Adjustable collimation for Head-Mounted Displays

In this Phase I SBIR we will develop a methodology for adjusting the collimation distance and convergence of a head mounted display system which will result in a significant enhancement of the effectiveness of the stereoscopic imagery to the user. Current HMD technology allows only for a focus adjustment, and even this is user preference based. The new technology will allow for a given scene content to be presented to the user at the correct perceived object distance as well as the correct convergence to match the object distance. The problem is not a trivial one due to the intensely difficult size and weight constraints in an HMD. We have developed several unique approaches to solve this task which have the potential of being relatively simple to implement, light in weight, low in cost, and high in performance. As part of this SBIR we propose to build up a demonstration testbed based on our own HMD whereby we will be able to demonstrate the full range of collimation adjustment to simulate varying virtual object distances as well as convergence adjustment.