AR Display Optics for U.S. Soldier Vision Systems

Kopin Corporation, a provider of optical solutions and high-performance micro-displays for defense applications, is set to develop novel see-through Augmented Reality (AR) display optics for dismounted soldier vision system applications.

In receipt of a new contract from the U.S. Army, Kopin will develop novel AR optics to provide an improvement over prior system approaches. The company is set to deliver: 

• Increased optical performance
• Daylight readability
• Visual and ergonomic comfort
• Nighttime visibility 
• Reductions in weight, size, and power consumption

For over 25 years, the Army has been developing systems that provide increasingly higher amounts of data to dismounted soldiers during combat operations, in order to increase situational awareness and improve combat effectiveness. 

Kopin asserts that the data and video imagery supplied by previous solutions has been hampered by optical viewing approaches that create undesirable “side-effects.” This includes visual dissonance and cognitive disorder resulting from the ergonomics, human factors performance, and other technical shortcomings of these systems. Kopin aims to improve on these systems and advance optical capabilities. 

Bill Maffucci, Kopin’s Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, commented; “We believe successful execution of this new Army contract can fully enable the widespread implementation of new, user-centric dismounted soldier vision products that soldiers will adopt, and finally achieve the Army’s goal of fielding a fully digitized day and night soldier head-mounted visual information system.

“We are very pleased to be selected for this important development, and we believe Kopin’s unique ability to not only develop the necessary optics but also to create a specific microdisplay that is optimized for the application will allow us to succeed where others have been unable to address the Army’s needs fully.”

Find suppliers and manufacturers of Optical Components >>