Near-eye display module solutions provide an immersive viewing experience

Review Display Systems offers the availability of a range of immersive near-eye display (NED) modules. A range of high-performance micro-OLED and micro-LCD displays providing ultra-high resolution, high brightness, high contrast, and low power consumption are obtainable in NED module solutions.

Near-eye display solutions are increasingly employed in various industrial display systems, such as inspection equipment, remote control systems, microscopes, electronic viewfinders, thermal imaging, medical diagnostic equipment and defence systems.

The current line-up of NED modules available supports a range of micro-OLED and micro-LCD displays from 0.32" to 1.35" diagonal screen size, with pixel resolutions ranging from 800 x 600 pixels up to 3552 x 3552 pixels and brightness specifications from 1800cd/m² up to 20,000cd/m². MIPI and RGB interfaces feature throughout.

The NED module solutions provide three different optical module types, including Birdbath, Pancake and Waveguide designs, which support different applications and usage. These modules differ in how they project the image from the display source to the user's eye.

Birdbath optics consist of a curved mirror reflecting the display's light into the user's line of sight. This solution has the advantage of being low-cost and lightweight. Although these optics are not the thinnest technology, they have exceptional display performance and support dioptre adjustment.

Pancake optics employs a flat mirror to fold the light path from the display to the user's view, producing a thin and compact design. These optics use very high resolution and bright displays, which can increase cost and power consumption.

Waveguide optics utilises a thin transparent light guide to transmit light from the display to the user's eye via internal reflection. Although complex, these optics can attain a very slim and lightweight design.

Justin Coleman, displays division manager, said, "Although the consumer market for virtual and augmented reality is one of the fastest growing market segments for near-eye displays, the continued design and development of near-eye display technology is finding many new and potential industrial applications. Near-eye display systems offer several key advantages over traditional full-size displays, including extremely compact size, high portability and very low power consumption."

These optics, also often used in wearable equipment, produce a high-resolution, large field-of-view display image for one or both eyes. Near-eye applications allow the human eye to perceive a virtual display image that appears considerably larger, at a greater distance, and in a highly compact physical environment.