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.

Remote Access and Control

Theia’s motorized lenses and control board are designed for machine vision applications, utilizing stepper motors for zoom, focus, iris, and filter adjustments. They streamline camera setup in challenging locations, like autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

These versatile lenses allow remote adjustments, enabling fine-tuning of object resolution in dynamic settings such as Cobots and robotic-assisted medical procedures. The lenses can switch between visible and Near IR light, enhancing image detail for multi-spectral applications like detecting water levels in various media and improving color and sensitivity for tasks such as license plate recognition.

Plug and Play

Until recently, using Theia’s motorized lens and motor control board required users to develop software to convert engineering parameters into motor steps and lens commands. Theia’s new IQ™ Lens System includes a software development kit (SDK) that simplifies this integration into imaging systems.

With the IQ™ Lens System’s SDK, users can easily set parameters like field of view, depth of field, or object distance. The SDK automatically converts these parameters into motor steps using Theia’s lens control library and graphical user interface (GUI), eliminating the need for complex calculations or lookups (see Fig. 3).

The new IQ Lens™ System also includes the MCR IQ™ Motor Control Board with software application and GUI to convert motor steps into machine commands that move the lens to desired positions. The board communicates via USB, UART or i2c protocols for ﬂexibility in integration. Purchase of the IQ Lens™ and MCR IQ™ Motor Control Board includes a royalty free license to use the software applications.

Both software applications are available as Python modules for program development. In addition, there is a convenient GUI application allowing user access to the modules. These modules save the user considerable effort, time and money, keeping the user from needing to develop their own software, greatly speeding system development, integration and time to market.

Lens Intelligence

The Theia IQ Lens™ incorporates calibration data in a computer-readable format, facilitating enhanced image performance and processing speed. When utilizing varifocal lenses, adjusting the focal length may result in a loss of image focus. Consequently, determining the optimal focus for a designated field of view (focal length) necessitates an iterative approach. The calibration data provided by Theia’s IQ Lens™ features an average measured zoom/focus tracking curve, which is instrumental in maintaining focus while varying the zoom position or in establishing focus at a specified zoom level. This zoom/focus curve is regularly updated, reflecting a rolling average of lenses in production (refer to Fig. 4).

Understanding the interplay between focal length and zoom motor position facilitates the remote programming of focus and zoom settings, thereby enabling image optimization in challenging scenarios involving inaccessible or mobile cameras, such as those used in Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Accurate field of view configuration can be attained by comprehending the relationship between focal length and the corresponding zoom motor step position. This is particularly relevant in applications that require remote operation and guidance of automation equipment for pick-and-place tasks, as well as in mobile speed cameras, wherein the field of view and object distance must be adjusted due to the camera's non-fixed positioning. The flexibility in adjusting focal length and focus permits the optimization of images across varying distances from the camera.

To ensure the reliability of these adjustments, calibration curves are assessed from batch to batch to confirm the ongoing accuracy of the optical parameters. Upon the purchase of a Theia IQ Lens™, the most recent average data file is provided and is available for online download.

Furthermore, the Theia IQ Lens™ encompasses design data that is consistent across lenses within the same family, including specifications related to aperture size, geometrical distortion, and relative illumination, which can be leveraged to enhance image processing capabilities.

Aperture size design data improves lighting control in outdoor applications with limited options, benefiting areas like Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), aerial crop monitoring, and infrastructure monitoring by allowing greater depth of field.

Geometrical distortion design data for various focal lengths facilitates positional corrections for imaging applications such as 3D mapping, situational awareness, and navigation of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and drones, simplifying setups without complex distortion mapping jigs. Relative illumination design data adjusts corner image brightness for uniform exposure at different focal lengths and F/# settings, ideal for inspection and grading tasks.

This data is accessible for download from Theia’s cloud database, along with application notes for effective use. Calibration data frames are available in JSON format.

Conclusion

Theia’s IQ Lens™ System with motorized varifocal lens, motor control board, average calibration data, and software application provide convenience, ﬂexibility and optimized image quality in a cost-effective package to support today’s demanding machine vision applications. Fast. Intelligent. Cost-effective. Just plain Smart!