Rockwell Semiconductor Systems has taken a step towards reducing the costs of digital cameras with the announcement of its new camera engine. Called the Rp0352, the engine carries out image reconstruction, color restoration and camera control operation functions. It incorporates a high speed universal serial bus interface and supports 30 frames per second between the camera and the host. The camera engine combines with the company’s Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) imager, which will contribute to lowering the cost of digital cameras by replacing charge coupled device (CCD) based systems. CMOS helps reduce power consumption of digital cameras and enables greater integration of the circuitry in those cameras. In addition, the wider use of CMOS sensors will enable more chip manufacturers to enter the digital camera market, contributing to a further cut in costs, which is expected to increase demand in the consumer market. The engine and CMOS imager combination aimed initially at the videoconferencing digital camera market, security video cameras market as well as emerging applications such as digital cellular handsets equipped with video transfer capabilities. The engine will be sampling in April with production scheduled in June. Sample pricing will start at $8 in 100,000 quantities.
