MESA Imaging CEO Interview

Image Sensors conference starts to publish a series of interviews with this year's presenters. The first one is with Jim Lewis, CEO of MESA Imaging. Some notable Q&A:

Q. MESA Imaging is the leader in the field of 3D cameras - what has surprised you as you've seen this sector develop?

A. What has surprised me is the overall complexity involved in trying to match up the customer/market needs with the capabilities of the technology. Early on, it was evident that the customers' perceptions on the capabilities of TOF and of what they thought they needed from the TOF cameras was quite removed from the actual reality.

Q. Where do you see the future growth for 3D camera applications?

A. The growth will not come from the applications that one reads/hears about most often in the public domain.

Q. Your presentation will 'mythbust' some popular thinking on this sector - can you give us a sneak preview of what you are going to talk about?

A. Among the myths that I plan to address are the following:

• TOF will revolutionize Human-Machine User Interfaces.
• All consumer mass markets are great opportunities for adoption of TOF.
• TOF works outdoors.
• Pixel performance is the critical determinant of performance of a TOF camera (aka. "My pixel is better than your pixel").
• Use of standard CMOS processes is important in the supply of TOF sensors.