Enhancing Automotive In-Cabin Monitoring Applications with On-Device Vision Technologies

As intelligent driving evolves, automobile manufacturers, tier-1 suppliers, and end-users have prioritized and promoted the safety of smart vehicles. Driven by safety regulations and the advancement of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technologies around the world, the implementation of in-cabin cameras for Driver Monitoring System (DMS) and Occupancy Monitoring System (OMS) has increased significantly in new vehicles. In this blog, you will learn about the features of Flyingchip’s automotive on-device vision combo solutions and their applications in smart in-cabin monitoring.

Challenges for Automotive Vision System Upgrades

The rapid development of automotive vision systems has brought about two major upgrade demands, including imaging performance and vision processing performance. Cameras for automotive vision systems are transitioning towards higher resolution and dynamic range. Meanwhile, multi-cam sensing applications require more advanced image processing algorithms and computation capabilities. Integrating AI computation power on the automotive camera side enables improved imaging performance and vision pre-processing of multiple sensor inputs, providing flexibility in automotive vision system design and thereby accelerating the landing and upgrades of intelligent driving vision systems.

Highlights of Flyingchip’s Automotive On-Device Vision Combo Solutions

· High-quality, precise vision outputs: Flyingchip’s M1 Series chips embed AI ISP, which features noise reduction and image enhancement algorithms for low light imaging, high-resolution RGB-IR image processing, at most 4-exposure HDR up to 144dB, and LED Flicker Suppression (LFS)， enabling accurate, high-quality outputs for automotive cameras even in low light conditions.

· Efficient on-device AI computation: Flyingchip’s M1 Series chips incorporate advanced technologies including self-developed NPU, which provide computational power for multiple image processing pipelines and light on-device AI application execution (e.g., face and posture recognition), allowing for efficient operation of intelligent driving vision systems.

· SoC and Sensor integration: The combo solutions integrate AI SoC with CIS bringup implemented, which makes them cost-effective and time-saving solutions for customers to accelerate the landing of automotive vision applications.

· Customer-centric support services: Supported by experienced technical support engineers, Flyingchip aims to provide timely customer service response and customized combo solutions.

Flyingchip’s Automotive On-Device Vision Combo Solutions in Smart In-Cabin Monitoring Applications

Flyingchip provides multiple on-device vision combo solutions for smart in-cabin monitoring applications such as DMS and OMS. These help the intelligent driving system capture the status of both drivers and occupants and identify potential safety issues such as driver drowsiness and distraction, and children or pets left unattended in a vehicle.

· OMS applications

Flyingchip’s combo solution for OMS consists of Flyingchip’s AI ISP M1 and SmartSens’ 5-MegaPixel (MP) CIS SC530AT. In this solution, the real-time image data captured by SC530AT is optimized by M1’s built-in ISP algorithms and NPU’s acceleration, yielding a significant improvement in image quality. Hence, this combo solution provides clear and reliable image outputs for OMS cameras, further accelerating the processing of automotive OMS and infotainment systems.

Flyingchip’s other combo solution for OMS integrates Flyingchip’s M1 with SmartSens' 5MP RGB-IR global shutter CIS SC533AT. This combo solution supports synchronous image outputs in both RGB and IR formats via M1’s built-in RGB-IR ISP processing, satisfying the needs of both image processing and OMS algorithms execution (e.g., occupant status detection, object presence detection), thus ensuring the accuracy and promptness of in-cabin occupant monitoring.

· DMS applications

This combo solution for DMS, integrated with Flyingchip’s AI SoC chip M1Pro and SmartSens’ 2MP image sensor SC232AT, achieves a significant increase in dynamic range under global shutter mode via M1Pro’s built-in ISP and the image sensor. Meanwhile, M1Pro supports the execution of DMS recognition algorithms, which effectively improves the overall performance of the whole DMS system, allowing for the instant response of the intelligent driving system to promote driving safety.

For more information on Flyingchip on-device vision combo solutions, please contact Flyingchip’s sales representatives: info@flyingchipmicro.com

About Flyingchip Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Flyingchip Microelectronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SmartSens Technology, is committed to the R&D of advanced image processing technology and products. With thorough insights into the market needs, Flyingchip provides high-performance intelligent visual processing chip solutions for on-device computation applications across automobiles, etc. Through close cooperation with automobile manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers, and algorithm solution providers, Flyingchip aims to bring intelligent vision technologies to new levels for future mobility.