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

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Autonomous vehicles will not prevent half of real-world crashes
    April 5, 2017
    Alan Thomas of CAVT looks at the reality behind the safety claims fuelling the drive towards autonomous vehicles
  • Keolis & NaviLens guide blind riders in France 
    May 28, 2021
    Image recognition uses augmented QR codes and voice guidance on smartphone app
  • Milipol Paris: open for business to CARTES visitors
    November 19, 2013
    For the first time ever, CARTES visitors will be able to pop into internal security exhibition Milipol Paris – and there are a lot of good reasons why you should, explains Milipol director Michael Weatherseed. For one thing, both shows share a common concern: security Visitors wishing to maximise the potential of their visit to CARTES 2013 should think about also taking the time to look in on Milipol Paris, a separate exhibition for the internal security industry which is organised under the patronage of th
  • Sony helps Rio get a better view of the Olympics
    June 29, 2016
    With the Olympics approaching, Sony’s Stephane Clauss examines how the latest camera technologies can help cities cope with the huge crowds attending major events. This August will see more than 10,000 athletes head to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics Games. Alongside them will be their coaching staff, a hoard of logistics teams, thousands of volunteer marshals (London 2012 had 70,000) and millions of spectators. All such major events have nervous jitters on the way to the opening ceremony. This year has see