Hopewell Junction, NY, February 27, 2002 -- eMagin Corporation (AMEX:EMA), the leader in organic light emitting diode (OLED) on silicon microdisplay technology, today announced that its OLED microdisplay technology has been selected for the Version 1.0 Helmet Mounted Displays (HMDs) for the US Army's Land Warrior Program. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Land Warrior, a core program in the Army's drive to digitize the battlefield, is an integrated digital system that incorporates computerized communication, navigation, targeting, and protection systems for use by the 21st century infantry soldier. Kaiser Electro-Optics, a Rockwell Collins (NYSE:COL) company and the principal contractor for the US Army's Land Warrior HMD system, and eMagin will apply their respective expertise in HMD and imaging technology to develop rugged, yet lightweight and energy efficient products meeting the requirements of today's soldier. The new HMD represents the latest in commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) designs to provide soldiers with enhanced capability on the digital battlefield. Kaiser will integrate eMagin's full-color high-resolution SVGA+ (852 x 600 triad pixels) OLED microdisplays into their compact monocular HMD.
"We are delighted that Kaiser Electro-Optics has selected our high-performance OLED microdisplay for its Land Warrior HMD systems," said Gary Jones, president and CEO of eMagin. "Our commercial microdisplays have shown tremendous ability in meeting Kaiser's and the Army's stringent performance and affordability requirements."
Jones added, "We believe that this design win provides a third party validation of our technology for commercial customers who are currently evaluating several designs using the same microdisplay product."
Eventually, the Army expects to equip more than 40,000 soldiers with the Land Warrior system. Similar systems are of interest for other military applications as well as for related operations, such as fire and rescue. Microdisplays are a sector of the flat panel display industry used in small optically viewed devices such as video headsets, helmet-mounted displays, wearable computers, digital camera and camcorder viewfinders, and other portable devices. Combined with optics, the tiny (less than an inch diagonal) microdisplay provides a magnified viewing area similar to that of a full size computer screen.
eMagin's OLED microdisplays demonstrate performance characteristics important to military and other demanding commercial and industrial applications, including high brightness and resolution, wide dimming range, wider temperature operating ranges, shock and vibration resistance, and insensitivity to high G-forces. The image does not suffer from flicker or color breakup in vibrating environments, and the microdisplay's wide viewing angle allows ease of viewing for long periods of time. The OLED's very low power consumption reduces battery weight and increases allowed mission length; its wide temperature range is of special interest for military applications because it allows the microdisplay to turn on instantly at temperatures far below freezing and to operate at very high temperatures in sun-heated desert conditions.
