Ben Averch
Global Product Manager,
Wearable Displays
Wearable Displays: Q & A
A visit with Ben Averch
Global Product Manager, Wearable Displays
What, briefly, is a Wearable Display?
A wearable display is any kind of electronic display that’s worn on the body – usually, on the head.
What is the current situation in the field in which Wearable Displays appear?
Wearable displays are prevalent today in the military market, and are being evaluated for use in other markets such as commercial aviation, industrial, medical, consumer mobility and enterprise IT markets.
What is the problem that Microvision is seeking to address?
The problems are different in each of the different market segments, with some important common threads. Conventional displays as we know them today allow you to access information, but they require you to alter the context of your activity; meaning, you have to stop what you’re doing, pull out a laptop or handheld device, and access the information you’re looking for – then put the device away and go back to what you were doing before.
How does Microvision’s technology address this situation? What is it specifically that Microvision brings to the category of wearable displays?
Microvision has two wearable display platforms that address this significant market need: helmet mounted display, and eyewear display. Both of these products bring a unique feature set to the market: high-brightness, for readability in any ambient lighting conditions; high see-through performance, to maintain our awareness of the world around us; and in the case of eyewear, a radically new form factor that is lightweight, ergonomic and looks cool.
This combination of attributes will allow Microvision displays to superimpose digital information on the wearer’s field of view, enabling a whole new class of digital experiences, often referred to as augmented reality.
Can you describe augmented reality a little bit more?
Augmented reality (AR) is the intersection of the real world and digital information. In one aspect, it is information about places, people and things that is co-located with those things in physical space. So if you’re walking past a restaurant, you might see reviews, wait times and a menu hover in front of the building. There are countless applications, including social networking, so you can know if your friends are nearby, or even virtual graffiti, allowing you to ‘tag’ places with digital content that can be made available to others who visit the same place.
An important aspect of AR is that by definition it is the superimposition of digital images and characters onto the regular environment. This requires a see-through, high-brightness color display. We believe that augmented reality will emerge as the next step in the evolution of the mobile internet – and that we are optimally positioned to enable this nascent transformation with our eyewear display platform.
What’s unique about Microvision’s value proposition in the military market?
In the military market, the challenge is to increase the situational awareness of the soldiers and airmen. Put simply, situational awareness is “knowing what is going on so you can figure out what to do.” In chaotic battlefield scenarios, having optimal situational awareness is critically important – having visual information that illustrates who’s friendly, what the mission objective is and having that connectivity to real-time digital battlefield systems can make all the difference. Our see-through, high-brightness displays allow a clear view of the environment, while delivering mission critical information to the soldier.
Situational awareness and real-time delivery of digital battlefield information is a key strategic initiative for the US Government and for leading military systems integrators. Our goal is to function as the last critical link that connects the satellite to the soldier – and the soldiers to one another.
Today, there are see-through displays in the military aviation market, but they aren’t full color. And there are full color displays in the military dismounted soldier market, but they aren’t see-through. Bringing see-through to ground environments, and bringing color to aviation, enables Microvision displays to radically enhance situational awareness, safety and mission effectiveness for our men and women in harm’s way.
What is particularly novel or noteworthy about Microvision’s approach to Wearable Displays?
From a technology perspective, our approach to eyewear is to combine the tiny, thin PicoP full color laser projection module with newly designed clear eyewear optics that channel the laser light and direct it to the viewer’s eye – all without sacrificing an unobstructed view of the surroundings.
What milestones have been achieved to date to develop Wearable Displays?
Microvision has been involved in the development of wearable displays ever since our inception. We’ve invested a lot of time and resources over the years to miniaturize the display engine and the accompanying electronics, all while increasing the display performance. As a result of that effort and commitment, we now have two wearable display platforms that we are developing for commercialization that, as described above, will meet significant unmet market needs.
What is required to get to market, and when might we expect to see a Microvision enabled wearable display in the market?
Microvision will be delivering beta units of our SD3000 HMD to the US Army at the end of this year for their evaluation. In May of 2007, we were awarded our second contract from the US Air Force to develop and deliver a see-through, full color eyewear display. We expect that development and delivery of this display will open up a lot of opportunities for this product capability in multiple vertical markets.
Are you aware of any competitors working on – or who have introduced – a similar innovation? If so, how is your innovation superior to theirs?
Microvision is the only provider of see-through, daylight readable color wearable displays, and we believe this represents a significant competitive advantage for our company. Our eyewear display platform in particular represents a unique and compelling growth opportunity for us and our partners. While we’ve been relatively quiet about this, we’ve made great strides in the development of this capability and feel we’re very well positioned from a technology and market perspective.