PMD Technologies explained

PMD Technologies ag
Founders:Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schwarte,
Audi Electronics Venture GmbH
Former Name:S-Tec (since 1996)
Location City:Siegen
Location Country:Germany
Key People:Prof. Dr. Bernd Buxbaum
Dr. Thomas May
Jochen Penne
Num Employees:150 (2021)[1]
Industry:Fabless Semiconductor
Products:3D CMOS Image sensors

PMD Technologies (stylised as pmdtechnologies) is a developer of CMOS semiconductor 3D time-of-flight (ToF) components and a provider of engineering support in the field of digital 3D imaging.[2] The company is named after the Photonic Mixer Device (PMD) technology used in its products to detect 3D data in real time. The corporate headquarters of the company is located in Siegen, Germany.

History

PMD Technologies was founded in 2002 by Rudolf Schwarte and the Audi Electronics Venture GmbH[3] as a spin-off of the Center for Sensor Systems (ZESS) at the University of Siegen, Germany. It was the result of over 10 years of scientific research on 3D ToF imaging.[4] Another ZESS spin-off, S-Tec Sensor GmbH, founded in 1996, began developing PMD products in 1997. This company was acquired by PMD Technologies in 2002.

Basic patents for TOF-chips with new Photomischelemente (i.e. Photonic Mixer Elements resp. Devices) were filed in 1996 onwards by Prof. Rudolf Schwarte.[5] A 3D Depth Camera with Time of Flight PMD sensors was available in the year 2000.[6]

In 2002, together with three other nominees, the developing team of PMD Technologies, represented by Rudolf Schwarte, Bernd Buxbaum, and Torsten Gollewski was nominated for the German Future Prize, which is issued by the President of Germany, at that time Johannes Rau.[7] [8]

At the Hanover Fair in 2005 PMD Technologies was awarded with the innovation prize called Hermes Award for its Efector PMD.[9]

In 2009, PMD Technologies received the 2009 European Real-Time 3D Imaging Enabling Technology Innovation Award by Frost & Sullivan.[10]

PMD Technologies took part in Google's Project Tango in 2015. Resulting in the first Lenovo device being released in 2016 with PMD's 3D technology.[11]

In 2019, new offices were opened in Seoul, Korea and Shanghai, China.[12]

Products

After initially focusing on industrial applications,[13] [14] PMD Technologies began to spread their application areas into other fields, including the automotive sector,[15] [16] consumer electronics, gaming,[17] security & surveillance, medical technology[18] and live sciences.

In 2013 PMD Technologies cooperated with Infineon Technologies to produce 3-D image sensor chips for touchless gesture recognition.[19]

PMD sensors are used in the exteroceptive sensor suite of NASA's robot Valkyrie.[20]

The autonomous humanoid robot Justin by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is equipped with PMD-sensors.[21]

A collaboration between PMD and Infineon Technologies resulted in a 3D iToF technology which was used in the Magic Leap 2.[22] [23]

In 2023 PMD and Infineon Technologies launched the IRS2976C, a ToF VGA sensor, which was the first sensor to be located under the display and to pass Googles Class 3 Face ID certification.[24] [25]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: PMD - Infineon Technologies.
  2. Web site: Small and Inexpensive 3D Image Sensor. frost.com.
  3. https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/de/publikationen/magazine/dialoge-das-audi-technologiemagazin-01-2011-125/download Audi Technologiemagazin Dialoge 1/2011
  4. [Verein Deutscher Ingenieure|VDI]
  5. https://patents.google.com/patent/DE19704496A1 Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Bestimmung der Phasen- und/oder Amplitudeninformation einer elektromagnetischen Welle
  6. Book: Computer Vision and Machine Learning with RGB-D Sensors. Ling Shao, Jungong Han, Pushmeet Kohli, Zhengyou Zhang (editors) . Springer Science+Business Media. 15. 2014. 978-3319086507.
  7. http://www.deutscher-zukunftspreis.de/de/node/291 Team 3 | Deutscher Zukunftspreis, Kamerapixel mit Tiefgang: Durchbruch zum schnellen 3D-Sehen
  8. https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article282990/3D-Kamera-erfasst-ihr-raeumliches-Umfeld-in-Echtzeit.html 3D-Kamera erfasst ihr räumliches Umfeld in Echtzeit
  9. http://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/Technik-Wirtschaft/Einfachheit-so-wichtig-Zuverlaessigkeit "Einfachheit ist so wichtig wie Zuverlässigkeit"
  10. http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?docid=185324374 Frost & Sullivan Bestows European Enabling Technology Award in Real-Time 3D Imaging on PMDTechnologies GmbH
  11. Web site: 2016-06-09 . Sensing the world the way we do - the world's first Project Tango Smartphone . 2023-11-08 . www.pressebox.com . en-US.
  12. Web site: pmdtechnologies ag Opens Offices in Seoul and Shanghai . 2023-11-08 . FinanzNachrichten.de.
  13. pmdtechnologies timeline up to 2009 (http://www.ifm.com/ifmus/web/pmd_prd_timeline.htm)
  14. Example for a PMD based Automation Product 3D Image Sensor Evaluates Size, Shape and Level
  15. http://www.pressebox.de/pressemeldungen/pmdt-echnologies-gmbh/boxid-88612.html First PMDvision Day – Automotive
  16. Free space determination for parking slots using a 3D PMD sensor – Scheunert, U. Fardi, B. Mattern, N. Wanielik, G. Keppeler, N. – Intelligent Vehicles Symposium, 2007 IEEE, Istanbul, 13–15 June 2007
  17. http://www.inspect-online.com/en/topstories/vision/minority-report?page=1 Minority Report – Futuristic Interface Technologies by 3D Vision
  18. http://www5.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/Forschung/Publikationen/2009/Schaller09-TOF.pdf Time-of-Flight sensor for patient positioning
  19. News: Peter. Clarke. Infineon launches 3-D sensor for gesture recognition. May 29, 2013. August 13, 2015. EE Times.
  20. News: Radford, Strawser, Hambuchen, Mehling, Verdeyen, Donnan, Holley, Sanchez, Nguyen, Bridgwater, Berka, Ambrose, McQuin, Yamokoski, Hart, Guo, Parsons, Wightman, Dinh, Ames, Blakely, Edmonson, Sommers, Rea, Tobler, Bibby, Howard, Nui, Lee, Conover, Truong, Chesney, Platt Jr., Johnson, Fok, Paine, Sentis, Cousineau, Sinnet, Lack, Powell, Morris, Ames. Valkyrie: NASA's First Bipedal Humanoid Robot. August 13, 2015. Prof. Aaron D. Ames, Texas A&M University.
  21. http://www.dlr.de/rm/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-4789/7945_read-12712/ Mobiler humanoider Oberkörper "JUSTIN"
  22. Web site: 2024-01-03 . 2022-07-08 . Infineon, Pmdtechnologies Bring 3D iToF Depth Sensing to Magic Leap 2 . eetimes.eu .
  23. Web site: 2024-01-03 . 2022-05-30 . Infineon and pmdtechnologies develop 3D depth-sensing technology for Magic Leap 2 – enabling advanced cutting-edge industrial and medical applications . infineon.com .
  24. Web site: 2024-01-03 . 2023-03-06 . Infineon Introduces New i-ToF VGA Sensor for Long-Range, Low-Power 3D Camera Systems . embeddedcomputing.com .
  25. Web site: 2024-01-03 . 2023-02-28 . ToF VGA sensor enables tiny 3D cameras . electronicproducts.com .

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