Leti's Head-up Projection Display: enabling Augmented Reality on Transparent Surfaces in a Bright environment
What is hololike ?
How do you display an image on a transparent surface, such as a car windshield? That is what this demonstrator is about! A floating image is projected on a transparent screen – an impossible task without a unique micro- structuration surface. This structuration, manufactured by a European Industrial partner, uses a patented Leti knowledge based on retro-reflective properties. It allows the concentration of the optical beam that helps build a bright holographic-like aerial
superimposed image in broad daylight.
A specific design is being developed for automotive applications. Our technology adapts to the windshield’s inclined surface to offer the best compromise between the image brightness seen on the car windshield by the driver and the integration of the optical system inside the vehicle.
This technology will enable a wide range of applications
requiring superimposed information – images, videos
etc. – on a transparent screen in a bright environment:
- Cars, tractors, airplanes, boats, motorcycles, etc.
- Shop windows for advertising purposes
- Museum displays, etc.
- And many more to be developed
What's new?
Leti’s head-up projection display smartly leverages the well-known optical property of a retro-reflective structure: light is reflected back to the source no matter where it comes from. It also mixes both retro-reflective and transparent
properties of the surface within the projection display.
To address various ergonomic issues (e.g. head-up projection display vs. user location), current research is investigating ways to introduce a calibrated diffusion function in the retro-reflective signal, which would leading to a large panel of device configurations.
Leti’s head-up projection display opens the way to large field-of-view augmented reality applications because:
- It doesn’t require any optics between the image and the eye to allow accommodation and
- Light coming from the image is concentrated in a specific location – in the vicinity of the projector – where the viewer can experience bright viewing conditions.
What's next? Leti is co-developing this technology with industrials in many commercial fields (defense, automotive, agriculture, etc.) to sharpen it and enable costeffective applications.