Camera Coverage Area Calculator
Calculate the coverage area, width, and height of a security or surveillance camera based on its field of view (FOV) angle and maximum viewing distance.
Results will appear here.
Formulas Used
Coverage Width at distance D:
W = 2 × D × tan(FOV_H / 2)
Coverage Height at distance D:
H = 2 × D × tan(FOV_V / 2)
Sector (Fan-Shaped) Coverage Area:
A_sector = 0.5 × D² × FOV_H (radians)
This treats the camera's horizontal sweep as a circular sector.
Rectangular Coverage Area:
A_rect = W × D = 2 × D² × tan(FOV_H / 2)
This is a conservative bounding-box approximation.
Ground Coverage with Tilt (when mount height H_m and tilt angle θ are given):
d_near = H_m / tan(θ + FOV_V/2)
d_far = H_m / tan(θ − FOV_V/2)
A_ground = 0.5 × (W_near + W_far) × (d_far − d_near) (trapezoid)
Assumptions & References
- The camera is assumed to be a pinhole/perspective model with uniform FOV.
- The sector area formula assumes the camera sweeps a flat horizontal plane at the given distance.
- The rectangular area is a bounding-box estimate and will always be larger than the sector area.
- Ground coverage tilt analysis assumes a flat, level ground surface directly below the camera.
- Typical security cameras have horizontal FOV of 60°–120° and vertical FOV of 30°–70°.
- For fisheye lenses (FOV > 120°), actual coverage may differ due to lens distortion not modeled here.
- Reference: IPVM Camera Calculator methodology; Bosch Security Systems FOV documentation.
- 1 m² = 10.7639 ft² (conversion used for imperial output).