The 3D Display division of Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunication , the Heinrich-Herz Institut, (www.fraunhofer.de/EN/) showed a concept prototype of a 3D dashboard at the CeBIT trade show in early March. We tracked down Rene de la Barre, a researcher in 3D Displays at the Fraunhofer Institute, to get the details.
The prototype, an outgrowth of the Institute’s research into 3D gaming, displays the location of one’s vehicle in relation to its surroundings without the need for 3D glasses. While the prototype is focused on a 3D single-user display with eye tracking, de la Barre said Fraunhofer research encompasses multiuser 3D displays with eye tracking and displays without tracking, as well.
The prototype is an x-y-z direction-tracked single-user 3D display based on a concept patented by Fraunhofer, he said. The use of such a single-user 3D display is advantageous for depth impression, resolution and short viewing distances. It measures the position of both eyes in real time, and with the aid of the calculated coordinates, re-assembles the content in the display panel depending on the visibility of stereo half images from the user’s position.
The research currently is focused on a single user display because the resolution per eye is the best, he said, and the intent is to construct the best quality display having a large depth and lowest cross talk with head tracking.
The Fraunhofer Institute has conducted research for 25 years for various industry segments; it is spread over 80 branches of research, including 57 research institutes, at 40 different locations in Germany. The institute has a staff of 15K scientists and engineers and an annual budget of $1.77B. Although the majority of Fraunhofer research projects are industry-funded and do not show up in public domain, the 3D dashboard is an internally funded project. Hence, the Fraunhofer Institute presented the prototype to the public at the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany.
De la Barre said Fraunhofer has been working on “3D at Home” and 3D Gaming concepts for several years. Its biggest markets are in 3DTV – it is involved in enabling 3DTV in France through a French standardization body – automotive and gaming. A new market segment that is emerging is the connected PC.
Dashboard Technology
The principle for the display is our patented technology we call Free2C_digital, de la Barre said. For the 3d display two views have to be rendered by applying special multiplexing all the image pixels from the left and right. This is done using for 3D using shader language, although DirectX/Open Gl can also be employed.
The researchers use Windows XP professional hardware to multiplex the display so they can use any operating system for displaying 3D images. They perform a time-sequential integration using 3D hardware developed in house (using FPGAs) and the multiplexing is dependent on the user’s eye movement, he said. “We have one customer project with Linux and our system should be adaptable.
The only problem at the moment is that the head-tracking device needs an embedded PC running Windows and this software does not work under Linux. The tracking software runs in Windows, although the group has developed special hardware to multiplex for the 3D display (Free2C-digital) and can do it without the hardware by using shader language. Software shader language is not so flexible for all applications, he said. The CeBIT prototype runs pixel shader-2 language and it is the group’s own application.
In principle, de la Barre said, they are developing and enhancing their autostereoscopic Free2C digital display. With electronic head tracking, the display content can be adapted to a specific driver’s eyes. Pixel shifts on the panel (x,y tracking) can reflect changes in position left to right or top to bottom, and the depth is tracked (z position) through physically (mechanically) moving the panel back and forth.
The Free2C_digital display is designed for twice WUXFG (2x 1920X1200) maximum
input resolution running at 60Hz. This covers most of the applications used in desktop working distances.
The automotive version is Free2C_hybrid at 10.6 inches and (the current display is 1280 x 768) running at 60 Hz using stereoscopic presentation. . It shows the integration of several threedimensional graphical application interfaces in the dashboard of the car.”
It will be over 5 years before this technology finds its way into cars.
By S. Acharya