Kopin Microdisplay Nets $3M

Kopin Corp. announced it has received a three-year, $3.1 million government contract to develop the world's highest resolution microdisplays for future vision systems, including integrated day-night weapon sights and solid-state image intensifiers.

The program was awarded jointly by the US Office of Naval Research, the Marine Corps, the Army's Product Manager Soldier Sensors and Lasers, and the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) Communications and Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), Kopin said. The company produces ultrasmall LCDs and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) for consumer and military applications including digital cameras, personal video eyewear, camcorders, thermal weapon sights and night-vision systems.

Under the program, Kopin will work to expand the boundaries of microdisplay resolution and performance by developing an active matrix LCD (AMLCD) with a 2048 x 2048 monochrome pixel resolution and a .99-in.-diagonal form factor, the company said.

"The new 8-in. processing line Kopin developed in partnership with the US government will be critical in the fabrication of such a high-resolution display,” said President and CEO Dr. John C. C. Fan.

"The new high-resolution display will meet the aggressive imaging system requirements of advanced weapon sight and digital image-intensified vision systems which will be tailored for urban and network battlefield environments," the Army said in a statement.

“This new display will provide military personnel with spatial resolution equal to or better than the current image intensifier tube,” said Michael Presz, Kopin’s vice president of government programs and special projects. “It will allow for target identification at extreme ranges, which will substantially reduce friendly fire incidents. In addition, the lightweight, low-power display architecture will optimize the viewing of digital image intensifier imagery.”

For more information, visit: www.kopin.com