White Papers, Case Studies & Editorials
Intelligent Lens System Improves Integration in Machine Vision Systems
Theia Technologies’ IQ Lens™ System brings together a motorized lens, motor control board, average calibration data, and software with graphical user interface (GUI) to form a modular, highly configurable system. Until recently, the user needed to develop their own motor control software. Theia’s IQ Lens™ System software application and intuitive graphical user interface saves the user considerable development effort and cost, speeding time to market. The IQ Lens™ calibration data provides intelligence that enables optimal image quality and easy imaging system setup. The compact, lightweight varifocal lens and motor control board provide for remote operation in hard to reach or mobile environments. Combined, these elements allow for convenient and cost-effective integration into the imaging system.
Download THEIA Whitepaper: Intelligent Lens System Improves Integration in Machine Vision Systems
Eliminate Distortion in Wide Angle Imaging for Machine Vision Applications
Today’s vision systems have many advantages if you have the right lens for the job. Applications such as Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), bin picking, stereo vision, and agricultural monitoring all require wide angle lenses. Until recently, only fisheye lenses were available for imaging ultra wide fields of view. But fisheye lenses have high levels of barrel distortion, affecting resolution at image edges, ultimately limiting the application uses for these lenses.
Only rectilinear lenses provide ultra wide fields of view and correct the barrel distortion inherent in traditional wide angle lenses without losing resolution. This report presents the challenges of using traditional wide angle lenses and discusses technological innovations to address these issues to advance the practical use of wide angle optics in machine vision applications.
Ultra Wide, No Distortion Lenses Tough Enough for Crash Testing
The following case study explores how Theia’s patented Linear Optical Technology® lenses have been used in over 3000 automotive crash tests and are chosen for their: Ultra wide angle, no distortion image from as close as 0.5m, Higher resolution at image edge compared to typical wide lenses. Providing 5+ megapixel, 200lp/mm resolution, Real-time, optical correction of barrel distortion, and Rugged construction. The lenses cover up to 1/1.8” sensors in visible and NIR corrected models, C, M12 & CS mount options. As seen in Quality Magazine
Download THEIA Case Study Ultra Wide, No Distortion Lenses Tough Enough for Crash Testing
Key Considerations in Lens Selection
The following two case studies will be used to illustrate some of the most important considerations in lens selection. Both cases are from the public schools sector. Both schools had defined goals, both did research, evaluation and testing of the selected lenses before installation. Yet one project failed, while the other was a success. So what went wrong in the failed case? What made the difference in the successful application? We’ll dig into the details to find out.
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How lens Selection Leads to Success [or failure] in Video Surveillance
When lens selection for video surveillance applications is not given enough attention, or is not fully understood, costly mistakes can occur. While understanding the most important considerations in lens selection ultimately leads to success in the system, a lack of knowledge will lead to failure.
Download THEIA Whitepaper Lens Selection Case Study VSD 2019
How to Calculate Image Resolution
The detail in an image is determined by resolution. The shorter the lens focal length, the wider the field of view. Greater than about 90° most lenses start to show curved, barrel distorted images that compress the image at the edges. Rectilinear lenses such as those using Theia Technologies' Linear Optical Technology® don't exhibit barrel distortion and thus maintain image resolution out to the edge of the image.
Day Night Demystified
Those cameras considered true day/night can physically switch the IR filter out of the light path allowing the camera to see both naturally occurring and artificially created IR light. These cameras require day/night lenses to keep the scene in focus both day and night. Day/night lenses are generally more expensive because of the added complexity of focusing a broader color spectrum (from visible through IR) onto the sensor.
Eliminate Distortion in Wide Angle Lenses with Linear Optical Technology®
Today’s megapixel cameras have many advantages as long as you have the right lens for the job. When that includes covering large areas or reducing cost by installing fewer cameras, that lens is a wide angle lens. Until recently only fisheye lenses were available for an ultra wide field of view. Fisheye lenses create a curved and distorted image which no one seems to like. This significant distortion causes loss of resolution at the image edges.
In the past year a new rectilinear lens giving a different ultra wide view without the barrel distortion or loss of edge resolution of fisheye lenses has been developed. This report is an overview of wide angle lens technology and how we overcome fisheye distortion using Linear Optical Technology®.
Download THEIA Whitepaper Eliminate Distortion in Wide Angle Lenses
Understanding the Trade Off Between Image Resolution and Field of View
“I want a lens that can cover the whole parking lot and I want to be able to read a license plate.” Sound familiar? As a manufacturer of wide angle lenses, Theia Technologies is frequently asked if we have a product that allows the user to do both of these things simultaneously. And the answer is ‘it depends’. It depends on several variables - the resolution you start with from the camera, how far away the subject is from the lens, and the field of view of the lens. But keeping the first two variables constant, the impact of the lens field of view becomes clear. One of the important factors to consider when designing video surveillance installations is the trade-off between lens field of view and image resolution.
What's a Megapixel Lens & Why you need one
It's an exciting time in the security department. You've finally received approval to migrate from your installed analog cameras to new megapixel models and expectations are high. As you get together with your integrator, you start selecting the cameras you plan to install, looking forward to getting higher quality, higher resolution images and, in many cases, covering the same amount of ground with one camera that, otherwise, would have taken several analog models. You're covering the basics of those megapixel cameras, including the housing and mounting hardware. What about the lens?
Product Exploration- Improving Resolution with Wide - Angle Lenses
HD and megapixel cameras have many advantages as long as you have the right lens for the job. When that includes covering large areas or reducing cost by installing fewer cameras, that lens is a wide-angle lens. Wide-angle lenses are not a panacea, but there are many applications that benefit from their use. For applications requiring large areas of coverage, an ultra wide-angle lens on a megapixel camera is a cost-saving opportunity that should be considered. Wide-angle lenses can reduce the number of cameras required to cover an area, reducing cost of installation, maintenance and monitoring. They can be used in place of a PTZ camera when post-incident digital PTZ is desired and effectively monitor large areas like parking lots, schools, and construction sites. Also, they can be used in close-up applications such as ATMs, card-locked garage entries, and multi-door entryways where both high image detail and wide field of view (FOV) are required.
Download THEIA Whitepaper Improve Resolution with Wide Angle Lenses
Lenses- the Missing Link in 4K
Much has already been written about the factors affecting the adoption of 4K as a standard in the security industry. These typically include the cost of infrastructure and hardware. However, technological and market advances have already addressed these limitations with, for example, the introduction of H.265 compression and the rapidly declining price of 4K monitors. And with our knowledge of the speed of market adoption of HD; 4K is on course to become the next big video surveillance standard within 2-5 years.
4K Delivers More Pixels on Target
While no worldwide standard exists, the security industry seems to be heading toward adoption of the EN standard requiring 250 pixels per metre for the purposes of facial identification. Higher resolution cameras and lenses are critical to achieving this and satisfying our appetite for higher detail images.
Keys to Delivering on the Promise of 4K Video
Increased quality and resolution of these systems increases the value of that investment and the potential return it can provide. With the advent of 4K, offering four times higher the resolution and pixels on target than HD, you can expect to increase the value of your system’s investment more easily. More pixels on target, combined with content analytics, offers the potential for genuine calculation of ROI
Theia Lens fits NJ High School Case Study
A hexagonal hallway connects three wings at one of the oldest comprehensive high schools in New Jersey, presenting a unique video surveillance challenge. The multiple angles of the hexagonal design at Salem High School in Salem, N.J. suggested a need for more than the usual number of cameras to cover the area with lenses that could limit the views. The hexagonal hallway dilemma was just one of the quandaries solved by the selection of Arecont Vision megapixel cameras for this installation. The solution incorporates the latest camera technology offering 5-megapixel images, along with wide angle lenses that provide warp-free images that use every single dot in the 5-million-pixel image.