Basic analog–digital circuit for motion detection based on the vertebrate retina with low power consumption

Basic analog–digital motion detection circuits with low power consumption were proposed based on the vertebrate retina. The motion sensor based on the retina is constructed with a one- or two-dimensional array of the unit circuits. The proposed unit circuit for motion detection is constructed with an analog circuit for photoelectric conversion and the digital circuit for generating the motion signal. The metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistors utilized to the analog circuits are operated in the subthreshold region. The analog circuit has the characteristic of the low power consumption. The proposed circuit was evaluated by the simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) with the 0.6 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. The test circuits of basic digital circuits were fabricated with the same process. In the simulation and the experiment, the power supply voltage was set to the low voltage. We found that the digital circuit becomes low power consumption because the MOS transistors was operated in the subthreshold region by setting the low voltage. The proposed circuit is characterized by the simple structure and the low power consumption. In the future, the novel motion detection sensor with low power consumption can be realized by applying the integrated circuits constructed with the array of the proposed unit circuits.