US Navy Tasks Kopin to Produce Microdisplays for Computational Imaging Work

Optical technology maker Kopin has announced a Small Business Innovation Research contract from the U.S. Navy to provide advanced microdisplays for lensless computational imaging.

The Naval Air Warfare Center seeks a high framerate and resolution display to develop trusted artificial intelligence and autonomous capabilities for computational imaging, Kopin said Thursday.

The final product is expected to have a diagonal length of less than one inch and a pixel resolution of two million.

Bill Maffucci, Kopin’s senior vice president of business development and strategy, said the company will work with the Office of Naval Research to create lensless, optical-computing devices that provide new computer vision and computational imaging capabilities. 

Kopin manufactures organic light emitting diode, liquid crystal on silicon and active-matrix liquid crystal displays.

Previously, L3Harris Technologies selected Kopin to supply LCDs for a rifle fire control system under the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Squad Weapon program.

The Army has sought similar capabilities from other optical technology makers. In 2022, it awarded eMagin a $2.5 million contract to prototype an OLED microdisplay for use in augmented reality systems supporting soldiers’ situational awareness.