Applications

The modules are used across industrial imaging and connected device applications.

For the team-process side of engineering work, workforce analytics software is a separate reference on organizing and reviewing work.

The question that decides

Not which application category you fall into — what must be resolvable, at what distance, under what light.

Two applications with the same name have different answers where the feature size or the working distance differs, and the same answer where they do not.

Where to start

Choosing — twelve pages on resolution, format, shutter, colour, light and interfaces.

Further background is available from STMicroelectronics.

Optics — the geometry that decides coverage.

Integrating — where working prototypes fail to become products.

Evaluating — an afternoon that settles more than a month of datasheets.

The ranges

Camera modules and RF modules.

The four sections

Choosing — twelve pages. Start from what must be resolvable, not from the pixel count. Sensor format, shutter type, colour against monochrome, frame rate, low light, dynamic range and interfaces.

Optics — eight pages. Field of view and focal length as one relationship, the lens calculation, depth of field, aperture, filters, distortion, focus and cleanliness.

Integrating — twelve pages. Mounting tolerance, flex cables, signal integrity, power, electromagnetic compatibility, heat, ingress, vibration, the window, illumination, the bring-up and what changes at volume.

Evaluating — six pages. What an evaluation kit is for, reading a first image, measuring rather than looking, comparing fairly, testing in the real environment, and qualification.

Why it is generic

The physics does not depend on the supplier, and the material is written to be useful to somebody who buys elsewhere.

A reader who can specify properly can compare properly — which is the only basis on which a comparison is worth having.