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abstract:In the first half of 2024, 33.38% of smart locks sold by traditional e-commerce companies had cat's eye technology. Night vision technology, specifically infrared and low-light, plays a key role in smart lock visualisation. The choice of night vision technology and fill light, along with other factors like image processing and algorithms, impact the quality of night imaging in smart locks.
In the first half of 2024, among a total of 1,917 models of smart locks sold by traditional e-commerce, 640 models were equipped with cat-eye models, accounting for 33.38%.
In the visualization process of smart locks, electronic peephole plays a key role, providing multiple functions such as monitoring, capturing, and video recording. The pixels and viewing angle width of the hardware are also constantly improving. In terms of use scenarios, the electronic cat eye should not only provide a clear view outside the door during the day, but also provide better imaging effects in no light or dark light conditions. This is the night vision technology of smart locks.
Night vision is an information collection, processing and display technology that uses equipment, optoelectronics and imaging technology to convert (or enhance) targets invisible to the naked eye into visible images in a dark night environment. Currently, smart locks equipped with electronic peepholes on the market usually have night vision functions.
In this issue, we will take stock of the night vision technology of smart locks.
Infrared Night Vision
Infrared night vision generally emits infrared light through infrared light-emitting diodes to illuminate the target, and captures the returned infrared light to form an image. This technology forms a picture through the principle of self-illumination, and infrared light is invisible light, so it has strong concealment. In addition, the images presented by infrared night vision are usually in black and white.
Because infrared technology is relatively mature and the hardware cost is lower than other night vision technologies, the application of infrared night vision is very popular in the industry. Both first- and second-tier brands and smaller brands have adopted this technical solution.
Using the smart lock video function in dark conditions, the fill light will emit weak red visible light. This is because the wavelength of part of the infrared light emitted by the door lock when filling the light is close to the red end of the visible spectrum of the human eye (usually around 850nm). ), so the human eye can see faint red light. This phenomenon is called "red exposure" and is determined by the wavelength emitted by the infrared LED. In order to improve concealment, some manufacturers use infrared fill lights with a wavelength of 940nm.
Low-light night vision
Low-light night vision uses an image intensifier to enhance natural light such as starlight, moonlight, and galaxy light at night, and convert the light pattern into an image visible to the human eye. Low-light night vision technology can be divided into two categories based on different core components. One is low-light night vision technology based on image intensifiers, and the other is low-light night vision technology based on low-illumination solid-state sensors. This technology has relatively high equipment requirements and high cost.
In image enhancement low-light night vision technology, the core component is the image intensifier, which is used to enhance the weak natural light at night. When the low light enters the instrument, it is converted into electronic signals through multiple components and is greatly enhanced to achieve the imaging effect.
Low-light night vision is a passive imaging technology that does not require additional light sources and does not rely on the temperature of the object being measured, so it is highly concealable and adaptable.
The principle of low-light night vision technology determines its high requirements for light. It is impossible to see the target clearly in the absence of light. Therefore, on smart locks, we often see low-light night vision will generally be used with infrared night vision technology combination.
With the maturity of night vision-related technologies and components, some well-known brands of door lock cat eyes can achieve full-color night vision at night.
Night vision artifact - fill light
If you want to see a clearer picture with the electronic peephole in the dark night, fill light is indispensable. At present, the more commonly used fill light technologies in smart locks include infrared fill light, white light fill light, etc.
Infrared fill light mainly uses LED infrared lights for fill light, and is usually used in combination with infrared night vision technology. In addition, each manufacturer will also adjust the number of fill lights according to needs. Common ones include dual infrared fill lights, four infrared fill lights, etc.
White light fill light is to use visible light to fill the light, so that the electronic cat eye can obtain colorful images at night. The light generally includes warm light, warm white light, cold light, etc. This technology requires high equipment, and the cost will be relatively high. In addition, this technology also needs to pay attention to the problem of light pollution, because from our usual observations, among the white light fill-in solutions of different brands of products, some white lights are more dazzling, while others are softer.
Conclusion
Because of the different components and principles used, even the same night vision technology will have significantly different imaging effects.
There are various combinations of night vision technologies and fill lights, such as the combination of low-light night vision + infrared night vision; the combination of infrared fill light and white light fill light, etc. This diversity has obviously promoted the development of night vision technology.
In addition to the choice of night vision technology and fill light factors, there are many factors that affect night imaging. Such as image processing, algorithms, etc., are all important factors.
Electronic peepholes are gradually becoming the standard feature of smart locks, and consumers’ requirements for electronic peephole monitoring, capturing, and video recording functions will also spread to night vision scenes. We hope that manufacturers, while improving the performance of electronic cat’s eye software and hardware, will also not forget to pay attention to night vision scenarios so that electronic cat’s eyes can truly be on duty 24 hours a day.