There exist many applications in military and commercial fields where rugged, lightweight microdisplays are required for helmet mounted and viewfinder display systems. Such applications typically involve the display of high resolution symbology but increasingly also include the display of full motion video. Examples of these kinds of image sources include thermal imaging and weapon sighting. Active matrix electroluminescent (AMEL) microdisplay technology developed at Planar has uniquely satisfied the demanding environmental and power requirements of military and commercial helmet mounted display and viewfinder systems. Recent advances have extended the use of AMEL microdisplays to applications requiring the display of high grayscale content, while significantly reducing the size, cost, and power of the system electronics required to drive the display. This capability has been enabled through the development of an analog addressing architecture. This paper provides a background of the analog architecture and the advantages gained by using this approach. Specifications and interface requirements are discussed for a monochrome 640 X 512 display developed using this architecture.

Date Published: 23 June 2000
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 4021, Helmet- and Head-Mounted Displays V, (23 June 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.389149

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4021:
Helmet- and Head-Mounted Displays V
Ronald J. Lewandowski; Loran A. Haworth; Henry J. Girolamo, Editor(s)