Also, let us consider a popular embedded vision application like autonomous mobile robots (AMR). These autonomous systems perform obstacle detection and obstacle avoidance (ODOA) to seamlessly navigate their environment. And many of these robots require FOVs in excess of 180 degrees. This ultra-wide FOV is achieved by using multi-camera systems.

Prabu is the Chief Technology Officer and Head of Camera Products at e-con Systems, and comes with a rich experience of more than 15 years in the embedded vision space. He brings to the table a deep knowledge in USB cameras, embedded vision cameras, vision algorithms and FPGAs. He has built 50+ camera solutions spanning various domains such as medical, industrial, agriculture, retail, biometrics, and more. He also comes with expertise in device driver development and BSP development. Currently, Prabu’s focus is to build smart camera solutions that power new age AI based applications.

Field of view human eye

FOV also depends on the distance between the camera and the object. As discussed earlier, if the objects are closer to the camera, the FOV becomes wider. This is because shorter focal lengths require shorter working distances for proper focusing. Thus, the lens to sensor distance has to be designed based on the working distance.

Scott Urban, who requested his face not be photographed, with a pair of Reflectacles glasses which prevent facial recognition, at his studio on Feb. 26, 2020, in Chicago. Urban began designing them in 2015 and they became available for purchase in 2017. He has several designs and accessories.

FOV is one of the most critical parameters considered while integrating a camera into an embedded vision system. Whether it’s an intelligent transportation system, autonomous mobile robot, remote patient monitoring system, or automated sports broadcasting device, FOV plays a major role in ensuring the necessary details of the scene are captured. The FOV of the lens can be set as wide or narrow based on the end application requirements.

The technology is increasingly used by law enforcement and touted by tech companies, in part because advancements in security cameras allow them to record higher-quality images.

“I think most people are not aware of how aggressive and how powerful technology is,” said Crowley, a Portage Park resident. “When you say it, it sounds paranoid, but facial recognition software is so, so fast.”

FOVto focal length calculator

Others have material in the rims that reflect visible and infrared light. To a security camera, the wearer’s eyes become a glare.

Smart traffic systems utilize cameras with a wide FOV to seamlessly monitor and manage road traffic. Such cameras capture comprehensive views of large areas for performing real-time traffic flow analysis and incident detection. Covering wide road sections also means they can promptly identify traffic violations, accidents, and congestion. Additionally, the broader view empowers advanced features like vehicle counting, object classification and lane discipline monitoring. This provides crucial real-time data that helps optimize traffic flow and improve overall safety.

From the previous section, we understood the definition of FOV and its relation with several other lens parameters. Let us now discuss how to choose the right FOV for an embedded vision application.

A New York company called Clearview AI is selling facial recognition tools to law enforcement agencies around the country — including in Illinois — that allows them to tap into a database of photos scraped from social media. The Chicago Police Department uses Clearview’s software to compare photographs of suspects against public information, according to department spokeswoman Maggie Huynh.

Scott Urban's reflectacles glasses can thwart facial recognition software by reflecting or blocking the infrared light of security cameras.

However, it is extremely important to understand that many factors determine this. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach to this. It is recommended that you seek help from an imaging expert like e-con Systems as you pick the right field of view and lens for your application.

“People shouldn’t have to walk around with really clunky glasses or really complicated T-shirts in order to protect their privacy,” said Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Maass. “We should have policies in place that understand that democracy does require a certain amount of anonymity.”

For example, imagine that the camera and the object are fixed at a working distance of 30cm. In this case, the HFOV and VFOV are measured manually using a scale (in mm) as shown below:

Urban declined to comment on sales figures. He makes the glasses full time, and said the business is profitable. He launched Reflectacles via Kickstarter in late 2016, and started shipping them to backers the next year. In all, 311 backers pledged more than $41,000 during that campaign.

Many modern-day embedded vision systems utilize multiple types of lenses and sensors with different feature sets and varying costs. The design of the camera systems integrated with these components plays a huge role in achieving the required image quality.

Broad perspectives generally equip Autonomous Mobile Robots to navigate complex environments and avoid obstacles. A wide FOV also ensures that robots can detect and analyze their surroundings in real time, boosting their ability to move safely and operate in dynamic environments, such as warehouses, manufacturing floors, and public spaces. A large vertical FOV ensures that obstacles at any height are detected, allowing robots to navigate under hanging obstacles such as shelves or overhead conveyor. For warehouse AMRs, two cameras placed on opposing corners, each providing a 270° FOV, can offer complete situational awareness. This setup enables the AMR to navigate freely in all directions—left, right, forward, and backward—while also turning efficiently without worrying about blind spots or objects coming from behind.

Having two or more cameras enables a higher resolution, prevents lens distortion, and offers a wider FOV. To achieve high imaging quality in multi-camera systems, a lens having an FOV of around 60-70 degrees is usually chosen.

Such is the rub with devices meant to thwart technologies: They must be more convenient than the technologies themselves.

Fov definitioncamera

U.S. senators have probed Clearview AI, questioning its sharing of facial recognition technology with other countries and whether it could be used for mass surveillance. And in November, Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., released findings of an investigation into Ring that revealed “little to no privacy policies or civil rights protections for video collected by the technology.”

“Everybody just doesn’t like the erosion of privacy and there’s no form of consent … it’s just being used on them,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is give people the (option to) opt out.”

In this article, let’s explore the importance of FOV in embedded vision, the factors that determine FOV, as well as which applications rely on this the most.

Another issue: The devices typically only protect against one type of potential privacy violation, said Matthew Kugler, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. Reflectacles, for example, are effective against certain cameras and facial recognition, but they wouldn’t prevent a person’s phone from being tracked.

Tech giants and other companies have had to contend with the law. Earlier this year, Facebook ended a yearslong legal battle when it agreed to pay $550 million to Illinois customers to settle allegations that its facial tagging feature violated their privacy rights.

The chunky, thick-framed glasses Scott Urban makes in his Humboldt Park workshop look like normal eyeglasses, but when viewed on a security camera, the wearer’s face becomes a shining orb.

“How are we going to protect ourselves, protect our privacy when we leave our front door?” said Dave Maass, senior investigative researcher at the San Francisco-based digital rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. “How do we ensure that as all these technologies advance, our privacy and our personal movements are also protected?”

e-con Systems has 20+ years of experience designing, developing, and manufacturing OEM cameras. That’s why we understand the nuances involved in selecting lenses with the right FOV for your application. We can expertly guide you through the entire process of selecting the lens rather than merely acting as a camera supplier.

Each embedded vision application has different sensor size requirements to get the best output. A small sensor will have a narrow field of view while a large sensor can provide a wide field of view.

FOVcalculator

However, selecting and evaluating sensors and lenses can be challenging. The right combination can help build a highly optimized embedded vision system that meets all your standards. Of course, when selecting a lens for an embedded camera, numerous factors, such as Field Of View (FOV), must be considered.

They block the facial recognition on iPhones, and obstruct infrared security cameras, he said. But they might not stop other types of facial recognition software.

e-con Systems has led from the front when it comes to innovation in embedded vision. And one of our key strengths is the platform side expertise especially on the NVIDIA Jetson series. Leveraging this, e-con has designed many multi-camera solutions that offer an FOV of up to 360 degrees.

That’s where entrepreneurs are stepping in. Designers, artists and researchers around the world have invented masks that block facial recognition technology. There are also glasses that use different tactics than Reflectacles, and even clothing with faces on the fabric meant to confuse the cameras.

Let’s look at Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) as a reference. These autonomous systems perform obstacle detection and obstacle avoidance (ODOA) to seamlessly navigate their environment. Many of them require FOVs in excess of 180 degrees. This ultra-wide FOV is achieved by using multi-camera systems.

The efforts extend into other areas of data privacy as well — chunky bracelets meant to jam Amazon Echo and other devices from listening to conversations, and phone pouches that block tracking signals.

FOVurban dictionary

Field of view (FOV) is the maximum area of a scene that a camera can focus on/capture. It is represented in degrees. There are three ways to measure the field of view of a camera – horizontally, vertically, or diagonally as shown below.

He’s also aware that tradeoffs are involved. Crowley owns a pair of Reflectacles but said he likely won’t wear them every day because they would block him from using the facial recognition feature to unlock his phone.

Urban, the 38-year-old creator of Reflectacles, said wearing his glasses protects people from facial recognition technologies in public spaces.

The technology collects data to create a map of someone’s face. Privacy advocates worry that mass use of facial recognition software, especially in public places, could erode personal privacy and be used to track people’s movements.

Most customers know the protections Reflectacles and other privacy devices offer only go so far — especially when the device is wearable, and the user doesn’t plan on wearing it 24/7.

Please write to us at camerasolutions@e-consystems.com if you need expert help integrating cameras with different FOVs into your applications.

Field of viewdefinitionmicroscope

What helps e-con stand out when it comes to this solution is our proprietary 180-degree stitching algorithm that can process images from multiple cameras to create a 180 degree image. To learn more about this solution, please visit the product page.

Reflectacles, as the glasses are called, are among a growing number of devices developed to protect individual privacy as facial recognition technology becomes cheaper, faster and more commonplace.

Similarly, for the calculation of VFOV and DFOV, instead of width (or horizontal F0V), corresponding height and diagonal dimensions of the object are substituted in the above formula respectively.

Most of the embedded camera applications require the FOV to be wider enough to cover a large viewing area. For instance, a fish-eye lens is characterized by wider FOV and larger depth of field (DOF) and hence is suitable for surveillance applications. On the other hand, for a zoom/telescopic application, you might require a normal/narrow FOV.

Meanwhile, you could check out the article What are the crucial factors to consider while integrating multi-camera solutions? if you are interested in learning more about multi-camera integration.

Generally for a sensor, FOV refers to the diagonal measurement – which is called DFOV or Diagonal FOV. Horizontal FOV (HFOV) and Vertical FOV (VFOV) will vary based on the aspect ratio of the image sensor used.

And one of the most popular among those solutions is e-CAM130A_CUXVR_3H02R1 180° FOV camera – a synchronized multi-camera solution that can be directly interfaced with the NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Xavier™ development kit. This camera solution comprises of three 13 MP camera modules that are based on the 1/3.2″ AR1335 CMOS image sensor from onsemi®. These 4K camera modules are positioned inwards to create a 180° FOV as shown in the image below:

A Clearview AI representative did not respond to requests for comment. Ring spokeswoman Che’von Lewis said in a statement that Ring does not use facial recognition, and that customer privacy and data security is “foundational” for the Amazon-owned company.

Focal length is the defining property of a lens. Simply put, it is the distance between the lens and the plane of the sensor, and is determined when the lens focuses the object at infinity. It is represented in mm. Focal length depends on the curvature of the lens and its material. The shorter the focal length, the wider the AFOV and vice versa. Please have a look at the below image to understand this better:

Fov definitionphotography

Remote patient monitoring systems rely on cameras with an optimal FOV to provide accurate and complete observations of patients. These cameras ensure that all relevant movements and conditions are captured so that healthcare providers can monitor the health of patients. It leads to timely medical interventions and improved remote patient safety.

Brian Crowley, 41, a software product designer, said he keeps up with facial recognition technology advancements and the benefits they offer. He also worries about the problems they could cause.

For years, social media sites have used facial recognition technology in tagging features. Popular apps also have used it to find customers’ likeness in works of art or other images. In 2017, Apple rolled out a feature on the iPhone X that uses facial recognition to unlock the screen.

What isFOVin games

Reflectacles do block facial recognition in certain situations, said Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Maass, who owns two pairs of the glasses. He teaches at the University of Nevada, Reno, and uses the glasses as a demonstration in surveillance and cybersecurity lectures.

Having 2 or more cameras enables a higher resolution, prevents lens distortion, and offers a wider FOV. To achieve high imaging quality in multi-camera systems, a lens having an FOV of around 60-70 degrees is usually chosen. But it is important to note that this is determined by a multitude of factors. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ approach to this. It is recommended to take the help from an imaging expert like e-con Systems as you go about picking the right field of view and lens for your application. Please feel free to write to us at camerasolutions@e-consystems.com if you need a helping hand.

“There’s a certain kind of utility to it,” he said. But “I don’t think we’re ever going to see mass adoption of them outside of very particular contexts.”

Illinois has one of the strictest laws in the nation protecting biometric data, which can include data from facial, fingerprint and iris scans. The 2008 law mandates that companies collecting such information obtain prior consent from consumers, detail how they’ll use it and specify how long the information will be kept. The law also allows private citizens, rather than just governmental entities, to file lawsuits over the issue.

Most embedded camera applications require the FOV to be wider enough to cover a large viewing area. For instance, a fish-eye lens is characterized by a wider FOV and larger depth of field (DOF) and is hence suitable for surveillance applications. On the other hand, for a zoom/telescopic application, you might require a normal/narrow FOV.

Automated sports broadcasting systems use cameras with a wide FOV to cover entire fields or courts. Hence, all the movements within the sporting area are captured, which means viewers can experience the game in an immersive way. A wide FOV is also important for capturing aspects such as player movements and strategic plays, which enhances the overall broadcasting quality. Furthermore, wider FOV cameras streamline production by potentially replacing multiple conventional cameras, reducing setup complexity and personnel needs.

Now let us discuss FOV calculation. In many applications, the required distance from an object and the desired field of view (which determine the size of the object seen in the frame) are known quantities. This information can be used to directly determine the required angular field of view (AFOV) as shown below.

Scott Urban, who requested his face not be photographed, with a pair of Reflectacles glasses which prevent facial recognition, at his studio on Feb. 26, 2020, in Chicago. Urban began designing them in 2015 and they became available for purchase in 2017. He has several designs and accessories.

Reflectacles products, which range from $48 clip-on lenses to $164 glasses, use different methods to block facial recognition. The base model has regular frames but the lenses themselves block infrared light, so the wearer’s eyes don’t appear on infrared security cameras.

The concerns surrounding such uses of facial recognition are multi-fold. Some worry the technology has imperfections, and its use could result in misidentification. For others, the main issue is lack of consent.

Sales of Amazon’s Ring doorbell, which allows users to livestream video of the area outside their front door, are surging, creating webs of cameras in neighborhoods.

Conversely, if you know the FOV and the working distance, then you can calculate the dimension of the object using the below formula.

You also have an option to capture the same field of view with sensors of different size. This can be done using a lens with the appropriate focal length. As a result, the same FOV can be achieved using a small sensor with a short focal length lens and a large sensor with a long focal length lens.

Industrial automation systems for functions like quality inspection rely on cameras with accurate FOV settings to scrutinize products on assembly lines. They capture imaging data required for thorough product inspection by detecting defects instantly. Moreover, manufacturers can optimize their inspection processes, reduce errors, and maintain consistent product standards.