The Operational Shift in Imaging: Singular Photonics' New Sensor

EDINBURGH, Scotland – September 10, 2026 – In a move that signals a fundamental shift in how machines perceive the world, Edinburgh-based Singular Photonics today unveiled Litavis, a sensor that embeds advanced computational intelligence directly into the silicon. The company claims it is the world's first single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) sensor to unify imaging, timing, histogramming, and photon statistics on a single, software-configurable chip. This development is more than a technical achievement; it represents a critical operational innovation that moves processing from external computers to the very point where light is captured, promising to dramatically accelerate industries from robotics to quantum computing.

For decades, the model for digital imaging has been to capture vast amounts of raw data and send it elsewhere for processing. This creates a bottleneck, introducing latency and consuming significant power—major hurdles for real-time applications like autonomous vehicles or surgical robots. Singular Photonics, a spin-out from the University of Edinburgh's renowned CMOS Sensors and Systems Group, is challenging this paradigm by turning the sensor from a passive collector of photons into an active, intelligent engine.

A New Architecture for Intelligent Sensing

The core innovation behind Litavis is its in-pixel processing capability. Traditional sensors count photons or measure their arrival time, but the heavy lifting of interpreting that data happens off-chip. Litavis performs this analysis directly within its pixel array. This on-chip computation significantly reduces the volume of data that needs to be transferred, enabling lower latency, greater power efficiency, and ultimately, faster decision-making.

While major industry players like Sony and STMicroelectronics have made significant strides in on-chip processing for SPAD sensors, particularly for LiDAR applications in smartphones and automobiles, Singular Photonics' claim to a 'world-first' rests on the comprehensive unification of multiple functions. Litavis is the first commercial sensor to simultaneously handle high-resolution intensity imaging (256x256 pixels), picosecond-precision timing (on a 64x64 grid), and complex statistical analysis like histogramming, all within a single architecture. One industry analyst noted, "Many can do parts of this on-chip, but integrating these diverse modes into one software-reconfigurable platform is the real breakthrough. It’s about versatility."

This software-defined nature is a key strategic advantage. Developers no longer need to source different hardware for different imaging modalities. Using Litavis, a company could prototype a fluorescence lifetime microscope and a robotic guidance system using the same underlying sensor, simply by reconfiguring its operating parameters in software. This drastically reduces system complexity and accelerates development cycles, offering a powerful value proposition for system integrators facing tight deadlines and budgets.

Accelerating the Next Wave of Applications

By embedding intelligence at the edge, Litavis is poised to unlock new capabilities across a diverse set of markets. The ability to extract not just an image, but also depth, timing, and event characteristics, creates what can be thought of as a 4D data stream, offering unprecedented insight into a scene.

In a statement, Singular Photonics CEO Shahida Imani explained the vision. "Litavis combines the sensitivity advantages of SPAD technology with the adaptability and scalability increasingly required by modern multimodal imaging," she said. "It condenses these into one intelligent sensor, enabling a new generation of imaging systems built on a single, configurable platform." The company reports significant pre-order volumes, suggesting the market is ready for this shift.

The most immediate impact may be felt in fields requiring real-time perception. For robotics and 'physical AI,' the sensor’s ability to make autonomous, photon-driven decisions with minimal latency could mean the difference between a collision and a safe maneuver. In medical imaging, the technology builds on the company's existing successes. Its earlier Andarta sensor is already used in wearable systems to monitor cerebral blood flow, while its Sirona sensor is deployed in advanced spectroscopy. Litavis extends these capabilities, enabling sophisticated techniques like Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) that help researchers study cellular processes and could accelerate drug discovery.

For quantum technologies, where the precise timing of single photons is paramount, the sensor's picosecond-resolution timing and coincidence detection modes provide a powerful, off-the-shelf tool for a field still heavily reliant on custom-built lab equipment.

From University Lab to Market Leader

Singular Photonics' journey is a case study in successful technology transfer. The company was spun out of the lab of Professor Robert Henderson, a digital imaging pioneer who now serves as its Scientific Advisor. With foundational technology licensed from the University of Edinburgh, the company has methodically built a commercial portfolio, already generating revenue from its Andarta and Sirona product lines before the launch of Litavis.

This is not a startup built on a single idea, but a company executing a long-term strategy to redefine the role of the sensor. The naming of the new product—Litavis, after a Celtic earth goddess whose name means "the broad one"—is a deliberate nod to the sensor's extensive, multi-faceted capabilities. By proving its technology with early products and collaborating with leading instrumentation companies, the firm has established a solid foundation for this more ambitious platform.

The company is set to demonstrate Litavis at major industry trade shows in Edinburgh and Stuttgart in the coming weeks, a clear sign of its confidence in the product's real-world performance. The demonstrations will be a crucial test, as potential customers will be keen to see if the hardware lives up to its promise of unifying so many complex functions seamlessly. If it does, Singular Photonics will have successfully shifted the operational model of imaging, proving that the most powerful computer is the one closest to the source of information.