SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Accommodation depth cues (i.e., focus) are currently not replicated in Head Mounted/Wearable Displays (HWDs). Instead, the eye is forced to focus on a fixed image plane regardless of the object location. This limitation reduces immersion and adds to Virtual Reality (VR) sickness (eye strain, dizziness, etc.). The inclusion of an adaptive lens in a HWD system could stimulate a natural accommodative response in the eye, causing the user to dynamically focus on the image plane corresponding to the target object in the VR environment. Holochip will develop a Variable Accommodation HWD (VAHWD) that will provide accurate accommodation and vergence visual cues. The proposed technology incorporates variable accommodation into HWD to eliminate the conflicting cues and decrease fusion time of binocular imagery and fusion accuracy. The VAHWD will leverage the Variable Collimation Display (VCD) technology developed under the current NAVAIR SBIR topic N121-041 Phase II program. Specifically, the VCD's variable Adaptive Lens (VAL) technology, control electronics and software will be adapted to fit in a thin, wide field-of-view format conformal with the shape of current HWDs. The VAL will be integrated in a HWD in order to stimulate accommodation-vergence response in the user, thus improving an enhanced immersive experience.
