Smart Focus
Features for P3
Smart Focus
Phase One’s Smart Focus is purpose built for the inspection of complex high volume industrial assets such as wind turbines or power towers.
The Smart Focus Features addresses key challenges where contrast based focus fails to deliver robust and consistent results. The superior performance is delivered by:
- Increasing focusing robustness in low contrast environments
- Increasing focusing consistency when complex assets with small surface area
All are based on the P3’s 100Mp medium format sensor, high quality AF lens range and the integrated laser based focusing system
Smart Focus Features for P3
Consistent and Robust Focus Point
What is Contrast
Contrast is the difference in luminance or colour that makes an object (or its representation in an image or display) distinguishable. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the colour and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view.
Challenge of Contrast within inspections
To ensure that the camera focus on the right object and have full control of the focus point in a low contrast environments
Left: Out of Focus – Low Contrast. Right: In Focus – High Contrast
Depth Of Field
What is Depth of Field
The depth of field (DoF) is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus in an image captured with a camera.
Challenge of DoF within inspections
The challenge for an inspection system is to capture the full Depth of Field (DoF) if this exceeds the DoF of a single image.
Advanced Focusing Feature: Focus Bracketing
Why use Focus Bracketing
- To get more effective flight time as the operator only position the UAV once per image sequence
- To increase consistency regardless of the skill level of the pilot. This makes it easier to scale the inspection operations
- To increase automatization as the need for a human in loop for quality assurance is reduced
When to use Focus Bracketing
- When you need to inspect many deep and complex assets with many details in areas that are remote or inaccessible making reflying very costly.
Focus Bracketing Modes
Behind Focus Point
The focus distance is changed after each trigger moving backwards (away from the UAV) as defined in the Bracketing settings.
Around Focus Point
This bracketing mode takes out in the focus point being in the middle of the object. The Images will be captured as in ‘Behind Focus Point’ by moving back relative to the UAV.
In Front of Focus Point
Here the focus starts from the back of and move forward towards the UAV as defined in the Bracketing Settings.
Advanced Focusing Feature: Focus Limit Control
Why use Advanced Focusing with Min / Max settings
- To reduce the chance of images being out of focus even in complex low contrast environments
- To facilitate enhanced mission automatization with mission planning software
- To make it easier for new pilots to capture high quality data
- To increase output consistency
- To reduce the chance of needing to refly mission – especially in inaccessible or remote locations
User can set the minimum and maximum range that the lens will focus on. The P3 enable three advanced focusing features:
Clip Distance: Focus distance following within min/max (default)
Gate Distance: Ignore large focus distance changes
Relative Distance: Ignore small focus distance changes within min/max
Contact a Phase One Expert
If you would like to learn more about our Smart Focus, our experts are eager to help! Contact us.