Mark Peterson

Mark Peterson
Co-founder and VP Advanced Technology, Theia Technologies
mpeterson@theiatech.com  503-570-3296

Mark Peterson is a co-founder and Vice President of Advanced Technology of Theia Technologies. He enjoys investigating new technologies that can improve and advance Theia's line of products and solutions, allowing Theia to be a leader in optics and imaging. Mark believes that understanding a broad range of technologies and bringing together ideas from different areas is fundamental to building exciting new products that allow our customers to accomplish their goals.

Mark worked to develop an innovative, award-winning family of motorized lenses and accessories. Among these are individually calibrated lenses which provide lens-specific optical performance data to increase the speed of achieving a sharp image, enhance image processing, and improve image quality. The calibrated lenses with motorized zoom and focus simplify camera setup in applications that have variable camera positions and object distances, enhancing resolution in dynamic environments and applications such as ANPR/LPR. Mark coded the software and user interface that calculates the motorized lens parameters based on user input of object distance, field of view, or focal length.  

Mark led development of Theia’s MCR IQ™ motor control board; a motorized lens accessory which comes with hardware and software to remotely control zoom, focus, iris, and internal day/night filters. This innovative product improves efficiency in camera setup and integration in dynamic environments where field lens adjustment and maintentance are costly or difficult.

Mark has over 40 patents and has contributed to conferences in imaging and optics and published white papers on optics and lens technologies. Mark earned a Bachelor of Science degree (in Physics) and a Master of Science degree (in Electrical Engineering) from the University of Wisconsin and has been working in the optics industry for over 25 years. Mark is part of the European Machine Vision Association Standards Committee for Optics and the Open Optics Camera Interface working group (a standards development working group under the EMVA).  

In his time outside the office Mark is leader of a pack of four malamutes and puts in lots of miles on his road bike. Mark and his wife, Lynn, are trying to minimize their environmental footprint and recently built a small home on their property in Lake Oswego, Oregon.