Compound Photonics announces 1080p optical engine for smart glasses

21 Apr 2020

Wide field-of-view reference design boosts brightness from smaller form factor for ARVR applications.

Compound Photonics (CP), a developer of compact high-res microdisplay solutions for AR-MR applications, has launched a compact, high-brightness optical engine design that fits into a volume under 3cm³. The company is scheduling demos for this engine and the design will become available for license.

It enables system designers to develop AR/MR smart glasses that deliver what the company calls "naturalistic visual experiences" in more ergonomic form factors approaching regular consumer eyewear. The design is optimized for CP’s 0.26in diagonal, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 3.015 μm pixel, Integrated Display Module package.

The company claims that its prototype demonstration units, shown above, have shown up to double the brightness of other engine designs when projected into the new generation of 50°-plus wide field of view (WFOV) waveguides.

“Since size of the display drives the overall optical engine volume, this engine can be up to 2x smaller than those built around similar resolution displays at larger pixel sizes,” commented Edmund Passon, Co-CEO at CP.

Compound Photonics (CP), also known as CP Display, is a leading provider of compact high resolution microdisplay technologies. CP’s microdisplay solutions are optimized to serve the augmented reality and mixed reality markets where high performance, small form factor, and low power consumption are most critical. Compound Photonics’ microdisplays enable engineers to innovate and create cutting edge consumer and industrial products

“The combination of CP’s high-reflectance LCoS display operating at above 90% duty cycle," he added. "A new optical architecture delivers brightness improvement over previous designs to reduce power consumption while illuminating a larger field of view and eyebox along with the improved image quality needed to take advantage of the new WFOV waveguides.”

Display subsystem

CP’s IDM package (7.25 x 15.5 x 3.4 mm) is a complete display subsystem (including driver ASIC and passive components) with MIPI input that can be flexibly configured for a wide range of integration needs. It also incorporates CP’s Nova display driver architecture for customizable refresh rate up to 240 Hz, and other parameters to optimize for low latency, short persistence and low power demand.

Andrew Shih, Compound Photonics’ Marketing and Business Development Manager, said, “With the release of our reference design, system integrators, ODMs, and OEMs will have a validated high-performance subsystem to simplify integration of microdisplay, optical engine and waveguide combinations into consumer AR glasses. This will reduce the development effort and accelerate time-to-market.”

CP, also known as CP Display, develops high-res microdisplay technologies that are optimized to serve the augmented reality and mixed reality markets where high performance, small form factor, and low power consumption are most critical. Its microdisplays enable engineers to innovate and create consumer and industrial products.