Compact array camera using hybrid technology for automotive application

We present the concept, realization and prototype demonstration of a compact array camera suitable for automotive applications. The multi aperture optics consists of four similar lens objectives and a facetted mirror array in order to select the specific viewing direction of the individual optical channel (field-of-view segmentation). This partly decouples the trade-off between camera thickness and focal length creating a very compact module. Besides this new design, a hybrid optics technology - creating a mix of spherical glass together with aspherical, wafer-level-optics lens elements – is applied in order to achieve the thermal stability needed for the automotive application.