Polhemus Laboratories
Polhemus Laboratories Inc. (PLI) was a company started by Bill Polhemus in 1984 to develop fiber-optic head-mounted displays.
It was founded in about 1984, a few years after he left Polhemus Navigation Sciences.[1][2]
The company developed Looking Glass, a fiber-optic helmet-mounted display.[3][4]
The company was based in Jeffersonville, Vermont. The company's registered address was on Main Street in Jeffersonville 05464.[2]
It is separated in entirety from Polhemus Navigation Sciences, the motion tracking company that Bill Polhemus started in the 1960s.[5]
Head-mounted display[edit]
The company developed a head-mounted display (HMD). The HMD was a fiber-optic HMD that could use any image source, such as a projector, workstation, or VCR. This is because it has an optical coupling, not an electric one.[5]
The fiber optic head-mounted display was full color. It used fiber optics to project images onto a screen mounted in front of the user's eyes. It was capable of up to 1000 lines of color video and approx. 56 degrees field of view. Bill Polhemus developed it in close collaboration with NASA.[6]
As of summer 1993, Polhemus Labs was working on improving the image quality of the system for NASA.[7][8]
PLI participated in an SBIR program in about 1992 with the goal of using a customized version of the Looking Glass system, which is a binocular, color, head-worn display, modified to include a six DOF head tracking system and stereo audio. This system was intended to be a key component of the forthcoming FFRRV ground-based virtual cockput.[9]
A Looking Glass HMD was used by Martin R. Stytz and John C. Vanderburgh at the Air Force Institute of Technology - Virtual Environments, 3D Medical Imaging and Computer Graphics Lab on a Solar System modeling application.[4]
History[edit]
The purpose of the company was to improve display technology and pursue augmented reality applications, including an aid to navigation in poor weather.[1]
Bill's ambition was to produce a helmet-mounted display no bigger than a pair of glasses.[3]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 ISBN 978-1500893293 Page 381
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "State of Vermont Business Services Division Record Number 093830 - Polhemus Laboratories, Inc.". https://bizfilings.vermont.gov/business/info.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kalawsky, Roy S. (1993). The Science of Virtual Reality and Virtual Environments: A Technical, Scientific and Engineering Reference on Virtual Environments. Addison-Wesley. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-201-63171-5. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Science_of_Virtual_Reality_and_Virtu/n-BQAAAAMAAJ.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "CyberScience : Fich 058 : Solar System Modeler". https://www.mediaport.net/CP/CyberScience/BDD/fich_058.en.html.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Holloway, Richard, and Anselmo Lastra. "Virtual environments: A survey of the technology." Eurographics, 1993. Page 15
- ↑ "N94-27360 Telepresence in the Human Exploration of Mars". https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19940022857/downloads/19940022857.pdf.
- ↑ "NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) 19940009315: Space and Earth Sciences, Computer Systems, and Scientific Data Analysis Support, Volume 1 : NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". 1993-10-06. p. 337. https://archive.org/details/NASA_NTRS_Archive_19940009315.
- ↑ Estes, Ronald H. (1993-10-06). Space and Earth Sciences, Computer Systems, and Scientific Data Analysis Support, Volume 1. p. 337. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19940009315. "Polhemus Laboratories Inc. has forwarded a report on developments in the fiber optic-based display area. The report indicates good process in improving the image quality."
- ↑ "Army 1992 A head coupled visual and aural sensor system for teleoperated rotorcraft research vehicle". https://www.inknowvation.com/sbir/awards/army-1992-head-coupled-visual-and-aural-sensor-system-teleoperated-rotorcraft-research-0.