REAL-TIME HOLOGRAPHIC DATA DISPLAY

KMS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A REAL-TIME DISPLAY OF PROJECTING A HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGE COMPUTED DIRECTLY FROM RANGE TRACKING DATA. DURING THE PHASE I EFFORT, KMS WILL RESEARCH AND EXAMINE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STATE-OF-THE-ART, PROVIDE A CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF A PROJECTED HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAY AND COMPARE IT TO EXISTING AUTO-STEROSCOPIC 3-D DISPLAY TECHNOLOGIES. REAL-TIME HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAYS HAVE LONG BEEN CONSIDERED IMPRACTICAL DUE TO THE EXTREMELY HIGH BANDWIDTH AND RESOLUTION REQUIREMENTS INVOLVED. THESE ARE BASED ON PAST ANALYSES OF CONVENTIONAL TRANSMISSION HOLOGRAMS, WHICH PROVIDE MUCH MORE INFORMATION THAN A HUMAN OBSERVER CAN USE. MORE RECENT STUDIES HAVE CONCLUDED THE INFORMATION CONTENT OF HOLOGRAMS CAN BE DRASTICALLY REDUCED WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT EFFECT UPON THE VISUAL IMPACT OF THE IMAGE. THE REQUIRED SPACE-BANDWIDTH PRODUCT CAN BE REDUCED TO THAT AVAILABLE WITH COMMERCIAL SPATIAL VIEWING SPACE. WITH THE ADVENT OF HIGH-SPEED PARALLEL ARCHITECTURE COMPUTERS, IT WILL SOON BE POSSIBLE TO UPDATE THE CONTENT OF SUCH HOLOGRAMS ON THE FLY, ESPECIALLY FOR DISPLAY OF PRECOMPUTED OBJECTS OR ICONS.