A Photovoltaic Dynamic Vision Sensor

This article reports a dynamic vision sensor (DVS) proof-of-concept chip employing an unconventional photo-transduction front end. Instead of the conventional logarithmic transducer comprising a photodiode and a nonlinear load, the proposed pixel architecture uses a single diode operating in the photovoltaic regime. This operation regime, the same as employed for solar cells, features a voltage–current characteristic that endows the sensor with remarkable sensitivity to transient illumination variations, particularly in low-light conditions. Also, the lack of resistive loads benefits compactness and decreases static power consumption. Experimental results with the sensor in the article demonstrate advantages over previous art regarding noise and latency.