PROJECT TITLE: Inexpensive Off-Head Eye-Tracking for Computer Interaction
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
We propose to develop a novel computer interface for air traffic control specialists (ATCSs) that integrates voice recognition and eye-tracking to enable hands-free interaction with an ATC display. The proposed research is innovative in that it presents a novel, alternative approach for ATCSs to interact with graphical displays (using eye and voice) that can be efficient and cost-effective provided that eye-tracking can be made robust, non-intrusive and inexpensive. The primary objectives of this R&D are: (1) to determine how eye/voice interaction can best be used in an ATC interface; and (2) to develop the necessary off-head eye-tracking technology to make an ATC eye/voice interface practical. The ATCI concept depends on having off-head eye-tracking and will only be cost-effective when the price of eye-tracking drops. We anticipate producing an eye-tracker design and engineering prototype that can be produced in large quantities for a few hundred dollars per unit. The expected benefits of the ATCI are: (a) more efficient interaction by replacing some voice intensive interactions with natural use of point-of-gaze, and (b) improved performance over voice recognition only solutions in high noise, multiple speaker environments.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed research will result in inexpensive eye-tracking that will both enable new applications and provide an alternative to mouse and keyboard use. Application areas include: (1) hands-free operator-machine interaction for complex process control operations, e.g., air traffic control, space operations, and power plant control; (2) hands-free interfaces for commercial and military aviation and space crewstations, (3) teleoperation of vehicles such as unmanned ground or aerial vehicles; (4) assistive device technology for persons with disabilities; and (5) general consumer computer use.
NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Franz Hatfield
Synthetic Environments, Inc.
1401 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 300
McLean , VA 22101
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR
Synthetic Environments, Inc.
1401 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 300
McLean , VA 22101
PROJECT TITLE: Integral 3-D Display for Air Traffic Control
TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a multi-perspective 360 degree look-around integral 3-D projection display that will enable air traffic control crews to view and analyze all aircraft activity in the airspace simultaneously, without wearing special 3-D glasses. The proposed integral 3-D display will be automultiscopic: a series of narrow view perspective images of a 3-D scene or object are optically projected in a high-speed sequence, through the use of a ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator (FLC SLM), onto a spinning holographic optical disk. This display will be in the form of a tabletop workbench, and will present multiple viewers around it with integrated 3-D images as seen from their own perspectives, overcoming the shortcomings of conventional stereoscopic 3-D displays. In Phase I, POC will design a laboratory prototype and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method by integrating our high-speed FLC SLM with a holographic optical disk fabricated for the demonstration. When fully developed, the proposed multi-observer viewable integral 3-D display will be able to show distortion free, high resolution, full color, gray scale 3-D images suitable for many NASA applications.
POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
Commercial applications of the integral 3-D display will be in video games, CAD/CAM, surveillance photogrammetry, training and sim