1999
Early neuromorphic vision in flight
Centeye’s founder flew early neuromorphic vision sensing on a small aerial vehicle before Centeye was formed.
Company
More Than Two Decades of Advanced Vision Development
Centeye is a Washington, DC-based advanced-vision technology company developing custom vision silicon, miniature sensor assemblies, embedded vision systems, and supporting processing for demanding commercial and government applications.
Centeye works with primes, OEMs, integrators, research organizations, and government teams to develop, adapt, integrate, and transition specialized sensing technology.
Current Direction
Centeye Today
Centeye is a technology supplier and development partner for custom vision silicon, low-SWaP sensor assemblies, embedded vision systems, and supporting firmware, processing, and integration technology.
Centeye’s role is often to provide the sensing and embedded interpretation layer within a customer’s larger product or platform. Work can range from inserting existing technology to adapting an architecture or developing a new application-specific approach.
All current Centeye electronics and sensor assemblies are NDAA compliant.
Explore capabilities →Engineering Approach
Built Around First-Principles Engineering
Centeye works across multiple layers of the sensing stack and is willing to change the sensing architecture itself when a one-size-fits-all camera and processing pipeline is poorly matched to the task. That cross-layer approach is supported by reusable technology and know-how accumulated across successive programs and generations of sensing hardware.
01Silicon
02Optics
03Sensor Hardware
04Embedded Processing
05System Integration
Technical Depth
Evidence Across Generations of Technology
25+
Years of advanced vision R&D
60+
Neuromorphic vision chips developed
FIRST
Neuromorphic vision sensor flown on a small drone by Centeye’s founder
Supporting experience includes nine Phase II SBIR/STTR programs; participation in DARPA, IARPA, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and other sponsored research; and work with major aerospace and defense companies and leading research institutions. These programs support the technical record without defining Centeye solely as a sponsored-research organization.
Selected organizations Centeye has worked with
Government
DARPA · U.S. Air Force · IARPA · DTRA · U.S. Navy · U.S. Army · National Science Foundation
Industry
AeroVironment · Lockheed Martin · Raytheon · Boeing · Aurora Flight Sciences · Nautilus Defense
Research
Harvard University · MIT · UC Berkeley · University of Colorado Boulder · University of Maryland · University of Michigan · UMass Amherst
Technical Continuity
Technology Heritage
Centeye’s current technology builds on more than two decades of work in neuromorphic sensing, embedded machine vision, and severely constrained robotic systems.
2000
Centeye founded
Centeye was founded and began its continuous development of advanced vision technology.
2000
Early outdoor altitude hold
Centeye founder Geoffrey Barrows demonstrated outdoor altitude hold on a small aerial vehicle using optical-flow sensing.
Historical footage of the 2000 outdoor altitude-hold demonstration.
2002
Altitude hold over snow
Downward-looking optical-flow sensing was used to demonstrate altitude hold over snow on a cloudy day.
Historical footage of the 2002 altitude-hold demonstration over snow.
2003
First onboard obstacle-avoidance demonstration
A first onboard obstacle-avoidance demonstration was performed on a small aerial vehicle. A second demonstration later that year is documented below.
2010
Vision-based micro-helicopter hover
Micro-helicopter hover was demonstrated using a lightweight multi-sensor vision architecture.
2012
128-milligram optical-flow sensor
A complete optical-flow sensor assembly developed for RoboBees weighed 128 milligrams, excluding its cable.
The complete sensor board and its components shown beside a penny for scale.
2013
Multiple-aperture wide-field sensing
A multiple-aperture wide-field-of-view sensor supported optical flow at 300 Hz.
External and internal views of the multi-aperture sensor assembly.
2010s
Continued sensing-stack development
Centeye continued developing custom vision silicon, miniature vision sensors, optical-flow sensing, stereo perception, and highly constrained onboard machine vision.
2015–2017
Nano-UAS demonstrations
Historical nano-UAS demonstrations showed fully onboard vision-based perception and reactive obstacle avoidance under severe size, weight, and power constraints.
2016
Combined sensing in a compact assembly
A compact sensor assembly combined stereo vision, optical flow, and proximity sensing.
The integrated 2016 sensor assembly shown in hand for scale.
2020s
Broader technology integration
Work expanded across custom focal-plane architectures, miniature embedded vision systems, adaptive and flexible-acuity sensing, high-dynamic-range vision, tracking, wearable and embedded sensing, and customer-oriented technology integration.
Selected Historical Demonstrations
Technical continuity in constrained vision.
These released demonstrations document earlier sensing and onboard-processing work. The aircraft shown are historical test platforms, not current products.
Second Onboard Obstacle-Avoidance Demonstration
Historical footage from 2003 showing onboard obstacle avoidance on a small aerial test platform. The aircraft shown is a historical demonstration platform, not a current product.
Accumulated Depth
Why the History Matters
Centeye’s value is not simply that it has worked in vision for a long time. The company has accumulated reusable silicon architectures, sensor designs, processing methods, integration experience, and first-principles engineering knowledge across multiple generations of technology.
Working With Centeye
From technology insertion to custom development.
Integrate
Incorporate existing Centeye chips, sensors, assemblies, or supporting technology.
Adapt
Modify sensing hardware, optics, electronics, firmware, packaging, or interfaces.
Develop
Develop application-specific vision chips, sensor assemblies, or embedded vision systems.
Transition & Supply
Support productization, manufacturing transition, licensing, and ongoing supply.
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Centeye works with primes, OEMs, system integrators, and government organizations to develop and integrate advanced vision technology.