Real-Time Wide Dynamic Range Capture and Display System Based on Mantissa-Exponent Representation

Abstract

In this work, we present a wide dynamic range (WDR) vision system that is able to capture bright and low light objects in a single frame without being over or underexposed. The data is captured and streamed in real-time (RT) mode from the sensor to a monitor at 60 fps or a PC. The presented system includes: 1) WDR complementary metal-oxide-silicon (CMOS) image sensor design which is able to update the integration time of each individual pixel depending on the ambient light and provide output in a mantissa-exponent format (floating point) [1], [2]. 2) Interface hardware designs including PCBs and HDL drivers required to activate the sensor and all the peripheral components. 3) A tone-mapping algorithm based on a mantissa/exponent representation along with its hardware implementation that allows us to render WDR data on a conventional low dynamic range (LDR) devices [3].