Melexis Introduces QVGA Resolution Time-of-Flight Sensor Chip with Integrated Infrared Bandpass Filter

     Melexis introduces the MLX75026, a new time-of-flight 3D camera sensor with a fully integrated infrared bandpass (IRBP) filter. With the integrated IRBP, no additional IR filters are required in the lens or sensor assembly. This is an industry-leading solution that reduces design complexity and cost, while allowing more design options when sourcing lenses.

     Melexis introduces the IRBP-equipped MLX75026, an AEC-Q100 qualified QVGA time-of-flight sensor chip, further expanding Melexis' third-generation ToF sensor chip portfolio. After integrating the infrared band-pass filter, there is no need to carry an additional band-pass filter, which simplifies design and manufacturing, and increases the selection of suitable supporting infrared lenses.

     The MLX75026 targets automotive applications such as driver monitoring (DMS), in-vehicle monitoring, gesture control, safety applications related to airbag deployment, head-up displays (HUD), driving attitude correction, etc., as well as industrial applications such as automated guided vehicles (AGVs). ), elevator entrances, and (co-)bots.)

     "Infrared filters must be used in every ToF application to reduce out-of-band infrared light in the operating environment, which would otherwise reduce the dynamic range of the sensor," said Gualtiero Bagnuoli, Marketing Manager for Optical Sensor Chips at Melexis. Adds design cost and complexity, but with the MLX75026 with IRBP filter, engineers can avoid the added cost and complexity and more easily explore the benefits of time-of-flight sensing.”

     Properly integrating an IR bandpass filter is not easy: the passband must be adapted to the illumination, and the filter should accept a wide range of incident light with minimal spectral shift (optically hard filter). Therefore, the use of ToF lenses with large apertures (low F-numbers) has become the future trend. In fact Melexis is currently the only ToF sensor manufacturer that offers this option, currently available as a model in the MLX75026 series. The MLX75026 is software compatible with other Melexis third-generation ToF sensor chips.

     The MLX75026 with IRBP filter features QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) class resolution, 1/4-inch optical format, and supports 940 nm illumination. Configurable via I2C interface, providing CSI-2 serial data output. The sensor chip's high integration, small size, and low power consumption, combined with the integration of an infrared bandpass filter, enables the design of compact and cost-effective ToF cameras for automotive, industrial, and consumer applications.

     The EVK75026+ integrates a Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale+ MPSoC with four times the data bandwidth and frame rate of the older EVK75026 evaluation kit, while reducing the mechanical size by approximately half. Provides advanced pixel calibration and filtering capabilities, as well as on-demand support for complex functions such as effective ranging range extension, multipath resolution, and interference mitigation. The programming interface (API) is written in C, and its wrappers allow the kit to be used with Matlab and Python.