Aptina announced the launch of the MT9V117 VGA camera sensor, a complete system-on-chip (SOC) designed to meet the needs of embedded Notebooks and webcam applications with low module height form factor. The MT9V117 has exceptional low light sensitivity in 1/6” optical form factor and produces a warm and pleasing color tone across a wide range of light levels.

The new sensor offers improved performance, increased features and size reduction over the existing 1/4” VGA mainstream SOC sensors. The MT9V117 enables OEMs and ODMs to design thin sub-4mm height camera modules for the new generation of Notebook and Netbook computers while exceeding the image quality and low-light performance only previously achieved with larger format 1/4” sensors. The new SOC provides video flexibility running at 60 frames per second (fps) in VGA mode and up to 120 fps in lower resolutions. The camera sensor features the latest lens shading correction and auto white balance algorithms in addition to the latest advances in SOC features such as indoor exposure mode and weighted auto exposure to assist with exposure in a wide range of challenging light conditions such as backlighting. Users can also control the hue to facilitate color preference, and video mode to enhance the Video Instant Messaging experience.

“The MT9V117 is an imaging solution that was developed specifically with the idea of meeting the needs of the Notebook camera designer as well as PC video applications,” says Sandor Barna, Vice President and General Manager of Consumer Camera Business Unit for Aptina. “Integrated camera applications for videoconferencing like Skype™, AOL® Instant Messenger™, and Yahoo!® Messenger as seen in Notebooks, PC monitors and other devices are growing. Cameras in these devices are no longer a novelty. Providing our PC customers with the ability to design in a solution that drives video usage is the goal of the MT9V117.”

Aptina’s new MT9V117 delivers the performance that many manufacturers are looking for as they integrate embedded sub-4mm camera modules used in a variety of new applications: Notebook and Netbook computers, monitors with integrated cameras, consumer video communications devices, security cameras and tethered PC cameras. The MT9V117 is able to achieve pixel performance both in low-light and high-light equal to that of industry leading 5.6-micron pixels (1/4” optical format) and has improved performance over Aptina’s existing (1/6”) VGA SOC sensors. These advanced performance capabilities are only possible because of Aptina’s novel pixel architecture.

iSuppli Corporation (2009), notes that CMOS adoption in Notebooks is expected to continue at a faster rate than all other videoconferencing devices (PC/Web, enterprise, monitors) equating to 72% of the estimated 158.6 million units that will be shipped in 2010 in the videoconferencing image sensor segment. Internal estimates reveal that over 75% of all Notebooks being shipped will have cameras in 2010.