Analog VLSI motion projectsat Caltech

We present di#erent compact analog VLSI motion sensors that compute the 1-D velocity of optical stimuli over a large range and are suitable for integration in focal plane arrays.Theyhavebeen extensively tested and optimized for robust performance under varying light conditions. Since their output signals are only weakly dependent on contrast, they directly extract optical #ow data from an image. Focal plane arrays of such sensors areparticularly interesting for application in single-chip systems that perform navigation tasks for moving robots or vehicles, where light weight, low power consumption, and real-time processing are crucial. Several monolithic motion-processing systems based on such velocity sensors have been built and tested. We describehere three chips, designed for the determination of the focus of expansion, the estimation of the time to contact, and the detection of motion discontinuities respectively. The #rst two systems have been speci#cally designed for vehicle navig..