Holography as a consumer display solution

The outcomes of this project have led to development of new strategies enabling significant increases in material deposition rate in a scanning regime, and methods of implementation have been proposed. Feasibility studies on disruptive technologies have also been performed, which will form the basis of further research by subsequent students.

Introduction

Current automotive Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) are able to deliver useful information to the driver without them shifting focus from the road. However they only provide limited data, over a small field of view, and at a fixed distance from the car.

The next generation of HUDs will be capable of 3D image display, and feature a wide field of view. Such a display would allow information relevant at different depths to be accessed intuitively, as well as enabling safety features, such as hazard highlighting and breaking distance indicators. A wide field of view would allow interactive notifications to be displayed in the driver’s periphery, such as parking space availability, or nearby petrol stations. Care will need to be taken that the display never distracts from the driving.

Proposal

This project is investigating the technologies required for a 3D wide field of view HUD. A full colour, high definition display, covering the full windscreen, compatible with polarised sunglasses, and capable of 10 m image depth without causing eyestrain or nausea is currently being targeted.

Approaches

To increase the field of view, a multiple projector approach is being investigated, tiling multiple images to form a seamless display. Dynamic holographic lenses with coherent projection are being trialled to enhance the perception of depth.

A multi-image plane projection approach is also under development as a compact and simple 3D image technology, however current implementations have limited field of view.

Other technologies such as waveguide coupled light field display are also being modelled, which don’t require image projection, as so may be suitable for constrained displays such as car side windows.