SGER: Decision-Based Engineering Design for a Low Vision Aid Using the Virtual Retinal Display

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This project will develop engineering designs for an appliance that will help people with certain types of low, or impaired, vision to see. The designs will be based on the principle that engineering design is a decision-making process, not merely a problem-solving one. Thus, as an aid for the decision maker, a model will be built that defines concepts such as value, attributes, demand, time, price, and other factors, and utilizes a rational for optimization. The project will have two main parts: (1) the development of the decision-making model and its application to the design of the Low-Vision Aid (LVA) and (2) the development of LVA demonstrations that will illustrate the feasibility and importance of such a product for people with low vision. Vision enhancement will be achieved by exploiting the unique attributes of the Virtual Retinal Display (VRD), a means of safely scanning image data directly onto the retina without intermediate image formation surfaces. The VRD projects an image on the retina that is very bright, has high contrast, has highly saturated colors, and is projected into the eye via a very small exit pupil. If successful, this research will lead to the development of easy-to-use vision enhancement aids, devices that will enable the visually impaired to read printed material (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), to watch TV, to interact with a computer monitor, and to navigate in the physical world. The impairments that this instrument will help overcome include corneal scars, keratoconus, presbyopia, and cataracts. The optical characteristics of the VRD may also prove to be an aid for macular degeneration and amblyopia. The development of engineering designs is the first step in the process of making the LVA available to people subject to these diseases. The project will also provide an example application of decision-based engineering design.