Skip to main content

Theia develops innovative distortion-free ultra-wide-angle lenses

Today’s high-resolution cameras have many advantages if they have the right lens for the job. When that includes covering large areas or reducing cost by installing fewer cameras, you need a wide-angle lens. Fisheye style lenses with barrel distortion are routinely used to cover an ultra-wide field of view; however, they create a curved and distorted image which causes significant loss of resolution at the image edges. This presents a variety of issues for ITS applications such as difficulty in identification or recognition of objects and details.
October 26, 2022 Read time: 2 mins

 

To counter the drawbacks of fisheye-style optics, Theia Technologies has developed a suite of rectilinear lenses offering a different, ultra-wide field of view without the barrel distortion or loss of edge resolution characteristic of fisheye style lenses. Theia achieves this optically, without the use of image correction software or its inherent latency.

The company employs its patented Linear Optical Technology to create a family of multi-megapixel lenses that offer horizontal fields of view up to 135 degrees with very low distortion while improving the resolution at the image edge compared to typical wide-angle lenses.

Applications for Theia’s family of ultra-wide, low distortion lenses include providing great peripheral vision for situational awareness in navigation and remote operation of vehicles and robots used in a variety of ITS applications from logistics to assisted and unmanned vehicles. They capture wide areas at short distances such as in under-vehicle surveillance and shipping container identification, among many other imaging tasks, including applications in close-up applications such as ATMs, card-locked garage entries, and multi-door entryways where both high image detail and wide fields of view are required. Other applications for Theia’s family of ultra-wide, low-distortion lenses include effectively monitoring large areas like parking lots, multi-lane tolling stations, and warehouses.

Choosing the right lens for an application depends on many factors including field of view, required image resolution, multi-spectral capability, image format and mount, among others. To assist in lens selection, Theia offers an image resolution simulator and lens calculator that relates FOV, resolution, and object distance.

Visitors to the Theia website will find it also offers other tools and white papers for a better understanding of its lens technology and selection of the optimal lens for your application.

Content produced in association with Theia Technologies

Related Content

  • October 11, 2016
    Swarco’s smart and safety messages for Melbourne
    For the first time at an ITS World Congress in Australia, Swarco is here presenting its capabilities in road safety and intelligent traffic management solutions. An obvious feature of the stand is the company’s brilliant energy-efficient LED-based variable message signs. Adaptive traffic control and smart mobility software platforms are also on display.
  • April 22, 2025
    SVS-Vistek debuts 245-megapixel machine vision camera
    Product merges Sony sensor with CoaXPress-12 quad interface
  • October 19, 2015
    Allied Vision launches cost-effective Goldeye camera
    Allied Vision has released a new entry-level Goldeye model for the short wave infrared spectrum (SWIR), the Goldeye G-008 SWIR, which has all the features and benefits of the current Goldeye camera family, including all image correction and optimisation functionalities. It is equipped with a smaller resolution sensor, making infrared imaging affordable for many cost-sensitive applications in which the lower resolution is enough to do the job. The Goldeye G-008 SWIR is fitted with a QVGA InGaAs sensor (320 x
  • March 16, 2016
    Sensor technology advances increases ITS opportunities
    Basler’s Enzio Schneider explains why advances in CMOS technology provides new opportunities for vision-based ITS applications. Since the beginning of 2015, or even before, it seems obvious that all roads in vision-based ITS applications lead in one technological direction – CMOS. Initially perceived as a trend in vision technology, it has taken a step towards status as the new benchmark with Sony’s announcement to discontinue their CCD production. CMOS sensor technology has become the future for industrial