Power Supply Effect on Image Quality

Image capture is a very sensitive process. Any noise induced during the process lowers the quality of the image captured. A common type of noise is electrical noise from the power supply. The sponsor asked the team to determine how different power supply configurations can affect image quality of a complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor. To perform the tests, the team designed a camera system with a modular power supply to allow easy switching between different power supply configurations. Test configurations designed included linear, switch-mode, and a combination of linear and switch-mode power supplies. The team qualitatively assessed the captured images with each configuration and quantitatively calculated the signal to noise ratio, or SNR, with Matlab. The image with the highest SNR was considered the highest quality image. The power supply with the highest quality image was recommended for further use in any image-capture applications. The test configuration with the highest presence of noise should be investigated further to more thoroughly understand the root cause of the noise.