Thomas A. Furness - US grants

The Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) is a new form of display device developed at the Human Interface Technology Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. This device scans light directly into the eye to create images at the retina. It is anticipated that the VRD will become a ubiquitous display device as it will be miniaturized to wear on a spectacles frame. The VRD is bright, yet safe and uses lasers as highly color saturated sources of light. The research from this proposal will be studies on the fundamentals of light perception of scanned images. These studies will allow us to optimize the scan characteristics for best color, resolution and contrast. We intend to understand the features of temporal and spatial integration by the retinal processing elements of the scanned light and how that integration affects the image perception. We will then be able to produce images with excellent color matching and image sharpness. By optimizing the VRD in this research we will allow its use where image quality is essential, such as in remote surgery, or surgical training. Further, bright, high quality images with the VRD will make it excellent for use in augmented vision applications, where images are superimposed on the real world.

This project will develop engineering designs for an appliance that will help people with certain types of low, or impaired, vision to see. The designs will be based on the principle that engineering design is a decision-making process, not merely a problem-solving one. Thus, as an aid for the decision maker, a model will be built that defines concepts such as value, attributes, demand, time, price, and other factors, and utilizes a rational for optimization. The project will have two main parts: (1) the development of the decision-making model and its application to the design of the Low-Vision Aid (LVA) and (2) the development of LVA demonstrations that will illustrate the feasibility and importance of such a product for people with low vision. Vision enhancement will be achieved by exploiting the unique attributes of the Virtual Retinal Display (VRD), a means of safely scanning image data directly onto the retina without intermediate image formation surfaces. The VRD projects an image on the retina that is very bright, has high contrast, has highly saturated colors, and is projected into the eye via a very small exit pupil. If successful, this research will lead to the development of easy-to-use vision enhancement aids, devices that will enable the visually impaired to read printed material (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), to watch TV, to interact with a computer monitor, and to navigate in the physical world. The impairments that this instrument will help overcome include corneal scars, keratoconus, presbyopia, and cataracts. The optical characteristics of the VRD may also prove to be an aid for macular degeneration and amblyopia. The development of engineering designs is the first step in the process of making the LVA available to people subject to these diseases. The project will also provide an example application of decision-based engineering design.

Our research at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Laboratory (HIT Lab) indicates that three dimensional immersive virtual environments such as virtual reality may be able to help students understand concepts and rules in complex content domains better than traditional educational delivery methods. The main goal for this project will be develop a research program to fully explore and test hypotheses associated with these observations. In order to accomplish this goal we propose to host a two-day meeting of 12 to 15 content specialists, educators, education technology specialist and cognitive scientists in Seattle, Washington, during March 1997. This workshop will focus on the teaching and learning of complex science content. In this regard, we have selected global warming phoenomenon as the test content area to analyze because of its complexity and its relevance to middle and high school science curriculum. Expected workshop results include: 1) recommendations on the direction of virtual reality (VR) research in education; 2) key questions and metrics to assess the goodness of immersive 3D interactive virtual environments relative to more traditional methods; 3) determination of the curriculum topics wherein 3D, interfaces and interactivity may have the greatest impact on learning; 4) organization of a core group of interdisciplinary researchers who will be available to advise and collaborate on research projects of interest. We plan to disseminate the results of the workshop via published reports and via a WWW site. We feel that the research agenda that we develop will be useful to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other government agencies in helping to establish priorities in vestments to deploy advanced technologies in the classroom. In addition, we anticipate that this workshop will serve as a catalyst for the research community to develop into the difficult issues such as the cost versus benefits of advanced virtual interfaces versus currently available lower-cost alternatives.

The proposed research seeks to understand when and if immersive virtual environments make it easier for students to understand complex ecological processes compared to what they can learn from desktop simulations and other experiences. The immersive and non-immersive learning materials will be built from databases and models developed by the PRISM project. This project models environmental interactions in the Puget Sound.

The framework that guides this project is built from an understanding of three properties of VEs; their ability to induce "presence" in users; their ability to support extensive, natural interactions with objects; and thier ability to make accessible to the senses events that are normally undetectable. These properties of VEs have the potential of supporting constructivist approaches to teaching and learning and thus helping students develop scientifically correct mental models of scientific phenomena.

The study will focus primarily on college age students. However, in the latter part of the study, they will include high school seniors.

The Virtual Retinal Display (VRD) developed by the PIs and their colleagues creates an image by scanning non-coherent or coherent light across the retina in a raster pattern, rather than using a conventional image plane screen. The VRD has full color and a broad luminance range for high contrast, even in bright ambient daylight; the mechanism will eventually be miniaturized to fit on a spectacle frame, making wearable displays feasible. Because of these attributes, and the fact that VRD parameters can be configured in various combinations to alter characteristics of the perceived image such as field of view, resolution and the size of the scanning aperture, the VRD holds great promise for enhancing vision in the partially sighted. The goal of this research is to investigate how best to realize this promise. The small exit pupil of the VRD allows clear images to be seen by users with corneal distortions and/or partial opacities of the lens such as cataracts. For central retinal diseases such as macular degeneration, the VRD can be configured to direct high contrast, large feature images to the peripheral retina. For peripheral disorders, where only a small central area may remain functional, the display can be configured with a high-resolution narrow field of view. Pilot tests of subjects with partial loss of vision indicate that even non-optimized images from the VRD can usually be seen better than CRT images. The PIs will conduct psychophysical visual testing with partially sighted users, and systematic comparison with standard computer displays (CRTs and LCDs), to determine for a variety of visual disorders the appropriate VRD scanning and modulation characteristics for optimal image resolution, contrast sensitivity, color perception and absence of flicker. The ability of users to view text, see video images and use common computer applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and web browsers will also be assessed. The expectation is that this research will ultimately lead to new visual display products and techniques to enhance computer access for people with low vision, including the growing elderly population

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Seibel
The problem of applying advanced electronic imaging and computer display technologies to aid persons with visual disabilities has resulted in bulky and obtrusive eyewear that has been shown in the marketplace not to be worth the high price. Nonetheless, with US citizens both living and staying active longer, there is even greater need for effective, wearable, and desirable low vision aids. There are 14 million Americans that are hampered in their daily lives by partial loss of visual acuity and/or insufficient visual field (National Advisory Eye Council 1998), and that number is expected to rise much faster than the rate of population growth. A new approach is being undertaken in this study, hinging upon a new display technology, called retinal light scanning. By scanning a low power beam of light from a laser or light-emitting diode directly into the eye, a bright image is generated as the beam is modulated in power and scanned across the retina. This 'laser light show on the retina' provides not only brighter display illumination than standard displays, but the narrow beam provides unprecedented depth of focus. Reading speed studies conducted in our laboratory have shown that retinal light scanning has great potential for transferring images to the retina with minimal distortion. In concert with the recent development of retinal light scanning, technological improvements have been made in micro-cameras, wearable computers, real-time image processing, and spectacle-mounted hardware. Our approach is to reduce the size and cost associated with retinal light scanning which will be redesigned specifically as a wearable low vision aid. We will incorporate the latest advancements by our collaborators in the areas of cameras, wearable computers, and image processing. These technologies will be integrated into prototype vision aids that will be a testbed for our newest theories of human-computer interface science, such as spectacles that have an augmented central view from retinal light scanning while allowing natural viewing of the surroundings to maintain situational awareness. In collaboration with the Department of Services for the Blind in Seattle, WA and the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, MA, we will test the prototype low vision aids and their performance in the hands of low vision volunteers doing everyday tasks. Thus, we believe the same problems that have led to a lack of acceptance of previous high-tech vision aids can be overcome by using retinal light scanning technology as a basis for our research effort. From our experience, the goals of designing and testing novel vision aids for the partially sighted in our community is highly motivating and rewarding work for both undergraduate and graduate science and engineering students.

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Seibel
The investigators are planning to build a new research instruments for a true 3D display to view high resolution 3D data with all depth cues in agreement. Current imaging systems suffer from the accommodation-vergence mismatch limitation. The proposed system will provide variable ocular accommodation cues that match vergence and stereoscopic retinal disparity demands for objects at different distances in a 3D scene. The proposed instrument promises to reduce eye fatigue and improve the quality of the 3-D images.

This project will explore ways to increase bandwidth to the brain though optimal spatial-temporal simulation of the far peripheral retina. There are many questions related to the functionality of the far periphery and how it engenders of a sense of place and presence within a virtual environment. To address these questions this project will develop: (1) a state-of-the-art retinal image projection system that can generate and position spatial patterns of light encompassing the complete retina; (2) methods for measuring the effect of that stimulation on the brain wave activity, balance and task performance; and (3) new approaches for organizing and portraying information over the complete retina that increase throughput of data to the brain. The research from this project can lead to development of better virtual reality components that unlock the power of human intelligence and link minds globally. This line of research is essential as the industry presses for optimizing the utility of 5G cellular bandwidths in servicing wireless and ubiquitous virtual and augmented displays via WebVR and related systems.

This project will investigate how to input the autonomic nervous system to enhance the cognitive behavior of users. A key component in the research agenda is to design and build an experimental system that generates and positions patterns of light stimuli onto the various regions and eccentricities of the entire visual field of the participant. This system must allow for the precise generation of the spatial, temporal and spectral properties of these stimuli. These factors constitute the independent variables in the research. Similarly, this research apparatus must also collect the voluntary and involuntary behavioral response of the participant to these stimuli using direct methods that include event-related cortical potentials, oculomotor behavior and involuntary movement of the body (e.g., posture platform). Voluntary or performance-based tracking and manipulation of the virtual world experience will also be included in the experimental apparatus.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.