Development and Assessment of an Ultra-Bright Polarized Head-Mounted Projective Display

混合现实和增强现实（MR-AR）技术通过选择性地用计算机生成的对象增强物理环境或反之亦然来扩展虚拟现实（VR）范例，从而在探索广泛的应用方面产生了巨大的兴趣，例如科学可视化、医疗诊断和手术规划以及培训和教育。 然而，许多现有3D显示系统常见的图像亮度的缺乏对工作环境的照明条件施加了显著的限制，迫使用户关闭或调暗用于大多数MR-AR演示的房间照明，并且消除了其中不能避免良好照明环境的应用场景（例如，室外环境和外科手术室）。 在这个项目中，PI将寻求通过开发一个原型超亮头戴式偏振投影显示器来缓解这个问题，其中光学设计的进步加上对通过光学系统的光的偏振状态的仔细操纵，导致观察到的图像理论上比现有设计中可能实现的亮度高出4倍。 由于衡量显示技术的标准是提供符合预测模型的场景的定量和定性视觉表示，因此PI将进一步设计校准新显示器参数的方法，并评估主观和客观图像质量以及深度/尺寸表示的准确性。这项研究将产生更好的显示器，适用于要求苛刻的MR-AR应用，其中需要明亮和高对比度的虚拟图像，并且只能接受真实世界视图的最小干扰。 这反过来将刺激MR-AR解决方案在照明领域的发展，到目前为止，照明一直是一个不可逾越的挑战。

Mixed- and augmented-reality (MR-AR) techniques extend the virtual reality (VR) paradigm by selectively augmenting the physical environment with computer-generated objects or vice versa, and consequently create tremendous interest in exploring a wide range of applications such as scientific visualization, medical diagnosis and surgery planning, and training and education. However, lack of image brightness common to many existing 3D display systems imposes significant restrictions on the lighting conditions of the working environment, forcing users to turn off or dim room lighting for most MR-AR demonstrations, and eliminating application scenarios where well-illuminated environments cannot be avoided (e.g., outdoor environments and surgical operating rooms). In this project the PI will seek to alleviate this problem by developing a prototype ultra-bright head-mounted polarized projective display, in which advances in optical design coupled with careful manipulation of the polarization state of the light passing through the optical system results in an observed image that is theoretically up to 4 times brighter than is possible to achieve in existing designs. Because the measure of display technology is that it provide quantitative and qualitative visual representations of scenes that conform to a predictive model, the PI will further devise methods for calibrating the new display's parameters, and evaluate both subjective and objective image qualities as well as the accuracy of depth/size representation.Broader Impacts: This research will result in better displays suitable for demanding MR-AR applications where bright and high-contrast virtual images are required and only minimal intrusion by real-world views is acceptable. This in turn will spur development of MR-AR solutions in domains for which illumination has until now been an insurmountable challenge.