The U.S. Army and eMagin Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to
characterize the ongoing improvements in the lifetime of OLED displays. This CRADA also called for the evaluation of
OLED performance as the need arises, especially when new products are developed or when a previously untested
parameter needs to be understood. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life OLED-XL devices for use in their
AMOLED microdisplays for head-worn applications. Through Research and Development programs from 2007 to 2012
with the U.S. Government, eMagin made additional improvements in OLED life and developed the first SXGA (1280 X
1024 with triad pixels) and WUXGA (1920 X 1200 with triad pixels) OLED microdisplays. US Army RDECOM
CERDEC NVESD conducted life and performance tests on these displays, publishing results at the 2012, 2011, 2010,
2009, 2008, and 2007 SPIE Defense, Security and Sensing Symposia. Life and performance tests have continued
through 2013, and this data will be presented along with a comparison to previous data. This should result in a better
understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military and commercial head mounted systems, where good fits are
made, and where further development might be desirable.
As part of its continuing effort to improve both the resolution and optical performance of AMOLED microdisplays,
eMagin has recently developed an SXGA (1280×3×1024) microdisplay under a US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD
contract that combines the world's smallest OLED pixel pitch with an ultra-high brightness green OLED emitter. This
development is aimed at next-generation HMD systems with
"see-through" and daylight imaging requirements. The
OLED pixel array is built on a 0.18-micron CMOS backplane and contains over 4 million individually addressable
pixels with a pixel pitch of 2.7 × 8.1 microns, resulting in an active area of 0.52 inches diagonal. Using both spatial and
temporal enhancement, the display can provide over 10-bits of
gray-level control for high dynamic range applications.
The new pixel design also enables the future implementation of a full-color QSXGA (2560 × RGB × 2048) microdisplay
in an active area of only 1.05 inch diagonal. A low-power serialized low-voltage-differential-signaling (LVDS) interface
is integrated into the display for use as a remote video link for tethered systems. The new SXGA backplane has been
combined with the high-brightness green OLED device developed by eMagin under an NVESD contract. This OLED
device has produced an output brightness of more than 8000fL with all pixels on; lifetime measurements are currently
underway and will presented at the meeting. This paper will describe the operational features and first optical and
electrical test results of the new SXGA demonstrator microdisplay.
The US Army and eMagin Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to
characterize the ongoing improvements in the lifetime of OLED displays. This CRADA also called for the evaluation of
OLED performance as the need arises, especially when new products are developed or when a previously untested
parameter needs to be understood. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life OLED-XL devices for use in their
AMOLED microdisplays for head-worn applications. Through Research and Development programs from 2007 to 2011
with the US Government, eMagin made additional improvements in OLED life and developed the first SXGA (1280 X
1024 triad pixels) and WUXGA (1920 X 1200) OLED microdisplays. US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD
conducted life and performance tests on these displays, publishing results at the 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007 SPIE
Defense, Security and Sensing Symposia1,2,3,4,5. Life and performance tests have continued through 2012, and this data
will be presented along with a recap of previous data. This should result in a better understanding of the applicability of
AMOLEDs in military and commercial head mounted systems by determining where good fits are made and where
further development might be desirable.
KEYWORDS: Accelerated life testing, Organic light emitting diodes, Spectroscopy, Temperature metrology, Systems modeling, Video, Prototyping, Calibration, Visual process modeling, Data analysis
The US Army and eMagin Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to
characterize the ongoing improvements in the lifetime of OLED displays. This CRADA also called for the evaluation of
OLED performance as the need arises, especially when new products are developed or when a previously untested
parameter needs to be understood. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life OLED-XL devices for use in their
AMOLED microdisplays for head-worn applications. Through research and development programs from 2007 to 2010
with the US Government, eMagin made additional improvements in OLED life and developed the first SXGA (1280 X
1024 triad pixels) OLED microdisplay. US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD conducted life and performance tests
on these displays, publishing results at the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 SPIE Defense and Security Symposia1,2,3,4. Life
and performance tests have continued through 2010, and this data will be presented along with a recap of previous data.
This should result in a better understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military and commercial head mounted
systems: where good fits are made, and where further development might be desirable.
Spatial noise in imaging systems has been characterized and its impact on image quality metrics has been addressed
primarily with respect to the introduction of this noise at the sensor component. However, sensor fixed pattern noise is
not the only source of fixed pattern noise in an imaging system. Display fixed pattern noise cannot be easily mitigated
in processing and, therefore, must be addressed. In this paper, a thorough examination of the amount and the effect of
display fixed pattern noise is presented. The specific manifestation of display fixed pattern noise is dependent upon the
display technology. Utilizing a calibrated camera, US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD has developed a microdisplay
(μdisplay) spatial noise data collection capability. Noise and signal power spectra were used to characterize the
display signal to noise ratio (SNR) as a function of spatial frequency analogous to the minimum resolvable temperature
difference (MRTD) of a thermal sensor. The goal of this study is to establish a measurement technique to characterize
μdisplay limiting performance to assist in proper imaging system specification.
The US Army and eMagin Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to
characterize the ongoing improvements in the lifetime of OLED displays. This CRADA also called for the evaluation of
OLED performance as the need arises, especially when new products are developed or when a previously untested
parameter needs to be understood. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life OLED-XLTM devices for use in
their AMOLED microdisplays for head-worn applications. Through Research and Development programs from 2007 to
2009 with the US Government, eMagin made additional improvements in OLED life and developed the first SXGA
(1280 × 1024 triad pixels) OLED microdisplay. US Army RDECOM CERDEC NVESD conducted life and
performance tests on these displays, publishing results at the 2007, 2008, and 2009 SPIE Defense and Security
Symposia1,2,3. Life and performance tests have continued through 2009, and this data will be presented along with a
recap of previous data. This should result in a better understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military and
commercial head mounted systems: where good fits are made, and where further development might be desirable.
KEYWORDS: Organic light emitting diodes, Accelerated life testing, Prototyping, Video, Time metrology, Contrast transfer function, Photometry, Military display technology, Chromium, Temperature metrology
The US Army and eMagin Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to
characterize the ongoing improvements in the lifetime of OLED displays. This CRADA also called for the evaluation of
OLED performance as the need arises, especially when new products are developed or when a previously untested
parameter needs to be understood. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life OLED-XL devices for use in their
AMOLED microdisplays for head-worn applications. RDECOM CERDEC NVESD conducted life tests on these
displays, finding over 200% lifetime improvement for the OLED-XL devices over the standard OLED displays,
publishing results at the 2007 and 2008 SPIE Defense and Security Symposia1,2. In 2008, eMagin Corporation made
additional improvements on the lifetime of their displays and developed the first SXGA (1280 × 1024 triad pixels)
OLED microdisplay. A summary of the life and performance tests run at CERDEC NVESD will be presented along
with a recap of previous data. This should result in a better understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military
and commercial head mounted systems: where good fits are made, and where further development might be desirable.
OLED displays have been known to exhibit high levels of performance with regards to contrast, response time,
uniformity, and viewing angle, but a lifetime improvement has been perceived to be essential for broadening the
applications of OLED's in the military and in the commercial market. As a result of this need, the US Army and eMagin
Corporation established a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to improve the lifetime of
OLED displays. In 2006, eMagin Corporation developed long-life
OLED-XL devices for use in their AMOLED
microdisplays for head-worn applications, and RDECOM CERDEC NVESD ran life tests on these displays, finding over
200% lifetime improvement for the XL devices over the standard displays. Early results were published at the 2007
SPIE Defense and Security Symposium. Further life testing of XL and standard devices at ambient conditions and at
high temperatures will be presented this year along with a recap of previous data. This should result in a better
understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military and commercial head mounted systems: where good fits are
made, and where further development might be needed. This is a continuation of the paper "Life test results of OLED-XL
long-life devices for use in active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) displays for head mounted
applications" presented at SPIE DSS in 2007.
eMagin Corporation has recently developed long-life OLED-XL devices for use in their AMOLED microdisplays for
head-worn applications. AMOLED displays have been known to exhibit high levels of performance with regards to
contrast, response time, uniformity, and viewing angle, but a lifetime improvement has been perceived to be essential for
broadening the applications of OLED's in the military and in the commercial market. The new OLED-XL devices gave
the promise of improvements in usable lifetime over 6X what the standard full color, white, and green devices could
provide. The US Army's RDECOM CERDEC NVESD performed life tests on several standard and OLED-XL panels
from eMagin under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). Displays were tested at room
temperature, utilizing eMagin's Design Reference Kit driver, allowing computer controlled optimization, brightness
adjustment, and manual temperature compensation. The OLED Usable Lifetime Model, developed under a previous
NVESD/eMagin SPIE paper presented at DSS 2005, has been adjusted based on the findings of these tests. The result is
a better understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military and commercial head mounted systems: where good
fits are made, and where further development might be needed.
Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) displays are known to exhibit high levels of performance, and these levels of performance have continually been improved over time with new materials and electronics design. eMagin Corporation developed a manually adjustable temperature compensation circuit with brightness control to allow for excellent performance over a wide temperature range. Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (US Army) tested the performance and survivability of a number of AMOLED displays in a temperature chamber over a range from -55°C to +85°C. Although device performance of AMOLEDs has always been its strong suit, the issue of usable display lifetimes for military applications continues to be an area of discussion and research. eMagin has made improvements in OLED materials and worked towards the development of a better understanding of usable lifetime for operation in a military system. NVESD ran luminance degradation tests of AMOLED panels at 50°C and at ambient to characterize the lifetime of AMOLED devices. The result is a better understanding of the applicability of AMOLEDs in military systems: where good fits are made, and where further development is needed.
We present characterization of a full-color 852x3x600-pixel, active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) color microdisplay (eMagin Corporation's SVGA+ display) for environmentally demanding applications. The results show that the AMOLED microdisplay can provide cold-start turn-on and operate at extreme temperature conditions, far in excess of non-emissive displays. Correction factors for gamma response of the AMOLED microdisplay as a function of temperature have been determined to permit consistent luminance and contrast from -40°C to over +80°C. Gamma adjustments are made by a simple temperature compensation adjustment of the reference voltages of the AMOLED. The typical room temperature full-on luminance half-life of the SVGA+ full color display organic light emitting diode (OLED) display at over 3,000 hr at a starting luminance at approx. 100 cd/m2, translates to more than 15,000 hr of continuous full-motion video usage, based on a 25% duty cycle at a typical 50-60 cd/m2 commercial luminance level, or over 60,000 hr half-life in monochrome white usage, or over 100,000 hr luminance half-life in monochrome yellow usage at similar operating conditions. Half life at typical night vision luminance levels would be much longer.
In order to evaluate near-to-eye virtual displays with optics, Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate designed, developed, and integrated the Near to Eye Display Test Station (NDTS). The system utilizes kinematically interchangeable sensor heads to capitalize on the strengths of each sensor for the applications/measurements for which its best suited. The station allows the user to evaluate a near to eye display at a system level without separation of the eyepiece from the image source (“no disassembly required”). Mechanical, optical, electronics, and software components all needed to be carefully designed and integrated to maintain accuracy and precision above those required for display evaluation. Geometric and luminance internal calibration subsystems have been characterized by the test station with results that can be correlated.
An alternative method for measuring the contrast transfer function (CTF) of a pixilated display is proposed that reduces the amount of time required to perform a high sample rate-small aperture luminance scan as outlined in the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) standard for measuring the contrast of an n X n grille. The alternative method proposed by the Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) Displays group utilizes round sampling apertures and large step sizes to achieve comparable results to the VESA standard method. Theoretical predictions and experimental measurements demonstrated the equivalency between the proposed large aperture method and the VESA standard method with less than 8% maximum variation and an average of 2.4% variation between the two methods over two different input contrasts and 4 different grille frequencies. Experimental results also show a reduction in time to perform the profile scan by as much as 15:1 for the NVESD proposed test method over the VESA standard method.
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