CalculatingImageResolution

Resolutioncanbedefinedinmanyways.Thisarticlelooksintohowimageresolutioncanbecalculated.
ByTheiaT.

Thereisnotyetaunifiedindustrystandardforthelevelofsharpnessrequiredinvideosurveillance
applications.Thehigherthenumberofpixels,thebettertheresolution,andthemorelikelyrecognition
andpositiveidentificationcanbemade.
Thedetailinanimageisdeterminedbyresolution,whichcanbedefinedinmanyways.
ResolutioncanbeexpressedwiththenumberofTVLsorpixelsoftheimagesensor.Foranalogcameras,
imageresolutionisusuallymeasuredbythenumberofTVLs,suchas320,480,520andsoon.The
higherthenumberoflinesgoes,thegreaterdetailorlargerfieldofviewcanberecorded.With
megapixelcameras,resolutionisgenerallyexpressedwiththetotalnumberofpixels,dividedbyone
millionandroundedoff.
Resolutioncanalsobethelevelofdetailwithwhichanimagecanbereproducedorrecorded.
Commonlyusedbylensdesignersandopticalengineers,imagesensorresolutionisexpressedasline
pairspermillimeter(lpm).Asthetotalnumberofpixelsonanimagesensorincreases,thepixelsizegets
smallerandrequiresalensofhigherqualitytoachievefocus.
Last,resolutioncanbespecifiedinpixelsperfootormeteratanobject.Itisbasicallythehorizontalfield
ofview(HFOV)ofthecameradividedbythehorizontalnumberofpixels.Thisgivesthenumberofpixels
perfootthatcanbecorrelatedtoimagequality.Therestofthearticletakesonthisdefinition.

WideangleFieldofView
Anadvantageofmegapixelcamerasistheabilitytocoveramuchwiderareawiththesameorbetter
resolutioncomparedtoitsanalogcounterparts.Asavailablepixelsacrossthefieldofviewaregreater,
thefieldofviewcanbeincreasedwithoutdecreasingimageresolution.
Figure1comparesthefieldofviewofdifferentcamerasatadistanceof32feetfromthesubjectatthe
sameimageresolution.Asthecameraresolution(totalnumberofpixels)increases,sodoesthefieldof
view(pixelsperfoot).Clearly,thehigherthenumberofpixels,thewiderthefieldofviewitacquiresata
constantimageresolution.
Theshorterthelensfocallength,thewiderthelensfieldofview.Withaviewgreaterthan90degrees,
mostwideanglelenseswillhavebarreldistortion(alsoknownasfisheyedistortion)whereimagelook
curvedandbulgedoutinthecenter.Rectilinearlenseskeeplinesthatappearstraightintherealworld
straightontheimagesensor.Thisincreasestheresolutionattheedges;lenseswithbarreldistortion
leadtocompressededgesandreducedresolution.
Withtypicaldistortedwideanglelenses,potentiallyvaluableinformationislost,andnosoftwarecan
reconstructthelostinformation.Anydewarpingwillcreateanimagethatlookslikethatfroma
rectilinearlensbutatlowerresolution.Witharectilinearlens,theimageisspreadoveragreater
numberofpixelsattheedges,increasingtheprobabilityofidentification.

ObjectsinaPlane
Witharectilinearlens,objectsinacommonplaneperpendiculartothecamerahavethesameimage
resolutionatthecenterandedge,eventhoughtheobjectsattheedgesarefartherawayfromthe
camera.Thisrectilinearitycreatesaneffectcalled3Dstretchingorleanover,inwhichobjectsatthe
edgesseemtobestretched(Figure2).Thewiderthefieldofview,themorenoticeabletheeffect.
InFigure3,thelengthoftheblackcarseemsflattened,butthewidthsofthetwocarsarethesame
becausetheyareinthesameplaneperpendiculartothecamera.This3Dstretchingeffectincreasesthe
resolution(pixelsperfoot)ofobjectsattheedge;forlenseswithbarreldistortion,objectsattheedge
willbecurvedandsmallerthanthoseinthecenter.

ObjectsinanARC
Witharectilinearlens,thecalculationofresolutionofobjectsinanarcwiththecameraatthecenteris
morecomplicated.Asanobjectmovesfromthecenteroftheimagetowardtheedgeinanarcwithout
changingthedistancetothecamera,theobjectwillincreaseinresolutionsignificantly.Figure4shows
theresolutionincreaseasobjectsmovearoundthearcatconstantdistancefromthecamera.The
personstanding11.5feetfromthecamerawillincreaseinwidthdueto3Dstretchingashemovesto
theedge;lenseswithbarreldistortionwillnotshowanincreaseinobjectwidth.

ResolutionCalculation
Givenalensandcamera,itispossibletocalculateimageresolution.Ifthefieldofviewisnotknown,it
canbecalculatedforarectilinearlensusingtheequationbelow.Ifthelenshasbarreldistortion,lookup
theHFOVinthespecificationsheet.

OncetheHFOViscalculatedandthecameraknown,imageresolutionissimplytheratioofthepixelsto
HFOV.

Thevariablesintheequationsdependonbothlensandcamerachoices.Differentcameraresolutions
havedifferentchipsizes,resultingindifferentfieldsofviewwiththesamelens.Thetablebelow
illustratesthedataforthemostcommonmegapixelcameras.

Therearemanydefinitionsofresolution,andthetwomostcommonlyusedinsecurityaretotalnumber
ofpixelsinacameraandthepixelsperfootinanimage.Asthetotalnumberofpixelsincreases,the
detailintheimageorthefieldofvieworbothcanbeincreased.