Military Orders the World’s Highest-Resolution Microdisplay

Kopin released that the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), the U.S. Army’s RDECOM CERDEC Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), and the U.S. Army’s Product Manager Soldier Sensors and Lasers (PM-SSL) have jointly awarded a 3-year, $3.1 million program to Kopin for the development of the world’s highest-resolution microdisplays for use in future vision systems, including integrated day-night weapon sights and solid state image intensifiers.

“The U.S. Government is again relying on Kopin to expand the boundaries of microdisplay resolution and performance by developing an active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) with a 2048 x 2048 monochrome pixel resolution in a 0.99-inch-diagonal form factor,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. John C. C. Fan. “This new display will reflect the strategic research and development initiatives we have undertaken over many years, efforts that have resulted in important innovations including low-voltage architecture, integral heaters, small pixel geometry, and specialized and ruggedized LCD processes. The new 8-inch processing line Kopin developed in partnership with the U.S. Government will be critical in the fabrication of such a high-resolution display.”

“Kopin has a solid history in the development of microdisplay for the U.S. Army’s night vision systems and is a major display supplier for thermal weapon sights and advanced night vision goggles,” the U.S. Army said in a prepared statement. “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.”