“Augeye” a compact, solid Schmidt optical relay for helmet mounted displays

The optical design, fabrication and performance of a solid Schmidt prism used for relaying an optical signal or image to the eye while simultaneously providing the viewer with the capability to see-through to the outside world is described. It can be either of solid glass or plastic construction like a prism, or made of separate components. The novel aspect of this approach over previous designs is folding the system between the image and the Schmidt mirror as opposed to folding it at the image itself. This allows for a more compact design. The solid glass approach extends the apparent field of view to the viewer through refraction at the glass to air interface. If the spherical reflector of the Schmidt is rendered opaque, the viewer will only see the information provided by the optical stimulus. If partially reflective, the viewer can augment real world scenes with computerized symbology superimposed in the visual field. The stimulus may be either a high resolution CRT or a flat panel liquid crystal display (LCD)