Our design also demonstrates a step forward in reducing the form factor of the overall system. We present an analysis on the shape of the curved beamsplitter as it deforms to different focal depths. Current systems suffer from degraded optical quality at far focus and are tethered to large air compressors or pneumatic devices which prevent small, self-contained systems. Winner: First Prize – DOID Student Optical Design ChallengeĪbstract: Deformable beamsplitters have been shown as a means of creating a wide field of view, varifocal, optical see- through, augmented reality display. Mitigating Vergence-Accommodation Conflict for Near-Eye Displays via Deformable Beamsplittersĭavid Dunn, Praneeth Chakravarthula, Qian Dong, and Henry Fuchsĭigital Optics for Immersive Displays Conference, Photonics Europe. In addition, I discuss eye tracking approaches presented in the literature to determine their ability to meet the specified requirements. My findings indicate that for the median adult using an augmented reality varifocal display, gaze tracking accuracy must be better than 0.541°. I analyze the required gaze tracker accuracy to ensure the display focus is set within the viewer’s depth of field, zone of comfort, and zone of clear single binocular vision. In order to ensure the virtual image is in focus, the display must be set to a depth which causes no negative perceptual or physiological effects to the viewer, which indicates error bounds for the calculation of fixation point. One approach for detecting the focal state is to use the link between vergence and accommodation and employ binocular gaze tracking to determine the depth of the fixation point consequently, the focal depth is also known. 2019.Ībstract: Varifocal displays are a practical method to solve vergence–accommodation conflict in near-eye displays for both virtual and augmented reality, but they are reliant on knowing the user’s focal state.

VisAug: Workshop on Eye Tracking and Vision Augmentation, IEEE VR Conference. Required Accuracy of Gaze Tracking for Varifocal Displays Our work promises to address Vergence-Accommodation Conflict caused by lack of accommodative cues. Our primary contribution is a light weight and thin form factor near eye display for augmented reality applications, supporting a range of focus cues via deformable beamsplitter membranes.

We tackle the problem of providing wide FOV and accommodative cues together by employing an all-in-one solution: deformable beamsplitters. Optimizing a design for one of these features typically leads to a trade-off in the others. Providing these accommodative depth cues in a wide field of view with high angular resolution presents a major hardware design challenge for near-eye displays. Focus is an important aspect of how we perceive the world and must be taken into account when developing augmented reality displays.

Virtual objects not at current focal depth are computationally blurred.Īugmented Reality overlays computer-generated visuals onto the real world in real time. Dynamic Focus Augmented Reality Display Wide field of view augmented reality display showing 3 real world objects (top) and 3 virtual aliens (bottom) at 3 different depths: 20 cm (stamp and blue alien), 50 cm (mug and yellow alien), 800 cm (poster and green alien).

Dynamic depth of field