Dynamic Foveal Vision Display

Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) currently lag behind both sensors and information systems in their limited ability to provide the warfighter information. Current sensors at greater than mega-pixle levels are common, and display systems typically operate in excess of several megapixels. Microdisplays, on the other hand, are still limited to less than a megapixel in most cases. The ability to provide warfighters more digital information will move the efforts to integrate the dismounted marine or rifleman into the digital battle space forward. The drive to increase the warfighter’s situational awareness is a key factor in increasing that warfighter’s combat multiplier by enabling greater mobility, lethality, and survivability. Trex Enterprises has devised a novel approach to providing a high resolution, narrow field of view foveal region coupled with a lower resolution wide field of view peripheral display. The approach outlined has numerous advantages over conventional approaches, including zero moving parts and the ability to provide the full desired capability using commercially available microdisplays of nominal resolution (800x600 pixels). The use of existing microdisplays has numerous benefits, including reduced cost as well as reduced required bandwidth and power (versus larger, custom displays).