A high speed camera system based on a image sensor in standard CMOS technology

In this contribution a novel camera system developed for high speed imaging will be presented. The core of the system consists of a CMOS image sensor manufactured in a 1 mu m standard CMOS process. The special merit of the image sensor is the capability to acquire more than 1000 frames/s using a global electronic shutter in each sensor cell. The image sensor itself is embedded in a sensor board that has been developed for digitizing the sensor's single serial analog output signal as well as for supplying the sensor with all control signals necessary for proper operation. Both the control signals and the digital output signal (RS-422) are generated on a FPGA-chip. Moreover, a graphical user interface adapted to the frame grabber card used (Matrox Pulsar) has been developed for the purposes of monitoring, high speed acquisition, and image processing.