More cost-effective OIS brings better photo/video quality to mobile devices

Optical image stabilization (OIS) has become one of the most high-valued features in the smartphone business. Over the past decade, the content we consume shifted from primarily text-based to image-driven before video content—long and short, horizontal then vertical—began to dominate what average joes, influencers, and businesses alike are creating.

Let’s take a quick look at the marketing industry, a major force in video-driven social platforms and websites. Here, 89% of businesses use video marketing and 56% of brands are focusing on user-generated content. From day jobs to side hustles, quality video is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity.

Crisp, blur-free photos and videos are a must, so it’s no surprise that Tech Radar suggests the camera is the most important consideration for people when buying a new phone.

Till now, OIS has only been available in high-end mobile devices because it’s costly to implement. But as consumer demand for high-quality mobile photography and videography continues to surge, OIS is becoming a must-have feature in a variety of devices at different price points.

Finding focus: EIS and OIS

Electronic image stabilization (EIS) is currently more common in mid-range and flagship devices. EIS compensates for hand jitters that cause shaky videos and is a very effective technology.

Via a high-performance motion sensor, EIS tracks the source of the handshake or vehicle motion and integrates that information during the current video frame by cropping the viewable image from a stream of video frames through the imaging pipeline. This creates a unique frame sync input that allows precise alignment with video frames, essentially synchronizing the two pipelines in the system.

However, instead of relying on an electronic sensor, OIS systems bring a hardware solution to shaky images and video. Here, OIS systems rely on inertial measurement units (IMUs) to track motion. Devices within the IMU sense the motion and send that data to a microcontroller that moves the camera’s lens or sensor in real-time to physically counteract unwanted movement.

Figure 1 Optical image stabilization (OIS) brings a hardware solution to shaky images and video. Source: TDK InvenSense

While EIS has historically been less costly, it falls short of the superior image quality of OIS and can experience image degradation. As a result, OIS has been restricted to higher-end smartphones so far for reasons of cost, size, and energy usage. However, that’s set to change, thanks to IMU advancement.

Better IMUs mean more cost-effective OIS

IMUs track motion successfully by incorporating micro electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors. These compact, high-precision devices integrate both mechanical and electronic components into a single silicon chip. IMUs combine MEMS accelerometers, gyroscopes, and compasses with algorithms and firmware that intelligently process, synthesize, and calibrate sensor output to maximize performance and accuracy.

MEMS sensors in IMUs offer some distinct advantages:

They are easily integrated due to being small and lightweight.
They are highly robust and durable as they have fewer mechanical components exposed to physical degradation.
They deliver superior sensitivity and accuracy.
They are produced using semiconductor fabrication techniques, allowing them to be manufactured in high volumes at a lower cost.
Lastly, they consume significantly less power than many conventional sensor technologies.

Keeping images crisp on even more devices

While OIS offers better overall image quality and IMUs help OIS systems function better, the challenge is how to make the combination of both technologies more easily accessible. TDK InvenSense, backed by 15 years developing OIS/EIS custom sensing solutions for select smartphone and camera OEMs, claims to have an IMU that lets manufacturers more affordably bring advanced OIS into many more devices.

The ICM-536xx IMU supports up to 6.4 kHz ODR and up to 20-bit data resolution for optimal image quality. The ICM-536xx family, featuring 6-axis IMUs, comes in a 2.5 × 3 × 0.91 mm package that contains multiple motion sensors: a 3‑axis gyroscope and a 3‑axis accelerometer on the same silicon die.

Figure 2 The ICM-536xx IMU offers a thinner, power-efficient, and mainstream solution without compromising on performance: Source: TDK InvenSense

The IMU also features pin-for-pin drop-in compatibility, so IMUs can be easily added into existing mobile device designs. Moreover, design engineers can offload sensor management from the operating system of a mobile device when combining these IMUs with the InvenSense MotionApps Platform. This on-chip sensor fusion software ensures motion‑based complexities are abstracted using a structured set of APIs for application development.

While smartphones, tablets, and motion cameras are great initial uses for the ICM-536xx family, their 6-axis abilities at a lower cost and energy consumption make them suitable for smart glasses, augmented reality (AR) glasses, surveillance cameras, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), self-driving vehicles, and drones.

Last year, mobile device users may have viewed OIS as a bonus. But being able to capture a perfect picture is becoming a key differentiator for today’s smartphone. That’s why OIS is set to become an essential capability.

If your business wants to improve the performance of products with a camera system, especially those that experience movement, shock, and vibration, adding OIS can not only improve the device but also improve the value that users perceive. It’s an opportunity to improve user experience while building trust with a user base set to produce even more video in the coming years.

Song Li is director of product marketing at TDK InvenSense.

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