
Event-based vision sensors (EVS) are gaining interest in applications requiring low latency, high dynamic range, and energy-efficient imaging, such as image deblurring, object detection for autonomous vehicles, and AR/VR glasses. Unlike conventional frame-based sensors, their performance is highly sensitive to device-level noise processes, especially in low-light scenes. In previous work, we proposed a framework for pixel-wise parameter estimation for EVS characterization. We introduced a physics-based model and a shot noise model and validated them on a typical pixel setup. However, that model did not explicitly account for flicker noise, despite its being one of the major noise sources in modern CMOS technologies—a key factor behind pixel-to-pixel variability and spurious "noisy pixels," whose strength depends strongly on the technology. In this paper, we introduce a dedicated flicker-noise component into the previously developed EVS simulator. We calibrated the circuit flicker noise model using circuit-level simulations and sensor measurements, achieving an error margin of less than 20%. The resulting model reproduces EVS circuit noise statistics and generates realistic synthetic event streams. The results indicated that flicker noise was larger than the value expected from SPICE simulation by a factor of five. Our work enables circuit-level trade-off studies and offers intuitive noise visualizations for both hardware designers and algorithm developers to assess algorithmic impact.
Daisuke Saito, Xiaozheng Mou, Menghan Guo, Dahai Zhou, Boyd Fowler, "Circuit Flicker Noise Modeling for Pixels in Event-based Vision Sensors" in Electronic Imaging, 2026, pp 283-1 - 283-1, https://doi.org/10.2352/EI.2026.38.6.ISS-283