OCULAR VERGENCE AND ACCOMMODATION (OVA) SENSOR FOR HELMET-MOUNTED DISPLAYS (HMD)

APPLIED MODERN TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION (AMTECH) HAS DEVELOPED A METHOD BY WHICH THE EYES OF PERSON USING A HMD CAN BE TRACKED IN ANGULAR DISPLACEMENT AND CHARACTERIZED AS TO THE VISUAL ACCOMMODATION WITH A SINGLE OPTICAL SYSTEM (FOR EACH EYE). AMTECH PROPOSES HEREIN TO BUILD A BREADBOARD, HELMET-MOUNTED OPTOMETER FOR LABORATORY PROOF-OF-CONCEPT DEMONSTRATION. THE DEMONSTRATION SYSTEM WILL BE CONFIGURED USING OFF-THE-SHELF COMPONENTS TO MINIMIZE THE RISK DUE TO HARDWARE. MOIRE DEFLECTOMETRY WILL BE USED AS THE MEASUREMENT PHENOMENOLOGY FOR BOTH MEASUREMENTS. THE INHERENT PROPERTIES OF THIS TECHNOLOGY AS DEVELOPED BY AMTECH PROVIDES BOTH OCULAR FOCAL RANGE AND OCULAR ANGULAR POSITION (I.E., VERGENCE). THE SYSTEM CONSTRUCTION IS AS SIMPLE AS A NEAR IR DIODE LASER, COLLIMATOR, IR BEAM SPLITTER, IR/VISIBLE SPECTRAL COMBINER AND A VIDEO CAMERA. THOUGH IN TYPICAL MOIRE METROLOGY THE PROCESSING OF THE MOIRE PATTERN CAN BE QUITE COMPLEX, IN THE OVA SENSOR SYSTEM EVEN THIS TASK IS MINIMIZED. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES MOIRE DEFLECTOMETRY AND DERIVES THE SIMPLE METHODOLOGY BY WHICH THE MEASUREMENTS ARE MADE. A 6 MONTH SCHEDULE IS PROPOSED WITH INTENTION TO LEAD TO A PHASE II STAGE. AMTECH ALSO PROPOSES POTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER APPLICATIONS FOR THE OVA SENSOR.