Featured in the latest Mobotix megapixel camera series, the M22M, is the new PXA270 Intel processor, which runs up to 520 MHz and includes a new MMX (Multi Media Extension) unit. It is this new processor that allows three times the frame rate of the previous Mobotix camera models and generates a VGA video stream with up to 30 frames per second from an image with 1.3 megapixels.
Mayflex say the technology used in the Mobotix cameras is quite different from other camera manufacturers in two distinct ways. First, the Mobotix cameras use only digital CMOS image sensors with backlight compensation instead of half-frame based CCD sensors.
Second, thanks to the Mobotix software integrated into the cameras, image processing and coding is purely digital, whereas other manufacturers use standardised hardware digitizers and compressors to do the same job.
Another advantage of the software-based solution from Mobotix is that image processing becomes much more flexible because information can be simply inserted into the image and scaling can be used to obtain higher image quality. This is particularly important when a camera has to reduce the size of megapixel images to obtain a more efficient image format for data transmission or storage. Hardware solutions do this by omitting lines and columns in the image to produce “rastered” images with step-like artefacts at the edges. Mobotix cameras, however, simply use the integrated software to reduce the images to other formats, just like an image-processing program. Since large images can be scaled down with no loss in quality, Mobotix cameras can consistently use high-resolution megapixel sensors. In addition, the software-based system is also able to implement motion algorithms with pixel-by-pixel accuracy. This technology also allows the expansion of the range of functions in the Mobotix cameras at a later date by simply uploading the free Mobotix software updates.
Background Information for Readers:
CMOS: Advantages over CCD
Mobotix cameras use highly sensitive full-frame CMOS sensors to prevent the annoying blurring and stripe effects that can occur in standard cameras using CCD technology. CCD technology divides each frame into even and odd lines: first, the even lines are recorded, then the odd ones. Then the two consecutive half frames are interlaced to form a complete frame with a high number of lines. This process does not always reproduce optimum image quality.
The CMOS sensors used in Mobotix cameras are equipped with backlight compensation to eliminate the need for a mechanical auto-iris lens or automatic shutter. This improves camera reliability and increases the temperature range within which they can be used without any additional heating. Thanks to software-supported image processing, the user can also freely define the important exposure zones to ensure optimum exposure in these areas. Since there is no auto-iris lens, which darkens the image when there is a significant amount of backlight, the dark areas can be lightened up sufficiently to allow better recognition of people’s faces, for example.