Single-pixel contact lens tested on rabbits


    Contact lens concept: 1 - microcircuit with LEDs, 2 - energy receiver and control module, 3 - antenna, 4 - data bus, 5 - transparent polymer, 6 - projection of the image from the LEDs on the retina. The

    day when we can read is getting closer and closer mail and watch movies with my eyes closed. A group of scientists from the USA and Finland successfully tested the first contact lens in the world with an integrated display and radio on rabbits . According to the researchers, no side effects were found in the rabbits, eyesight was not affected.

    Mammal testing is one step in the expensive process of verifying the safety of new medicines. The first version of contact lenses contains only one luminous LED pixel, but the resolution of the displays will gradually increase, and in a couple of decades it will probably reach the HD level.

    To ensure an ultra-small focal length, the lens itself is not made from a single piece of material, but consists of separate concentric rings of small thickness adjacent to each other, which in cross section have the shape of prisms of a special profile - the so-called Fresnel lens . Thus, a person can focus on the near and far objects, and the display in the center of the lens always remains in focus.

    The question of the power supply of such devices and the data transmission interface remains open. Scientists believe that all the necessary electronics, including a modem, antenna and controller, can be integrated into the millimeter module of the contact lens, and the power supply can be provided using a remote radio transmitter. During the rabbit tests, a contact lens with an imprinted 5 mm antenna was used, which was powered by a 1.05 GHz radio transmitter attached to the rabbit's ear at a distance of 10 cm from the lens.

    Lenses with an HD display should become a truly hit device, because they open the way for a number of augmented reality applications that should radically change our lifestyle.

    Single-pixel lenses can also be useful. For example, they can be used as an alarm sensor in a monitoring system for life support parameters - if a diabetic has a blood sugar level that has decreased / increased to a dangerous level, then he sees a signal. In addition, such displays will find application in games, for training athletes, in military affairs, as well as for signaling to people with hearing disabilities.

    via New Scientist

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