Detectors & Imaging

POC partners with OmniVision and Fujikura to develop miniature camera module

July 1, 2015

The partnership allowed POC to develop a miniature camera module with 400 x 400 pixel resolution.

In partnership with OmniVision Technologies and Fujikura, optical instruments manufacturer Precision Optics Corporation (POC; Gardner, MA) developed a miniature camera module with a diameter of only 1.6 mm and 400 x 400 pixel resolution, saying that it represents the best image quality of any camera module of this size.

The camera module is available as a stand-alone subassembly or can be customized and incorporated into a completed medical device by Precision Optics. This module combines the state-of-the-art technologies of each of the three partnering companies and utilizes OmniVision's OV6946

CameraChip sensor, Fujikura's flexible printed circuit technology, and Precision Optics' Microprecision Technologies for designing and fabricating microoptics and assembling them onto a CMOS sensor to form the camera module. Precision Optics offers further design and engineering services to assist its customers in the development of their medical device instruments, including complete visualization and illumination systems incorporating various proprietary optical technologies.

In a release by OmniVision dated June 15, 2015, OmniVision named POC a Preferred Solutions Provider and said, "We welcome this collaboration with POC and Fujikura to develop an ultra-small camera module with best image quality, low power consumption and ease of integration for reusable endoscopes and other medical applications." Fujikura said, "The 160K CIS's small footprint and power efficiency are critical features for this application area, and the solution is further complemented by the exceptional image quality made possible by both OmniVision's OV6946 sensor and POC's Microprecision lens."

POC has developed and manufactured optical instruments since 1982, designing next-generation medical instruments, Microprecision microoptics with characteristic dimensions less than 1 mm, and other advanced optical systems. Its medical instrumentation line includes state-of-the-art endoscopes and endocouplers as well as custom illumination and imaging products for use in minimally invasive surgical procedures.

SOURCE: POC; http://www.poci.com/files/POC%2015-0119%20press%20release%20CMOS%206946%2017June2015%20FINAL.pdf

About the Author

Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)

Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.