WIDE ANGLE IMMERSIVE DISPLAY SYSTEM
A wide angle display system, comprising a scanner having at least one reflective surface and an axis of rotation, a dome having a reflective inner surface, the inner surface having an axis of revolution which is coincident with the axis of rotation of the scanner, at least one linear arrangement of light sources producing beams of light. The reflective surface of the scanner reflects the beams of light towards the reflective inner surface of the dome which in turn collimates the beams of light and reflects them towards an observer positioned within the wide angle display system.
The present invention relates to display systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wide angle immersive display system for simulators, for example flight simulators.
BACKGROUNDA simulator is a system that attempts to replicate, or simulate, a given experience by performing operations as realistically and as close as possible to the real experience for training, investigation or development purposes. A well known type of simulator is the flight simulator, which is used to train pilots. The majority of simulators require high performance display systems in order to emulate the visual environment in as realistic a manner as possible.
For some types of simulation, for example flight simulation, the visual environment generally consists in a set of objects located at great distances away from the observer. For such types of simulation, conventional display systems that produce a dynamic structured pattern of light, such as a matrix of pixel, on a surface, for example a screen, do not allow a realistic simulation of the visual environment. Such display systems allow the emulation of the visual context but the objects, i.e. the sources of light, still appear to come from short distances away. The visual context thus suggests large distances but the physiological responses of the eye reveal another reality. This is an important disadvantage since this contradictory information may alter the observer's perception or even cause illness. This problem is not present in the case of a display system using a collimated screen. Such a display system produces a collimated beam for each individual picture element, i.e. pixel, which emulates the real set of beams corresponding to a real scene consisting of distant objects.
For a realistic experience, images should extend over a wide angle of view. Thus, the observer has the impression of being immersed in the action when he or she is surrounded by the images over an important part of his viewing space.
The Head-Up Display (HUD) that equips most modern fighter aircrafts is a well known example of a collimated display. A HUD is used to project information in the nominal line of sight of the observer by means of a partially reflective or dichroic (color selective reflection) window. The HUD is a see through device since it allows the pilot to see both the outside scene and the projected information. The image projected by a HUD is a virtual image and appears to be located at far away in front of the pilot. This is accomplished with a large projection lens. The display is located close to the back focal surface of the optical system which results in the production of a virtual image located at a great distance away from the observer. The window may be either flat or curved. Conversely to the flat window, the curved window possesses an optical power and contributes to the optical power of the global optical system. The field of view of a HUD is generally small, 15-20 degrees and 30-40 degrees respectively for flat and curved window, respectively.
Collimated displays have been designed specifically for simulator purposes. There exist many types of such displays. The most simple type consists of a video display (CRT, LCD etc.) located at the focal plane of a large lens. A collimated beam with the specific propagation direction is produced for each pixel of the display. The observer is located on the other side of the lens and he or she sees the image as if it was located at an infinite distance in front of the device. Because of weight, size and cost, a conventional glass lens is generally not useable for this type of collimated display configuration. Referring to
Concave mirrors may also be used to make collimated displays. There exist at least two main optical configurations of such collimated displays, which are the on axis and the off axis configurations. Referring to
There exists a variant of the concave mirror configurations 20, 30 commercialized under the name Pancake Window™ by Farrand Optical Company. The Pancake Window™ optical system 40, illustrated in
Collimated displays have also been made using only holographic elements, as shown in
The above-presented collimated displays do not have large enough field of view to provide an immersive sensation. Larger field of view may be achieved by producing a mosaic of several Pancake Windows™, Fresnel lens virtual displays, holographic collimated displays or others single channel collimated displays. Very large field of view may be achieved with the mosaic approach at the expense of the complexity related to the calibration required to obtain uniform properties and the necessity to drive all of those displays simultaneously. In addition to the complexity, another drawback of the mosaic approach is the fact that it does not provide a truly continuous image since there are dead zones in between adjacent displays.
Continuous displays with a medium field of view may be made using an off axis mirror with a plurality of display devices. In comparison with the single channel off axis mirror display, the field of view increase is generally achieved for only the horizontal direction. For some of those systems, the images are produced with video projector and projected on a curved (with aspheric shape) screen which acts as a secondary image. The light diffused from the screen is then reflected and collimated by the off axis mirror. Such devices are generally used for commercial airplane flight simulators and vehicle simulators.
The realization of a wide angle display is challenging as such a device must produce a large number of collimated beams coming from a very large range of directions and, using conventional approaches as described above, involves large optical components.
In the present specification, there are described embodiments of a wide angle display system designed to overcome the above-described limitations of the conventional display systems.
SUMMARYThe present invention relates to a wide angle display system, comprising:
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- a scanner having at least one reflective surface and an axis of rotation;
- a dome having a reflective inner surface, the inner surface having an axis of revolution which is coincident with the axis of rotation of the scanner;
- at least one linear arrangement of light sources producing beams of light; and
- wherein the reflective surface of the scanner reflects the beams of light towards the reflective inner surface of the dome which in turn collimates the beams of light and reflects them towards an observer positioned within the wide angle display system.
A non-limitative illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Generally stated, the non-limitative illustrative embodiment of the present invention provides a wide angle immersive display system for applications requiring both a wide field of view and collimated display capabilities. Flight simulators and other types of training simulator (ship, motor bike, car, etc,) are examples of such applications but many other display applications may take advantage of the present invention, such as, for example, the display of information in vehicles or the cockpit of an airplane or even video games.
As mentioned previously, the realization of a wide angle display is challenging as such a device must produce a large number of collimated beams coming from a very large range of directions and, using conventional approaches, involves large optical components. The present invention discloses a scanning process which allows the realization of a compact wide angle display, having collimated display capabilities, with relatively small optical components.
Referring to
The shaping module 130 that makes the link between each LAP 106 and the scanner 104 consist of a set of optical components that take the beams of light 107 from the LAP 106 and aim them toward the scanner 104. Each individual beam associated with each pixel 106a of the LAP 106 is transformed by the shaping module 130 in order to give it appropriate divergence (or convergence) and main direction properties before reaching the scanner 104.
Referring to
Referring now to
To ensure the invariance of the optical properties with respect to the rotational position of the scanner 104, the reflective inner surface 101 of the dome 102 is advantageously a symmetrical surface having an axis of revolution 121 which is coincident with the axis of rotation of the scanner 104. Moreover, the nominal position of the eyes 2 of the observer 1 is also advantageously located on the axis of revolution 121 of the dome 102. In that configuration, the 1-D series of pixels 117 associated with each LAP 106, and a specific rotational position of the scanner 104, appears to the observer 1 as if located on a portion of a meridian 114 on an infinite size virtual spherical screen 112. The collimated beams of light 105 for a specific rotational position are all parallel to the meridian plane 116 containing the axis of revolution 121 of the dome 102 and the associated meridian 114. The meridian plane 116 and the collimated beams of light 105 rotate around the axis of revolution 121 two time faster than the scanner 104.
The combination of the rotating scanner 104 with reflection of the scanned beams of light 103 on the reflective inner surface 101 of the dome 102 allows for the generation of a large number of collimated beams of light 105 projected toward the eyes 2 of the observer 1 from a wide range of directions, thus realizing a wide angle immersive display. The wide angle immersive display system 100 has the potential to be compact due to the scanning approach. The generation of the collimated beams of light 105 over a wide range of directions all around the observer 1 without scanning would requires optical components all around the observer 1. The part of the optical train preceding the scanner 104 deals only with 1-D images. This liberates space and thus permits the folding of the optical train and makes thus the system 100 more compact.
The profile of the reflective inner surface 101 of the dome 102, e.g. the curve corresponding to the intersection of the inner surface 101 of the dome 102 with a plane containing the axis of revolution 121 of the dome 102, should be chosen such as to perform both the deviation of the collimated beams of light 105 towards the eyes 2 of the observer I and, in collaboration with the other optical components, the collimation of the scanned beams of light 103 for each pixel 106a. An elliptical or an elliptical like profile is advantageous since all scanned beams of light 103 passing through one focal point of an ellipsoidal (ellipse of revolution) mirror are reflected toward the other focal point. For an ellipsoidal reflective inner surface 101, the foci are both located on the axis of revolution 121 and the scanner 104 would be centered around one of the foci while the eyes 2 of the observer 1 would be located around the other focal point. Other shapes for the reflective inner surface 101 may be considered, for example parabola, free form, etc.
The curvature of the reflective inner surface 101 of the dome 102 differ according to direction. This geometrical anisotropy translates into anisotropic optical properties such as the optical power. A set of rays from the collimated beams of light 105 contained in a given meridian plane will be focalized by the inner reflective surface 101 at a distance different from its counterpart for rays contained in a plane perpendicular to this meridian plane.
Referring to
Toric layers made of, for example, different type of glasses or plastics, may be added to the transparent body 144 in a concentric configuration to improve the control of aberrations. Transparent bodies 144 with radial (or other) distribution of the index of refraction may also be considered. For example, referring to
Referring back to
The dome 102 can be made, for example, of a transparent material with an outside surface 111 covered with absorbing material except at the input ports (places on the dome 102 where the beams of light 107 are introduced). It can also be made of a plurality of sections made of different types of material. The outside surface of the input ports may be shaped to deviate the beams or for aberration correction purposes. The approach of placing the optics outside the dome 102 allows displaying over a 360° longitudinal angular field of view about the axis of revolution 121 of the dome 102 since the shaping module(s) 130 are positioned all around the scanner 104 in such a way as to not cause any obscuration.
The difficulties encountered in the correction of the aberrations increase with the angular field of view. A multi-dome approach may be envisioned to improve the optical performances according to the latitudinal angular field of view (defined by angle □ in
Referring to
Difficulties encountered in the correction of aberrations can also be reduced by splitting the latitudinal angular field of view over a plurality of LAPs 106 and associated shaping modules 130.
Referring back to
Referring now to
Although the present invention has been described by way of particular embodiments and examples thereof, it should be noted that it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that modifications may be applied to the present particular embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A wide angle display system, comprising:
- a scanner having at least one reflective surface and an axis of rotation;
- a dome having a reflective inner surface, the inner surface having an axis of revolution which is coincident with the axis of rotation of the scanner;
- at least one linear arrangement of light sources producing beams of light; and
- wherein the reflective surface of the scanner reflects the beams of light towards the reflective inner surface of the dome which in turn collimates the beams of light and reflects them towards an observer positioned within the wide angle display system.
2. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, whereby in use the synchronous addressing of the linear arrangement of light sources with the rotation of the scanner allows the generation of images appearing to come from an infinite radius screen.
3. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, further comprising a shaping module associated with each of the at least one linear arrangement of light sources for aiming the beams of light at the reflective surface of the scanner.
4. A wide angle display system according to claim 3, wherein the shaping modules are shifted along and angularly around the axis of revolution of the dome.
5. A wide angle display system according to claim 3, wherein the shaping module includes:
- a collecting group for transforming characteristics of the beams of light; and
- a converter for adjusting the divergence of the beams of light and redirecting the beams of light from the linear arrangement of light sources towards the collecting group.
6. A wide angle display system according to claim 4, wherein the characteristics include direction, divergence and wavefront.
7. A wide angle display system according to claim 4, wherein the converter includes at least one element selected from a group consisting of a refractive component, a reflective component, a diffusing element, a diffractive element, optic fibers, fiber optics faceplate and an array of micro components.
8. A wide angle display system according to claim 3, wherein each shaping module is located inside the dome.
9. A wide angle display system according to claim 3, wherein each shaping module is located outside the dome.
10. A wide angle display system according to claim 9, wherein the dome includes input ports associated with each shaping module for introducing the beams of light inside the dome.
11. A wide angle display system according to claim 10, wherein an outside surface of the input ports is shaped so as to deviate the beams of light.
12. A wide angle display system according to claim 10, wherein an outside surface of the input ports is shaped so as to correct aberrations in the beams of light.
13. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, wherein the reflective inner surface is symmetrical about the axis of revolution of the dome.
14. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, wherein the reflective inner surface has an ellipsoidal profile having a first and second focal points and wherein the scanner is positioned at a first focal point and the observer is positioned at the second focal point.
15. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one reflective surface of the scanner is encapsulated within a profiled transparent body.
16. A wide angle display system according to claim 15, wherein the profiled transparent body is generally cylindrical in shape about the axis of revolution of the dome.
17. A wide angle display system according to claim 15, wherein the profiled transparent body includes a plurality of layers having different refraction indexes.
18. A wide angle display system according to claim 17, wherein at least one of an inner or outer surface of one of the layers is profiled so as to provide a desired optical correction.
19. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one linear arrangement of light sources includes a line of elements selected from a group consisting of LEDs and illuminated micro-mirrors.
20. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, wherein the axis of revolution of the dome is tilted with respect to the nominal sight direction of the observer.
21. A wide angle display system according to claim 1, further comprising a second dome, the two domes having coincident axes of revolution.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 31, 2008
Publication Date: Feb 4, 2010
Inventor: Michel Doucet (Sainte-Foy)
Application Number: 12/184,043
International Classification: G02B 26/10 (20060101);