Participants: Zhao Dong, A. Alkan Gulses, B. Keith Jenkins
Displaying multiple planes in depth has application for information display in many realms, including vehicles, wearable displays, and smartphones.
We have performed a preliminary investigation of using an optical system with 2 planar optical elements, to generate 2 or more image planes in space at different distances from the observer. The planar elements can be time-varying modulator arrays.
A modified, simpler algorithm for calculating the states of the planar optical elements, has enabled much faster computation. While the computation is not yet real time, the use of more efficient coding language and parallel implementation could make it real-time feasible.
We have investigated two application realms. First, a head-up display for the automobile environment has been considered. With appropriate optical system design, it looks to be feasible with further research and development effort, either using an optical combiner or the windshield as the combining element. The figure above shows an example.
We have also investigated application to the realm of eyeglass-mounted displays. The optical system in this case is different than the vehicular case because of the near-eyes location. This application also looks to be feasible with further research and development effort, if also combined with head orientation information (e.g., from head tracking).