CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND-Light Blue Optics is partnering with Thales (Cedex, France) to develop military and aerospace displays. Light Blue will provide Thales with miniature projection systems for cockpit advanced displays. According to the company, Light Blue’s holographic laser projection technology delivers large, full-color video images in focus at all distances, even on curved or angled surfaces.
“This development is a strategic collaboration that will bring Light Blue’s unique command of holographic laser projection together with Thales’s unrivalled understanding of human interaction with information display systems,” said Light Blue Optics’ CEO, Chris Harris. “Coupling our flexibility with Thales’s tremendous engineering capacity opens up a range of near-term opportunities in aerospace and defense, and we anticipate it will form the basis of a long-term relationship.”
According to Edward Buckley, Light Blue’s director of business development and co-founder the company’s proprietary projection technology provides a range of benefits, including exceptional levels of brightness and a robust, lightweight optical architecture that is highly tolerant to a range of microdisplay defects.
“Such differentiating advantages make our technology ideal for use in safety critical markets such as aerospace and defense and automotive,” he added.
Bruno Vazzoler, VP and general manager of Cockpit Interactive Solutions at Thales, noted that his company is always on the lookout for leading-edge technologies with ground-breaking capabilities.
“We have identified a range of early revenue opportunities for Light Blue’s technology and look forward to delivering these advances in display technology to customers in the near term,” he said.
Last month, Light Blue Optics announced another development deal with the microdisplay manufacturer Displaytech (???). Under the exclusive partnership agreement, Displaytech will develop and manufacture an ultra-compact, highly efficient and low cost microdisplay device exclusively for Light Blue Optics. According to the companies, the development partnership combines Displaytech’s experience with fast switching Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal on Silicon (FLCOS) technologies with Light Blue Optics’ innovative miniature projection technology. Displaytech has shipped more than 16 million devices to some of the world’s premier consumer electronics companies and has more than 100 granted, licensed, and pending patents to its name.