant factor to evaluate the performance. It is hard to improve the resolution of a bio-inspired CMOS vision using a resistive network because the vision chip contains many circuits such as a resistive network and several signal processing circuits as well as photocircuits of general image sensors such as CMOS image sensor (CIS). Low resolution restricts the use of the application systems. In this paper, we improve the resolution through layout and circuit optimization. Furthermore, we have designed a printed circuit board using FPGA which controls the vision chip. The vision chip for edge detection has been designed and fabricated by using $0.35{\mu}m$ double-poly four-metal CMOS technology, and its output characteristics have been investigated.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.539-544
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• 2005

An analog CMOS vision chip for edge detection with power consumption below 20mW was designed by adopting electronic switches. An electronic switch separates the edge detection circuit into two parts; one is a logarithmic compression photocircuit, the other is a signal processing circuit for edge detection. The electronic switch controls the connection between the two circuits. When the electronic switch is OFF, it can intercept the current flow through the signal processing circuit and restrict the magnitude of the current flow below several hundred nA. The estimated power consumption of the chip, with $128{\times}128$ pixels, was below 20mW. The vision chip was designed using $0.25{\mu}m$ 1-poly 5-metal standard full custom CMOS process technology.

• 센서학회지
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.255-262
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• 2002

인간의 망막은 효율적으로 주어진 물체의 윤곽을 검출할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 윤곽검출에 관여하는 망막 세포의 기능을 전자회로로 모델링하여 윤곽검출기능을 가지는 CMOS 시각칩을 설계하였다. CMOS 제조공정 중에는 여러 가지 요인에 의해 MOSFET의 특성이 변화할 수 있으며, 특히 어레이로 구성되어 각 픽셀의 신호를 출력하는 readout 회로에서의 특성변화는 출력옵셋으로 나타난다. 하드웨어로 입력영상의 윤곽을 검출하는 시각칩은 다른 응용시스템의 입력단에 사용되므로 이러한 옵셋은 전체 시스템의 성능을 결정하는 중요한 요소이다. 본 연구에서는 이와 같은 출력단의 옵셋을 제거하기 위해 CDS(Correlated Double Sampling) 회로를 이용한 윤곽 검출용 시각칩을 설계하였다. 설계된 시각칩은 CMOS 표준공정을 이용하여 다른 회로와 집적화가 가능하며, 기존의 시각칩보다 신뢰성 있는 출력특성을 나타냄으로써, 물체의 윤곽을 이용하는 물체추적, 지문인식, 인간 친화적 로봇시스템등의 다양한 응용 시스템의 입력단으로 적용될 수 있을 것이다.

• 센서학회지
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.188-194
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• 2004

With a remarkable advance in CMOS (complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor) process technology, a variety of vision sensors with signal processing circuits for complicated functions are actively being developed. Especially, as the principles of signal processing in human retina have been revealed, a series of vision chips imitating human retina have been reported. Human retina is able to detect the edge and motion of an object effectively. The edge detection among the several functions of the retina is accomplished by the cells called photoreceptor, horizontal cell and bipolar cell. We designed a CMOS vision chip by modeling cells of the retina as hardwares involved in edge and motion detection. The designed vision chip was fabricated using $0.6{\mu}m$ CMOS process and the characteristics were measured. Having reliable output characteristics, this chip can be used at the input stage for many applications, like targe tracking system, fingerprint recognition system, human-friendly robot system and etc.

• 센서학회지
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.57-65
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• 2003

CMOS 공정을 이용한 윤곽검출 시각칩 설계시, 넓은 범위의 광강도에 대해서 이미지의 특징검출을 위하여 국소 광적응기능이 필요하다. 국소 광적응이란 망막내 수평억제(lateral inhibition) 기능을 행하는 수평세포를 이용하여 입력 광강도에 응답하는 국소적인 수평세포층의 수용야 크기를 변화시켜 동일한 출력레벨을 얻는 것이다. 따라서, 배경광보다 조금 크거나 아주 큰 입력광의 변화가 있을 때 동일한 출력레벨을 얻을 수 있다. 본 연구에서는, 망막내 수평세포를 p-MOSFET로 구성된 저항성 회로망으로 모델링 및 해석하고, 이를 이용하여 설계된 시각칩의 국소 광적응 메커니즘을 검증하였다.

• 센서학회지
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.190-196
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• 2009

In a conventional camera system, a target tracking system consists of a camera part and a image processing part. However, in the field of the real time image processing, the vision chip for edge detection which was made by imitating the algorithm of humanis retina is superior to the conventional digital image processing systems because the human retina uses the parallel information processing method. In this paper, we present a high speed target tracking system using the function of the CMOS vision chip for edge detection.

• 센서학회지
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.112-119
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• 2006

Resolution of an image sensor is very significant parameter to improve. It is hard to improve the resolution of the CMOS vision chip for edge detection based on a biological retina using a resistive network because the vision chip contains additional circuits such as a resistive network and some processing circuits comparing with general image sensors such as CMOS image sensor (CIS). In this paper, we proved the problem of low resolution by separating photo-sensing and signal processing circuits. This type of vision chips occurs a problem of low operation speed because the signal processing circuits should be commonly used in a row of the photo-sensors. The low speed problem of operation was proved by using a reset decoder. A vision chip for edge detection with $128{\times}128$ pixel array has been designed and fabricated by using $0.35{\mu}m$ 2-poly 4-metal CMOS technology. The fabricated chip was integrated with optical lens as a camera system and investigated with real image. By using this chip, we could achieved sufficient edge images for real application.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제30권6호
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• pp.783-789
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• 2008

A bio-inspired vision chip for edge detection was fabricated using 0.35 ${\mu}m$ double-poly four-metal complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. It mimics the edge detection mechanism of a biological retina. This type of vision chip offer several advantages including compact size, high speed, and dense system integration. Low resolution and relatively high power consumption are common limitations of these chips because of their complex circuit structure. We have tried to overcome these problems by rearranging and simplifying their circuits. A vision chip of $160{\times}120$ pixels has been fabricated in $5{\times}5\;mm^2$ silicon die. It shows less than 10 mW of power consumption.

• 센서학회지
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.231-240
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• 2003

고해상도의 윤곽검출 시각칩을 제작하기 위해 윤곽검출 회로의 수를 증가시킬 경우 소비전력 문제 및 회로를 탑재할 칩의 크기를 고려하지 않으면 안된다. 칩을 구성하는 단위회로의 수적 증가는 소비전력의 증가와 더불어 대면적을 요구하게 된다. 소비전력의 증가와 CMOS 생산 회사에서 제공하는 칩의 크기가 수 십 $mm^2$이라는 조건은 결국 단위회로의 수적 증가를 제한하게 된다. 따라서 본 연구에서는, 고해상도의 윤곽검출 시각칩 구현을 위한 윤곽검출 회고의 수적 증가에 따른 전력소비의 최소화 방법으로 전자스위치(electronic switch)가 내장된 윤곽검출 회로를 제안하고, 제한된 칩의 면적에 더 많은 윤곽검출 회로를 넣기 위해 시세포 역할의 광검출 회로와 윤곽검출 회로를 분리하여 구성하는 방법을 적용하였다. $128{\times}128$ 해상도를 갖는 광검출 회고가 $1{\times}128$의 윤곽검출 회고를 공유하여 동일한 칩 면적에 향상된 해상도를 갖는 칩을 설계하였다. 설계된 칩의 크기는 $4mm{\times}4mm$이고, 소비전력은 SPICE 모의실험을 통해 약 20mW가 됨을 확인하였다.

• ETRI Journal
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.59-69
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• 2007

We designed and fabricated a vision chip for edge detection with a $160{\times}120$ pixel array by using 0.35 ${\mu}m$ standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The designed vision chip is based on a retinal structure with a resistive network to improve the speed of operation. To improve the quality of final edge images, we applied a saturating resistive circuit to the resistive network. The light-adaptation mechanism of the edge detection circuit was quantitatively analyzed using a simple model of the saturating resistive element. To verify improvement, we compared the simulation results of the proposed circuit to the results of previous circuits.