TIPD LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF182-007

Description

Today’s modern command and control centers are critical to the operation of the USAF and the successful implementation of US military doctrine. The control center is staffed by dedicated warfighters who are responsible for critical support operations including: mission planning, airspace management, combat assessment, integrated air and missile defense planning, and satellite orbit analysis. These tasks all require visualization of complex data relative to geography and space situational awareness. Currently available 3D displays cannot provide the level of detail and comfort needed because the displays contain unacceptable visual artifacts, do not provide full parallax, and require special headgear. The Phase I program will demonstrate a massively parallel computation and display engine capable of directly “writing� the fringes. The system employs acousto-optic modulators for horizontal deflection and electro-optic phased array to generate the vertical deflection. This technique generates true full parallax holographic images and provides the operator with a full set of visual clues. The system is based on COTS components and easy to fabricate lithium niobate materials allowing the system to be optimized for SWaPC requirements. This novel approach can be scaled to larger video-rate displays, with higher angular resolution based upon the roadmaps of the underlying components.