Light source detection and categorization system for automatic vehicle exterior light control and method of manufacturing

An optical system, for use in an automatic vehicle exterior light control, capable of detecting small, distant, light sources, comprising:

• at least one pixel array having a plurality of pixels;
• and
• a modulation transfer function that first drops to e−1 at a spatial frequency that is less than, or equal to, the reciprocal of the minimum center-to-center distance between any two adjacent pixels.

An optical system, for use in an automatic vehicle exterior light control, capable of detecting small, narrow spectral band, distant light sources, comprising:

• at least one pixel array having a plurality of pixels, at least a portion of said pixels being spectral filtered;
• and
• a polychromatic modulation transfer function that first drops to e−1 at a spatial frequency that is less than, or equal top the reciprocal of the minimum center-to-center distance between any two similarly filtered pixels.