Company Summary

Silicon Imaging specializes in the design, manufacturing and marketing of high-definition digital cameras and image processing solutions for the medical, scientific instrumentation, machine vision, entertainment and surveillance markets. Silicon's focus has been to leverage the recent advancements in CMOS imagers, digital processors and gigabit connectivity interfaces to develop a new generation of high definition products, which can outperform traditional video camera and processing systems, at a lower cost. Silicon Imaging offers more than 100 years combined experience in the development of high-speed digital image processing hardware, machine vision inspection, biometrics, video transmission and recording components and systems.  It is proud to have an extensive client list from Fortune 500, Semiconductor, University, Research, Military and Entertainment industry including:  IBM, General Dynamics, Micron, Coherent, FLIR, JPL, Rockwell, MIT, Sarnoff, NASA, Raytheon, Dalsa, Corning, Elbit, and Eastman Kodak. Silicon Imaging is a privately held company based in Niskayuna, NY.

History

The company was founded in September 2000, with the mission to make high definition video imaging affordable. Since then, Silicon Imaging has developed its first commercial high definition product.  The MegaCamera™ is the worlds first 3.2 Million pixel all-digital CMOS micro-camera, capable of producing 30 frames per second, in a package, which fits in the palm of your hand.  Over the past several years, Silicon Imaging has continued to be an innovator in high-speed and high-resolution imaging components.  In 2003, expanded its offering to include a family of USB2.0 bus power peripherals, capable of capturing triggered image event or video sequences at over 40Mpixels/sec. In 2003, raised resolution bar by introducing 6.6 Megapixel cameralink and USB2.0 cameras.  In 2005, Silicon Imaging added Gigabit Ethernet into its arsenal of connectivity solutions and launched the worlds smallest 1920x1080 60P/120I 12-bit High-Definition Camera.  Our products are state-of-the-art, offering capability for semiconductor equipment manufacturers to inspect components with pin-point accuracy. 

Problem Definition

The semiconductor automation, security, medical, biotechnology and industries are driving the demand for higher resolution and higher precision sensing, measuring and recorded imagery.  Traditional video camera, transmission and recording systems have limitations in their ability to transmit imagery without signal degradation, accurately reproduce image data for precision measurement or detection and are limited in resolution by old television standards and formats.  These limitations are summarized

·  Resolution is typically limited to 720 x 480

·  Limited view; need multiple cameras and optics to capture with sufficient detail

·  Signal loss and noise during transmission

·  Limited precision for accurate measurement or detection of motion or defect

·  High costs for limited competition Megapixel CCD Market

 

The Resolution

The Resolution to this problem is to deliver a new generation of products which provide cost effective, high-definition all digital video imagery including:

•         Multi-Megapixel sensing with resolution over 2048 x 1540

•         Digital conversion at the pixel level

•         All-Digital communication and transmission

•         Smart Image Processing

•         Low-Loss Compression

•         Digital Recording

The advent of fast processors, high-speed connectivity, new image compression techniques and large disk drives has enabled the implementation of higher resolution systems. The broadcast industry recently finalized a set of standards for High Definition TV (HDTV) to meet some of these demands. To date, very few cameras and components have been made available to meet the high-resolution formats for the industrial use and the ones that have, are cost prohibitive. Silicon Imaging does not just provide high definition components and systems, but rather integrated solutions for OEMs and individual users.   Our vision solutions integrate

•       Digital Cameras & Frame Grabbers  (Area-Scan, Line-scan, High-Speed, Asynchronous)

•       Optics (Macro, Telecentric, Microscopic, Zoom)

•       Illumination (LED, Fiber Optic, Laser, Xenon Strobed)

•       Sensing & Motion Controls

•       Image Analysis Software (Metrology, Microscopy, Machine Vision, QC Control)

•       Multi-Camera Digital Capture and Recording

•       Custom Hardware and software development

Our experienced staff of imaging engineers quickly evaluates your application and recommends the required off-the-shelf solution or development possibilities.

 
Range of Solutions

Silicon Imaging ‘s solutions can be found in several vision applications, with several more currently under development.  They include:

Unique Capabilities

Silicon Imaging brings its extensive knowledge base and experience to the solutions we provide.  They include:

·         CMOS Megapixel Sensors & Cameras

·         USB2.0 Hardware, Firmware & Drivers

·         Real-Time Image Processing

·         Color Space Conversion

·         Wavelet and MPEG Compression

·         RGB Display Acceleration

·         Bus Interfaces: PCI, USB, VME, SBUS

·         Embedded Processors and DSP Software

·         Custom FPGA and PCB design

·         UL and FCC Test Certification

·         Microsoft Windows GUI Development

·         C/C++, JAVA, Perl and Assembler

·         Microsoft, Linux, SunOS and Unix Programming

We at Silicon Imaging expect that next years’ most valuable applications haven’t even been dreamed up yet.  We invite visionaries with ideas for high-definition digital image capture, processing or communication to contact us.