HIGH-DEFINITION MEMBRANE PROJECTION DISPLAY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I PROPOSAL IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW, LOW-COST, HIGH-RELIABILLTY, HIGH-DEFINITION COLOR PROJECTION DISPLAY SYSTEM THAT WILL BE IDEAL FOR APPLICATIONS IN FLIGHT SIMULATORS, C3I AND COCKPITS. THIS THREE-COLOR (RED, GREEN, BLUE) MEMBRANE PROJECTION DISPLAY (MPD) SYSTEM WILL HAVE A 75-MM DIAMETER ACTIVE AREA, 2,000 TELEVISION LINES, 60 HZ FRAMING RATE, AND PROJECTION INTO A 40 DEGREE FIELD OF VIEW WITH 1000 LUMENS AT THE SCREEN. THE MPDSYSTEM MAKES USE OF OPTRON'S PROPRIETARY HIGH-DENSITY MULTI-CONDUCTORCHARGE TRANSFER PLATE WHICH ENABLES AN ELECTRON-GUN-DEPOSITED CHARGE DISTRIBUTION TO ELECTROSTATICALLY DEFORM A HIGHLY REFLECTIVE METALLIZED MEMBRANE THAT IS STRETCHED OVER WELLS ETCHED INTO THE CHARGE-TRANSFER PLATE. SCHLIEREN FILTERING OF LIGHT REFLECTED FROM THE MEMBRANE YIELDS AN INTENSE, HIGH-CONTRAST-RATIO IMAGE THAT IS PROJECTED WITH AN ACHROMATIC IMAGING SYSTEM ONTO A HIGH-GAIN SCREEN. HIGH BRIGHTNESS AND MULTICOLOR IMAGE REGISTRATION ARE ACHIEVED BY USE OF THE ZERO-ORDER READOUT BEAMS. THE DEVICE OFFERS FLICKERLESS OPERATION BY VIRTUE OF THEFACT THAT OLD FRAMES ARE SIMPLY UPDATED ON A PIXEL BY PIXEL BASIS TO GENERATE THE NEW FRAMES, RATHER THAN BLANKING AND REWRITING ENTIRE FRAMES. THIS DISPLAY ALSO OFFERS THE POSSIBILITY OF MIXING DIFFERENT DISPLAY FORMATS (E.G., GRAPHICS, TEXT) ON THE SAME SCREEN, IN REAL-TIME. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - THIS SYSTEMWILL FIND A MULTITUDE OF APPLICATIONS IN THE PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT SECTORS, INCLUDING HIGH-DEFINITION PROJECTION TELEVISION, C3I DISPLAYS,FLIGHT SIMULATORS, HIGH-DENSITY HIGH-BRIGHTNESS COCKPIT DISPLAYS, ANDAIR-TRAFFIC-CONTROL WORKSTATION DISPLAYS.