Qualcomm partners with image sensor pioneer Prophesee

Partners | February 28, 2023

By Peter Clarke

Prophesee SA (Paris, France) has announced it is collaborating with Qualcomm to optimize its event-based image sensors for use with next-generation smartphones based on the Snapdragon platform.

The partnership is described as being both a technical and business collaboration. It was not stated whether Qualcomm has paid money to take a stake in Prophesee. The sensor company already includes Intel and Bosch as investors .

Event-based sensors are able to repair motion blur and other image quality artefacts caused by conventional image sensors especially in scenes with high dynamic range and in low light conditions, Prophesee said.

Event-based image sensors do not capture whole frames repeatedly but capture changes in a scene, asynchronously and pixel by pixel and driven by the change. Because only single or few pixels are involved this can be done at extreme speed. The Metavision sensor can be linked to a conventional frame-based sensor to detect motion information and repair blurring.

Prophesee is working on a development kit to support the integration of the Metavision sensor technology with next generation Snapdragon platforms. The kit is expected to be available later in 2023.

“Prophesee is a clear leader in applying neuromorphic techniques to address limitations of traditional cameras and improve the overall user experience. We believe this is game-changing technology for taking mobile photography to the next level and our collaboration on both the technical and business levels will help drive adoption by leading OEMs,” said Judd Heape, vice president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement issued by Prophesee.