Wide FOV Processor Integrated Conformal Holographic Tiling Helmet-Mounted Display

To address the DARPA need for a panoramic, wide field-of-view (FOV), ergonomic helmet-mounted display system with associated electronics and software, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to advance development of the Wide FOV Processor Integrated Conformal Holographic Tiling Helmet-Mounted Display (WiPICHT-HMD) technology. This proposed system is based on optically tiled microdisplays with conformal multiplexed holographic waveguide optics and covert coating. The innovations in WiPICHT-HMD include seamless holographic tiling of high-resolution microdisplays, sensor imagery processed by a parallel compressive sampling architecture, and fusion with optimized tactical symbology within a binocular overlap. The compact, ergonomic, low-weight (<150 g display), and low-profile (<30 mm) WiPICHT-HMD can be integrated with a clip-on military helmet-compatible mounts. In Phase I, POC successfully demonstrated the feasibility of WiPICHT-HMD by demonstrating a covert holographic waveguide projection and optical tiling of two OLED microdisplays (60Hz, 8-bit/pixel) to produce a single-color see-through HMD at 1600x600 pixels resolution over a 70deg diagonal FOV for the central and periphery regions. In Phase II, POC plans to develop a scaled-up high-resolution (3840x2048 pixels, 24-bit-color) WiPICHT-HMD clip-on prototype with 90-120deg x 40-50deg FOV that approaches 20:20 visual acuity in the central region and meets the space weight ergonomic and power requirements for current helmets.