A comprehensive tool for modeling CMOS image-sensor-noise performance

Accurate modeling of image noise is important in understanding the relative contributions of multiple-noise mechanisms in the sensing, readout, and reconstruction phases of image formation. There is a lack of high-level image-sensor system modeling toots that enable engineers to see realistic visual effects of noise and change-specific design or process parameters to quickly see the resulting effects on image quality. This paper reports a comprehensive tool, written in MATLAB, for modeling noise in CMOS image sensors and showing the effect in images. The tool uses accepted theoretical/empirical noise models with parameters from measured process-data distributions. Output images from the tool are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach in determining the effects of various noise sources on image quality.