Advanced driver assistance systems – ADAS

Driver assistance systems both increase the safety and effeciency of motor vehicles, commercial vehicles and special vehicles and shape the mobility of tomorrow. Thereby highly resilient and reliable cameras, optical sensors and LIDAR systems are essential for applications such as reversing aid, adaptive cruise control (ACC), traffic sign recognition, blind spot detection, blind spot assist, lane departure or warning 360° all-round view. First Sensor supplies OEMs, integrators and retrofitters at various levels of the value chain from components to modules and complete systems.

Video: Embedded Area View - based on HDR CMOS cameras

Advanced driver assistance systems support the driver with additional information, warn against potential dangers and spare you the effort of dealing with certain tasks. Statutory regulations are increasingly stipulating advanced driver assistance systems as a mandatory component in cars, trucks as well as commercial and special vehicles. Automobile manufacturers throughout the world are currently developing the next generation of advanced driver assistance systems – self-driving cars that can steer, accelerate and brake fully autonomously.

Vehicle applications place high demands on the reliability and resilience of the sensors used. Vibrations, dirt, extreme heat or cold must not change the specifications of the systems used. In addition, it must be possible to integrate the cameras and sensor systems easily and flexibly in advanced driver assistance systems and vehicle electrical systems. Various sensor technologies are also often combined, while camera and LIDAR data is typically consolidated in order to increase the range, accuracy and reliability of the advanced driver assistance systems.

First Sensor solutions for ADAS and LIDAR

Embedded sensor fusion center
ASIL conform Adaptive cruise control
Emergency break control Interior camera
Driver monitoring,
gesture recognition Cross traffic assist
1D APD Array Multiple front cameras
Object recognition, far and near
ASIL conform Smart rear camera
Park assist, trailer assist, self-parking, night vision Mirror replacement rear
High resolution and HDR, blind spot detection Pre-crash-side assistant Turn assist
with blind spot recognition

First Sensor camera solutions for ADAS

First Sensor develops and manufactures robust digital HDR CMOS cameras for advanced driver assistance systems in cars, trucks as well as agricultural, construction and mining machines. With their large dynamic range, the cameras are ideally suited to poor light conditions and major differences in brightness. The automobile cameras provide a wide range of digital interfaces and can also be equipped with a digital signal processor (DSP) and internal memory capacities. This allows the images to be processed and evaluated directly in the camera system via software algorithms, while the images can also be merged with other sensor signals such as radar or LIDAR data. The camera then has its own „intelligence“ and can forward both the images and the information obtained from the image evaluation, which considerably reduces the amount of data. All cameras made by First Sensor are subject to the quality management system ISO/TS 16949 for the automobile industry and can be adapted quickly and flexibly to custom requirements. By manufacturing all central components ourselves, we ensure the long availability of all products for series production and the aftermarket.

First Sensor OPTO solutions for LIDAR systems

For distance measurement and generation of three-dimensional images of the environment, LIDAR systems are integrated ever more frequently into vehicles and mobile machines. A pulsed laser beam measures the signal‘s transit time from the object back to the detector. To measure the light pulses in the nanosecond range, First Sensor offers highly sensitive avalanche photodiodes (APD) with internal amplification across a wide dynamic range as well as wide bandwidths. To achieve the high spatial resolutions required in optical LIDAR systems, First Sensor develops APD arrays that consist of multiple sensor elements. Standard products are available with linear 8 or 16 pixels and matrix configuration using, 5 x 5 or 8 x 8 pixels. Custom specific arrays can be designed and optimized to your specific application.

Development modules for APD arrays from First Sensor feature a temperature compensated high voltage supply and are ideal for test runs in research and development as well as for integration into OEM LIDAR devices according to the time-of-flight principle. Their highly accurate amplification provides excellent APD signal quality. The modules can be adapted to your specific application, for example as development boards with digital output signal and LVDS interface.

Already today, First Sensor is setting the course for the next development step – its own LIDAR systems, which integrate the laser, detector and the optics in a single component in a confined space and manage without mechanically moving parts.