PixelCam and HoloCam: Automated Quality Control for High Volume Holographic Optical Element Manufacture. Enabling the Next Generation of Automotive Head-up Displays.

汽车制造商对平视显示器（HUD）技术非常感兴趣，他们正在寻找经济高效的解决方案，使驾驶员和乘客能够在不分散注意力的情况下查看关键信息（速度、方向和危险识别）。这种方法对司机很有吸引力，并带来了诸多好处，包括提高安全性、提高车辆实用性和增强自动驾驶汽车的功能，作为移动即服务（mobility -as-a- service）等新型移动业务模式的一部分。安全是hud的一个关键优势，80%的交通事故是由驾驶员分心造成的。大陆集团（Continental）和苹果（Apple）等公司认为，视距显示器和hud对于保持驾驶员的参与度和信心至关重要。他们支持自动驾驶汽车的引入，并为司机和乘客提供新的用户体验。因此，主要的原始设备制造商正在寻求低成本的显示技术，通过紧凑的外形提供超前视角和增强现实体验。由于一些技术问题，竞争激烈的HUD技术无法满足这一需求。这些问题包括在宽视角下图像质量不一致，无法适应不同的挡风玻璃几何形状，以及体积庞大的投影单元。这导致了昂贵的、劣质的HUD系统，不适合大众市场的应用。Ceres在全息技术方面处于世界领先地位，并开发了解决这些问题和大规模生产的技术。我们使用先进的光聚合物薄膜生产低成本，多功能全息光学元件（HOEs）。这些可以很容易地层压到挡风玻璃上，并与可靠供应商的“久经考验”的紧凑型投影单元相结合，为大众市场应用生产全彩、宽视场（高达20°x8°）的HUD。Ceres还与主要的行业利益相关者建立了牢固的关系，包括汽车oem和挡风玻璃中间层公司。然而，我们目前的手工HOE测试过程是劳动密集型和不切实际的。为了满足这一市场机会，该项目将开发质量控制系统，可以快速分析每个HOE生产，而不会影响大批量生产能力。这些系统必须分析主模板（由Ceres数字打印）和每个挡风玻璃的副本。这在技术上要求很高，也是这个项目的主要焦点。一旦这项工作完成，我们激动人心的机会将完全打开。总而言之，该项目将使Ceres在2028年之前实现汽车市场的重大销售。在多个收入流中，我们预计我们的技术将在更广泛的供应链中释放超过20亿英镑的额外收入，提供安全效益，支持英国出口并创造新的技术工作机会。

Car manufacturers are very excited about Head-up Display (HUD) technology and are searching for cost-effective solutions that enable drivers and passengers to view critical information (speed, directions and hazard identification) without causing distractions. This approach is attractive to drivers and delivers benefits which include improved safety, greater vehicle utility and enhanced functionality for self-driving vehicles as part of new mobility business models, such as Mobility-as-a-Service.Safety is a key benefit of HUDs, with driver distraction a contributing factor in 80% of all traffic accidents. Organisations such as Continental and Apple see line-of-sight displays and HUDs as crucial to maintaining driver engagement and confidence. They support the introduction of self-driving cars and enable new user experiences for both drivers and passengers.Major OEMs are therefore seeking low-cost display technology that delivers a view-ahead and AR experience using a compact form factor. Competitive HUD technologies cannot meet this need due to several technical problems. These include inconsistent image quality across a wide viewing angle, inability to accommodate different windscreen geometries, and bulky projection units. This results in costly, inferior HUD systems which are unsuitable for mass-market applications.Ceres are a world leader in holography and have developed the technology to solve these problems and manufacture at scale. We use an advanced photopolymer film to produce low cost, versatile holographic optical elements (HOEs). These can be easily laminated into windscreens and coupled to 'tried and tested' compact projection units from trusted suppliers to produce a full colour, wide Field-of-view (up to 20°x8°) HUD for mass-market applications. Ceres also have strong relationships with key industry stakeholders, including automotive OEMs and windscreen interlayer companies. However, our current manual HOE test process is labour-intensive and impractical. To meet this market opportunity, this project will develop quality control systems which can analyse every HOE produced quickly, without compromising high-volume manufacturing capacity. These systems must analyse both master templates (digitally printed by Ceres) and the replicas for each windscreen. This is technically demanding and the primary focus of this project. Once this work is complete, our exciting opportunity will be fully unlocked.In summary, this project will enable Ceres to achieve significant sales into automotive markets by 2028\. Across multiple revenue streams, we anticipate that our technology will unlock over £2bn of additional revenue across the wider supply chain, deliver safety benefits, support UK exports and create new skilled job opportunities.