Applications

If you have a display that needs to be measured, you are probably curious if a conoscope would be the right tool for the job. Conoscopes have been used for characterization of liquid crystal displays for decades. They are typically used to take measurements of viewing angle and contrast. Their advantages for making these measurements are speed and simplicity. No instrument is perfect, so conoscopes also have some constraints. We believe you will find that the advantages to using a conoscope to test a display far outweigh the drawbacks. Click here for more information on conoscopes.

Several design engineers have come to us recently requesting lenses designed for characterizing light sources. Two hot topics are measuring light sources for LIDAR and for facial recognition. Both involve characterizing the angular distribution of light from an NIR (850 – 980nm) laser using a conoscope and camera, but that’s where the similarities end. Click here to read more.

A vision system is generally defined as a computer based system that uses a camera and software to perform certain tasks, such as analyzing an object or scene. A system like this is most often used in quality control of manufactured parts and must be designed to resolve a minimum feature size so it is able to perform its quality control role. In addition, the field of view (FOV), camera sensor size and type, f/#, depth of field, and working distance must be specified to ensure your system meets all of your criteria. There are also other important parameters that must be addressed in your lens design, but if you are interested in these you can visit our page on specifying a custom lens. For now, here’s a description of the parameters already mentioned. We’ve put together a tool to help work out your specifications. If you’re ready, go ahead and jump to the calculator. Visit our Vision Systems page to read more.