US firm to design surveillance chips in India

US-based industry leader in geometric processors Geo Semiconductor Inc. will design chips for surveillance cameras in this tech hub, an official said Wednesday.

The chips will be used in smartphone peripherals, automobiles, video conferencing and gaming at its newly set up research and development (R&D) here.

"India is a critical geography for us from the R&D angle and market perspective. Over the coming months, the R&D centre will be a part of our worldwide ecosystem and cater to the domestic market," Geo chief executive Paul M. Russo told reporters here.

Geo's propriety eWarp platform features the lowest power and silicon cost for performing unlimited pixel transformations such as de-warping wide-angle, fisheye and 360 degree video streams.

"Our eWarp processor ICs (integrated circuits) can simultaneously correct optical distortion and stitch together multiple camera video streams, allowing unlimited numbers of views at no extra cost," Russo said.

The company will design and develop processors for auto cameras that will give a 360-degree view through a fisheye and HUD (heads-up display) market.

"We estimate the market size for auto cameras in India to be about 50-100 million units in the coming years as such a surveillance facility will help in settling insurance claims in the event of mishaps or for surveillance purposes," Russo said.

Solutions built around cameras in cars along with heads-up displays on windshields will have the company's dewarp technology for safety.

"Similarly, cloud-based cameras built around our video technology offer a perfect solution for a range of needs such as parents wanting to keep an eye on their children at home or at a nursery," company's Indian subsidiary general manager Pradip A. Thaker said on the occasion.

As part of its expansion plans, the Indian subsidiary will ramp up its headcount (chip designers) three times from 22 currently over the next two years and also hire people for sales and marketing support.

"We believe the Indian semiconductor and electronics ecosystem is poised for exponential growth this decade. We are here to leverage the emerging opportunities," Thaker added.

The R&D facility has a multimedia lab and audio testing lab with software, hardware and chip design tools for designing and developing end-to-end solutions for the company's domestic and overseas customers.