A PRECISE REAL-TIME SYSTEM TO MEASURE EYE POSITION

THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND TEST THE PROTOTYPE OF A NEW INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL, AND TORSIONAL EYE POSITIONS NONINVASIVELY, UNOBTRUSIVELY, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY. TESTING WILL BE DONE BY MEASURING A SIMULATED EYE AND BY COMPARING MEASUREMENTS ON HUMANS WITH THOSE MADE BY OTHER INSTRUMENTS. THE PROTOTYPE WILL HAVE A DIRECTIONAL RESOLUTION OF BETTER THAN 2 ARC MINUTES OVER +45 DEGREES, AN ACCURACY OF BETTER THAN 10 ARC MINUTES OVER +20 DEGREES. EACH MEASURED VARIABLE WILL BE SAMPLED AT LEAST 500 TIMES PER SECOND, AND THE MEASUREMENTS WILL NOT BE SENSITIVE TO AMBIENT ILLUMINATION, ACCOMMODATION, PUPIL SIZE, OR HEAD MOVEMENTS OF UP TO +1 CM (+0.5 CM IN DEPTH). THE INSTRUMENT WILL HAVEADVANTAGES OVER INSTRUMENTS COSTING ABOUT 10 TIMES AS MUCH. APPLICATIONS APPEAR IN DIVERSE AREAS SUCH AS ASSESSMENT OF VISUAL FUNCTIONING, PARTICULARLY IN NONVERBAL OR NONCOOPERATIVE INDIVIDUALS; DRIVING DISPLAYS FOR PILOTS IN AEROSPACE ENVIRONMENTS; PHARMACOLOGICAL TESTING; ENABLING TOTALLY HANDICAPPED PERSONS TO COMMUNICATE; READING ANALYSIS; AND EVALUATION OF ADVERTISING MATERIAL. ANALYSIS OF MEASURED EYE MOVEMENTS IS A PRINCIPAL TOOL FOR EVALUATINGTHE SENSORY, PERCEPTUAL, AND COGNITIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN INFANTS.