Glossary · Machine vision
CMOS sensor
Also known as: CMOS image sensor, Active-pixel sensor
German: CMOS-Sensor
In imaging, a CMOS sensor is an image sensor made in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology in which each pixel has its own amplifier and the conversion to digital values happens on the chip. It is available with rolling or global shutter.
- Machine vision
In one sentence
A CMOS sensor is an image sensor with an amplifier per pixel and on-chip conversion, the dominant sensor type in machine vision cameras.
Example
A global-shutter CMOS sensor captures sharp images of labels on bottles moving at 2 m/s, where a rolling shutter would skew the text.
How it applies
- Engineering: CMOS sensors provide high frame rates, regions of interest and low power. The shutter type matters: a global shutter exposes all pixels at once, a rolling shutter line by line, which distorts moving objects.
- Commissioning: Exposure, gain and black level are set per application; sensor characteristics can be compared using data measured according to EMVA 1288.
- Documentation: The documentation team should record sensor model, shutter type and pixel size in the vision specification, since these determine whether a replacement camera is equivalent.
CMOS sensor vs. CCD sensor
A CCD sensor shifts charges to shared outputs; a CMOS sensor reads pixels with local electronics. CMOS has replaced CCD in most new industrial cameras.