June 6, 2022 – Dispelix, a manufacturer of diffractive waveguides for wearables, has recently announced that it has partnered with Jade Bird Displays (JBD), a provider of augmented reality (AR) light engines, to develop a family of new reference designs for augmented reality glasses and headsets across multiple price points.
Developed through an intensive collaboration, the new designs combine JBD’s family of MicroLED projectors with the Dispelix LED – a pantoscopic waveguide with an advanced nanotech coating. According to JBD and Dispelix, the partnership brings together the companies’ respective expertise in MicroLED displays, light engines and diffractive waveguide combiners – including at least one bleeding-edge model combining binocular waveguides and polychrome MicroLED projectors.
The MicroLED engine used in the flagship reference design is JBD’s Am LED MicroLED projectors for smart eyewear. Both monochrome and other polychrome projector development kits are also available, and are all designed to aid OEMs and partners in their rapid development, evaluation and prototyping of branded smart eyewear, as well as other AR products and solutions.
According to Dispelix, the monochrome projector is only 0.35cc in volume, has a field of view (FoV) of 30°, weighs 0.60 grams and is available in red, green and blue. It can be used for monochrome smart eyeglasses development or it can be used in RGB waveguides with multiple input couplers for polychrome applications.
The polychrome projector is 1.3cc in volume, has a FoV of 30° and weighs 2.3 grams. In the polychrome module projector, an x-cube prism is used to combine images from three individual monochrome panels attached to the faces of the x-cube prism. Both the monochrome and polychrome projectors are focused at infinity.
“JBD has launched a number of innovative MicroLED display and projector solutions that are designed into end products such as smart glasses, holographic sights and Sports AR goggles,” said Dr. Qiming Li, CEO & Founder of JBD. “We are currently expanding our production facilities to support the unprecedented demand for our MicroLED displays and projectors. Our success has only been made possible with the launch of concurrent innovative solutions by our partners and a stellar example is the Dispelix LED waveguide. Our polychrome projector combined with the LED waveguide will enable OEMs to rapidly turn around small form factor and aesthetically-pleasing AR wearables that are suitable for all day use.
“Dispelix is very excited to finally unveil our partnership with JBD – the end result of joint R&D activities that are enabling the next-generation of AR eyewear,” said Jussi Rahomaki, Chief Product Officer for Dispelix. “Working with a manufacturer of JBD’s reputation for light engine innovation means that a wide range of ODM/OEM manufacturers can at last enter the burgeoning AR eyewear market with an extraordinary and differentiated set of different reference designs. Dispelix LED combined with AmµLED means that ideal visual fidelity is both achieved and consistently maintained for an exceptional, undistorted and incredibly lightweight reference design.”
For more information on Dispelix and its waveguide technology, click here. To find out more about JBD and the company’s AR light engines, click here.
Image credit: Dispelix / JBD
About the author
Sam Sprigg
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.
