Head Worn Display (HWD) Augmented Reality for Military Training Applications Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2012.1 Topic No.: N121-085 Topic Title: Head Worn Display (HWD) Augmented Reality for Military Training Applications Proposal No.: N121-085-0831 Firm: SBG Labs Inc. 1288 Hammerwood Avenue Sunnyvale, California 94089 Contact: Jonathan Waldern Phone: (650) 793-2695 Web Site: www.sbglabs.com Abstract: The ideal augmented-reality (AR) head-worn display (HWD) for training purposes would be one that offers a panoramic see-through of the surrounding environment overlaid with high-resolution color imagery. Such a system should also be unobtrusive; that is, compact, light-weight, and comfortable, where comfort comes from having a generous exit pupil, liberal eye relief, ergonomic center of mass, and focus at infinity. Conventional refractive optics cannot satisfy this suite of demanding requirements. Even after years of highly competitive development, head-mounted and head-worn displays exhibit limited field of view and are anything but compact, light-weight, and comfortable. SGB Labs has developed a game-changing solution to this challenging problem and has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of developing a full-color, wide-field-of-view, see-through display with an angular resolution exceeding the visual acuity limit of the human eye. The goal of the proposed project is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of designing an affordable, rugged, head-worn display (HWD) ideally suited for Navy AR applications, such as training forward observers. More specifically, in Phase I we hope to demonstrate that our technical solution is compatible with standard issue helmets. If successful, the Phase-I option will seek to further increase field of view and reduce power requirements. Benefits: An augmented-reality (AR) display must satisfy a suite of very challenging requirements; including wide field of view (FOV), high resolution, full color, good luminance, superior durability, and minimal power consumption. To date, no light weight, low-cost, head-worn display (HWD) has been able to satisfy these critical requirements, the most important ones being FOV, brightness and power. SBG Labs' technology enables the first HWD with the ability to meet all of the above requirements. The benefit to the trainee will be vastly improved situational realism, comfort, and ease of use. A wide-FOV AR HWD is a dual-use product. SBG Labs hopes to leverage the proposed development into HWDs for the consumer market. The channel to market will be the same as SBG Labs' other products: major Tier-1 consumer electronics companies. In the short term, since military devices will support a higher price point than commercial ones and entail lower production volumes, having the DoD as a first customer will enable SBG Labs to gradually ramp up its manufacturing infrastructure and engineer out the cost. In the long term, commercial demand will far outstrip defense demand, eventually driving down cost to the DoD and spurring further technical development. Return