The exploratory group is open to all interested parties to explore the industry's interest in creating open, license-free API standards for the control of embedded cameras and sensors. Participation in the exploratory group offers the opportunity to discuss use cases and requirements for new interoperability standards and thus reduce future development costs and accompanying effort in image processing and sensor evaluation in the embedded sector. If sufficient consensus is reached in the exploratory group, the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and Khronos will drive forward the proposed standardization initiatives within a suitable framework. All sensor and camera manufacturers, software developers and chip providers in the field of vision and sensor technology are invited to join this initiative.

The Embedded Camera API Exploratory Group was founded in response to requests from the industry. Here, camera sensors are increasingly being closely integrated into image and autonomous systems. However, innovation and efficiency in the embedded vision market is limited by the lack of open, cross-manufacturer API standards for camera control, thus reducing development and integration costs. A common set of interoperability standards and guidelines for embedded cameras and sensors could streamline their use by manufacturers and system integrators by enabling the control of a wide range of camera sensors, 3D sensors, camera arrays and ISP hardware to generate complex image streams for downstream processing by a wide range of devices.

The exploratory group, in collaboration with EMVA, will use the Khronos framework for new standards initiatives. All companies, universities, consortia, open source participants and industry experts are welcome and can participate free of charge after signing a confidentiality agreement. All participants will discuss on an equal footing in the creation of a Scope of Work (SOW), which describes an overarching consensus on a standard initiative for the participants and their markets. The exploratory group is expected to meet online several times over a period of several months starting on March 25, 2021.

Many companies in the industry have already expressed their interest in joining the Exploratory Group. These include ALL3D, Almalence, AMD, Apertus, AREA, Arm, Cadence, Codeplay, Collabora, EA, Facebook, Google, Holochip, HP, Huawei, LunarG, Mobica, NVIDIA, Oculus, OPPO, Qualcomm, RedHat, Texas Instruments, Ultraleap, and Valve by Khronos; as well as EMVA members and machine vision players such as Allied Vision, Basler, Baumer, MVTec and Stemmer Imaging.