1 A 640×480 dynamic vision sensor with a 9µm pixel and 300Meps address-event representation

We report a VGA dynamic vision sensor (DVS) with a 9µm pixel, developed through a digital as well as an analog implementation. DVS systems in the literature try to increase spatial resolution up to QVGA 1–2 and data rates up to 50 million events per second (Meps) (self-acknowledged) 3, but they are still inadequate for high-performance applications such as gesture recognition, drones, automotive, etc. Moreover, the smallest reported pixel of 18.5µm is too large for economical mass production 3. This paper reports a 640×480 VGA-resolution DVS system with a 9µm pixel pitch supporting a data rate of 300Meps for sufficient event transfer in spite of higher resolution. Maintaining acceptable pixel performance, the pixel circuitry is carefully designed and optimized using a BSI CIS process. To acquire data (i.e., pixel events) at high speed even with high resolution (e.g., VGA), a fully synthesized word-serial group address-event representation (G-AER) is implemented, which handles massive events in parallel by binding neighboring 8 pixels into a group. In addition, a 10b programmable bias generator dedicated to a DVS system provides easy controllability of pixel biases and event thresholds.