CMOS Imaging Sensor
The World's First LSI
with Human Retina-like
Recognition Capabilities

At Mitsubishi Electric, research on cutting-edge technologies waiting to be applied to use in products is conducted at the Advanced Technology R&D Center. The CMOS* image sensor, a chip that functions like the retina of the eye, is one such technology that was developed and successfully introduced to the market. The development team originally conducted research in the area of light information processing for the development of neurochip models. It was through projects in this field that born the interest in the human eye.
What made the CMOS image sensor so revolutionary was unlike conventional image processing devices that used a charge-coupled device** (CCD) that processed imagery in a separate circuit; the process was integrated into a single chip. By doing this, an inexpensive, energy-saving intelligent CCD was developed. This epoch-making module, first ever to have on-chip image processing function was put to use in practical applications, and produced for half the cost and used half the power of a conventional CCD.