Microvision, Inc, developer of the Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) technology has received funding for a second Phase I contract from the Defence Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA). Microvision will design a revolutionary " Autoscope" which allows multiple viewers to see a stereoscopic, 3-D virtual image without the need for a head-worn device or special viewing aids. Microvision will construct a proof-of-concept demonstrator, with the possibility of a second phase contract for further product development.
Work performed during Phase I will include the design of an Autoscope to meet the military's needs in various command-and-control applications. Additionally, the design has the potential to directly support an existing need in the medical community for high-performance, high-resolution, 3-D, off-the-head displays to service the growing requirements associated with minimally invasive and microsurgical procedures.
"As we continue to develop head-worn applications for the VRD technology, we also see the need for high-fidelity binocular 3-D displays that require no viewing aids, unlike head-worn displays," said Dr. Thomas Lippert, Microvision Principal Scientist and Principal Investigator for the Autoscope Project.
The highly complex nature of existing auto-stereoscopic display systems limits their success in applications where video image quality is of prime importance. For example, holograms are current forms of auto-stereoscopic displays which remain optically complex, expensive, static, and incompatible with electronic image sourcing in general. Other approaches suffer from optical complexity, difficult maintenance of multiple image alignment, and generally low image quality.
The company believes its Autoscope is the best approach to the development of an auto-stereoscopic display because it combines optical simplicity with the VRD technology's inherent benefits. The VRD technology features unmatched brightness and colour gamut, high contrast and colour resolution, and high bandwith analogue line scanning for the greatest stereo image fidelity as well as pixilated video signal compatibility. The objective is to provide displays that exploit human visual capabilities, while paying special attention to use
