A low-cost optical sensor for precise position and motion estimation of fast-moving objects

An optical sensor has been designed and fabricated using standard digital 1.6 μm CMOS technology which is capable of capturing high resolution images from fast moving documents or objects. The basic cell contains a photodiode working in storage mode and a shielded MOS capacitor acting as analog frame buffer. A prototype containing 64 linear arrays of 64 cells whose size is 36×36 μm² has been tested and measurements have proved the functionality of the proposed technique down to microsecond-range of exposure times. By virtue of the proposed read-out technique, the sensor provides simultaneous image acquisition of irregular moving objects allowing precise detection of position and motion