Brent D. Larson

A new color display for head‐mounted use

— A miniature color-display technology has been developed for airborne head-mounted applications. A stack containing three AMLCDs, operating in a subtractive-color mode, is used to obtain 400 × 300 full-color pixels in a 3.3 × 2.5-cm (1.3 × 1.0-in.) active area, yielding a resolution of 118 pixels/cm (300 pixels/in.). Display luminance and contrast are sufficient to produce a 2:1 contrast ratio under worst-case airborne viewing conditions, using typical head-mounted-display optics. Considerations that led to the selection of this technology for development, specifications, design issues, results, and future plans are discussed.

On-demand stereoscopic 3D displays for avionic and military applications

High speed AM LCD flat panels are evaluated for use in Field Sequential Stereoscopic (FSS) 3D displays for military and avionic applications. A 120 Hz AM LCD is used in field-sequential mode for constructing eyewear-based as well as autostereoscopic 3D display demonstrators for test and evaluation. The COTS eyewear-based system uses shutter glasses to control left-eye/right-eye images. The autostereoscopic system uses a custom backlight to generate illuminating pupils for left and right eyes. It is driven in synchronization with the images on the LCD. Both displays provide 3D effect in full-color and full-resolution in the AM LCD flat panel. We have realized luminance greater than 200 fL in 3D mode with the autostereoscopic system for sunlight readability. The characterization results and performance attributes of both systems are described.

Image noise in high-resolution rear-projection screens

The quality, brightness and contrast of the image formed by a rear projection microdisplay system are strongly affected by the choice of the projection screen. Careful screen selection is necessary to achieve optimal performance for a given application. Critical image quality data such as resolution, image noise, diffuse reflectance, and gain have been measured for a representative group of commercially available screens. The correlation between screen efficiency and image noise is discussed, with particular relevance for close-viewing rear projection display applications. The nature of the image noise is probed and is found to vary with the screen type.