Imagine a projection TV you can put in your pocket or a small display unit that will project diagnostic information on a curved wall during surgeries. Some pico-projector devices have come to market and users report results that vary from good to poor, based on power consumption, resolution, color, and similar factors. Many of these projection-display devices exhibit a "flashlight effect"--bright at the center and dimmer at the outside edges.  As far as I can tell, pico-projection technologies haven't yet penetrated deeply into consumer and industrial products.

Microvision, a company in Redmond, Washington, USA, wants to change the perception--and use--of pico projectors and has created a PicoP Evaluation Kit (PEK) that lets product-design engineers “test-drive” a new laser-display technology the company claims outperforms panel-based pico projectors. (A panel projector requires a flat surface perpendicular to the display.)

According to the company's information, its laser-projection device offers several important features and capabilities:

Because the PEK module has a 10-mm thickness, designers have a lot of flexibility in how they create a product. Most other pico projectors require focus lenses that add thickness and reduce the "pocket appeal" of consumer products. The Microvision has infinite focus, which means you don't need lenses to keep an image in focus at different display distances. As a result, you DO NOT need a perfectly flat surface on which to display your images. Even when projected at an angle, the image remains in focus.

The PicoP display engine uses spectrally pure laser sources to create deeper and more saturated color images than those created by liquid crystal displays (LCD), liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) or digital light processing (DLP) panels. Black, for example, appears properly because the engine turns off its lasers rather than simply reduce light output.

A PicoP display engine offers a 16:9 aspect ratio compatible with many images and videos currently used. The display dimension can scale to 100 inches or greater on a large surface in a dark environment, and the PEK's laser engine operates with a WVGA resolution (848x480 pixels), the highest available now. An image has a 10-lumen uniform brightness throughout, and images refresh at 60 Hz.

The PicoP Evaluation Kit costs $US 4,900 and it comes with an analog-video interface and a digital-video interface that operates much like an LCD interface. Keep in mind that the display engine package includes a power supply and control electronics. The laser unit alone is small in comparison.  The kit's price includes four hours of engineering support to help engineers integrate it into a prototype. For more information, visit: www.microvision.com/pek/tech/index.html.

You can watch a 6-minute video on the Web page noted above, although I found it faster to click on the screen and view the presentation on YouTube where I got a faster download speed.

--Jon Titus