ACM TechNews

USAF Wants to See in Holographic 3-D

Government Computer News (12/19/07) Dizard III, Wilson P.

The Air Force Scientific Research Office has unveiled holographic technology that is capable of producing high-definition, 3D images. The new displays are an improvement on current holographic videoconferencing equipment because they use laser light to store the appearance of objects or scenes to boost memory, and they also are larger in physical size and have updating features. "We use high-efficiency, low-cost dynamic recording materials capable of very large sizes, which is very important for life-size, realistic 3D displays," says research team leader Nasser Peyghambarian of the University of Arizona's Optical Sciences College. "We can record complete scenes or objects within three minutes and can store them for three hours." Battlefield command and control stands to benefit from the delivery of realistic images that can be regularly and quickly updated, and the technology can also be used for training purposes. The team now wants to increase the size of the displays to three square feet, render them in color, boost the writing speed of the images, and study the psychological impact of 3D viewing and how humans interact with 3D displays.

http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/45574-1.html

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