Low-cost Smear Reduction for Digital Displays

Motion blur or smear can limit the performance of digital display systems. Smear comes from two main display attributes – their non-zero response time and their finite hold time. The first effect causes the image from one frame to persist into the subsequent frame, while the second effect ensures that the image generated at the beginning of a frame of video is present up to the very end of that frame, regardless of the speed of response of the device. The human visual system interprets this persistence with moving imagery as smear. Because of the much smaller market represented by head mounted displays, little effort has been devoted to reducing smear in microdisplays. A simulator HMD with noticeable smear will cause negative training and will not allow pilots to use their sensors and displays as effectively as they could. In a fighter cockpit, smear will be the limiting device in a multimillion dollar sensor suite. For our Phase II effort we will concentrate on improving hold-time smear for OLED displays that are critical to a USAF digital night vision HMD being developed by SA Photonics as well as multiple HMDs for training and simulation. BENEFIT: The benefits of this Phase II effort will be a reduced smear OLED display for use in multiple military and commercial applications. Reducing smear in an OLED display will improve sensor imagery thereby ensuring that the microdisplay does not limit the performance of an expensive sensor system. In addition, reduced smearing in a simulation and training display will reduce negative training that accompanies reduced head motion in the presence of too much smear.