Sony: Polarisation camera with SDK

In September 2018 Sony’s ISS industrial camera division announced the XCG-CP510, with the camera becoming available in 2019. The polarised light camera module was one of the world’s first to make use of Sony’s unique IMX250MZR sensor with on-chip polarisation.

Sony’s IMX250MZR sensor, the industry’s first to integrate polarisation functionality at the pixel level can filter light in 4 planes - 0^o, 90^o, 45^o, and 135^o - with pixels assigned a plane in a 2x2 calculation unit.

Sony ISS has coupled this with the market’s first (currently only) software development kit, which simplifies the creation of applications for the camera and cuts development time from between 6-24 months (depending on the team) down to 6-12 weeks.

Innovation: Sony’s key differentiating innovation is the SDK, which includes highly optimized algorithms, dedicated image processing library, and a growing number of reference applications created in collaboration with partners to speed design: These include:

--1) Glare removal for ITS - removing glare to see through windscreens and detect dangerous behaviours, such as driving with a phone / without a seatbelt.

--2) Weakness / stress management for manufacturing - using Stokkes vector to identify changes in the direction of light and detect when, eg glass or carbon fibre is under pressure, or has an otherwise undetectable scratch / weakness.

--3) Quality inspection for pharmaceuticals - giving the ability to see through clear plastic packaging without glare to ensure the contents (eg pills) are in good condition.

The SDK is created for use with Windows PCs and Sony will soon announce a second SDK for the Nvidia Jetson credit-card sized computer.

To date, no other camera maker has created an SDK and the combination of hardware and software not only allows system integrators to create new applications, but do so more quickly than for competing polarised cameras.