AR-HUD Optical System Design and Its Multiple Configurations Analysis

Abstract

The use of augmented reality head-up displays (AR-HUD) in automobile safety driving has drawn more and more interest in recent years. An AR-HUD display system should be developed to fit the vehicle and the complicated traffic environment in order to increase the driver’s driving concentration and improve the man–vehicle synchronization. In this article, we suggest an AR-HUD display system with dual-layer virtual-image displays for the near field and far field, as well as further research and design of the adjustment system for multi-depth displays of far-field images. It also examines the EYEBOX horizontal adjustment margin of the dual light path. The analysis results show that the scale of EYEBOX is 120 × 60 mm2, the modulation transfer function (MTF) of near-field light path > 0.2 @ 6.7 lp/mm, and the MTF of far-field optical path > 0.4 @ 6.7 lp/mm. The distortion of the near-field optical path is less than 0.86%, and that of the far-field optical path is less than 2.2%. By modifying the folding mirror, the far-field optical path creates an 8 m to 24 m multi-depth virtual picture display. Image quality can be maintained when the near-field and far-field optical paths are moved horizontally by 25 mm and 100 mm, respectively. This study offers guidelines for the multi-depth display, EYEBOX horizontal adjustment, and optical layout of augmented reality head-up displays.

Automotive Augmented Reality Head-Up Displays

“…Two image planes can be achieved by employing two PGUs in a dual optical route separation design at the expense of an enlarged system volume [71]. Recently, an HUD with dual-layer display functionality that used a coupling architecture of near-field and far-field dual optical routes was proposed [72]. The near-field image plane was set to 2 m, and the far one was set to a distance of 8-24 m. The FOVs were 6 • × 2 • and 10 • × 3 • , respectively.…”