Applications of event‐based image sensors—Review and analysis

Summary The spread of event‐driven asynchronous vision sensors during the last years has increased significantly the industrial interest and the application scenarios for them. This article reviews the main fields of application that event‐based image sensors have found during the last 20 years. We focus in the description of applications where such devices can outperform conventional frame‐based sensors. The practical functions of the three main families of asynchronous event‐based sensors are analyzed. The article also studies what are the factors that increase nowadays the demand of sensors that minimize the power and bandwidth consumption. Moreover, the technological factors that have facilitated the development of asynchronous sensors are discussed. The article reviews the main fields of application of asynchronous vision sensors and their evolution. For each of their category, the main application scenarios are described. Systems of different purpose built with spiking vision sensors are presented. We discuss the factors that make these emerging sensors competitive nowadays.