Osram launches IR LEDs for face recognition in smartwatches

Osram of Munich, Germany has launched the SFH 4170S and SFH 4180S infrared light-emitting diodes (IREDs) to meet the demand for small biometric products.

Smartwatches are becoming increasingly popular and can do more and more. In contrast to smartphones, where the screen can’t seem to be big enough, smart watches focus on being smaller in size. For manufacturers of mobile devices, the size of the individual components therefore plays a central role in the design of their products.

The particularly compact dimensions of the specially developed Oslon P1616 package (1.6mm x 1.6mm x 0.85mm) make the SFH 4170S and SFH 4180S IREDs the smallest Osram components for biometric applications, requiring about 50% less space than similar existing products.

Despite the small dimensions, the IREDs maintain an outstanding power of 1150mW at 1A and a radiation intensity of 280mW/sr. These characteristics are particularly important for 2D face recognition. This identification method focuses on two-dimensional features of the user’s face, e.g. the length of the bridge of the nose, the distance between the eyes or the distance from corner to corner of the mouth. To reliably compare the image stored in the system with the current picture, the infrared camera must be able to capture the best possible images, making homogeneous illumination of the face with an infrared light source a central aspect of this application.

Depending on where the IREDs are ultimately used, customers can choose between the 850nm (SFH 4170S) or the 940nm (SFH 4180S) version. While the SFH 4170S benefits from the very high sensitivity of the sensors in this wavelength range, the SFH 4180S avoids the ‘red glow’ effect, which can be seen by the human eye and is particularly unpopular in consumer applications.

“Biometric identification will become an increasingly important part of our lives in the future,” says product manager Arne Fleißner. “With our two new IREDs, we are making space-saving integration into our customers’ end devices much easier and are thus also helping to protect users’ sensitive data.”

Tags: Osram IR LED

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