Nokia and STMicroelectronics today announced that they are releasing a comprehensive specification for camera modules, aimed at standardizing this increasingly important component in mobile devices.

The specification, dubbed Standard Mobile Imaging Architecture, or SMIA, will cover all aspects of the modules, including their electrical, mechanical, and functional interfaces, and also address other key areas such as characterization, optical performance, and reliability. The SMIA specification is offered for free to the mobile imaging industry and is available at www.smia-forum.org .

"The camera phone market will increase rapidly with cameras entering into key product segments of mobile devices. Nokia recently estimated that the camera phone market would exceed 200 million units this year. SMIA's target is to streamline and accelerate the camera module development, ultimately contributing to creation of the state-of art imaging mobile devices, independent of vendors," said Janne Haavisto, Director, Camera Entity, Nokia Technology Platforms.

• The electrical interface specifies the physical layer (voltage levels, pin-count, timing), data rate (up to 650Mb/sec), EMI (electro-magnetic interference) performance, and output image format.
• The functional specification specifies frame and field formats, register maps for set-up and control and has three profiles that helps easy video usability with high resolution sensors
• The mechanical interface proposes a family of set of modules that provide mechanical outlines specifically designed for volume manufacturing. 
• The characterization chapter provides for optical-performance metrics and sensor noise standards.
• The reliability chapter includes environmental-test and drop-test standards
• Finally, a software model is also provided in the SMIA specification, including reference device drivers and software architecture.