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Friday, August 31, 2018

It's become a sprint to get eMagin displays into this helmet. The future of the program is at stake. No joke.

The Navy Is Fixing a Serious, Six-Year-Old Bug in the F-35 Fighter Helmet

The new fix involves using OLEDs, which present a crisper view while cutting down on the distracting light. The problem is that Navy is running out of time, as the service plans to declare the F-35 initial operations capable (IOC) in February 2019. IOC means that at least one Navy F-35 squadron is ready for combat. Being able to conduct night operations is naturally part of being initial operations capable.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a22877042/navy-f35-helmet-bug/

The most enthusiastic hand-wringers are the ones who ignore the "core business"

Who was it over on the Yahoo Board talking about Synaptics?

L-3 is ONE eMagin Contractor, from recent CC

Night vision

The company secured $391 million in contracts for the ENVG-B night vision product line. The contract is to build 13,000 units of night vision, 10,000 for the army and 3,000 for the Marines. The deal moved extremely fast for the defense sector and only took 60 days to get underway. It also has $15-20 million of night vision sales from the Middle East sitting in accounts receivable. The potential for this product is large - the Army has plans to purchase over 100,000 units in the years ahead and the foreign military sale market is large.

Has any prognosticator ever been right...

"This is going to happen by then or we'll get an an announcement here or they have to do this by such and such a date? Exciting year!" This is a coping mechanism that has the opposite effect. Artificial deadlines imposed by all of us who are functionally powerless.

That said. For the first time Sculley referred to the Hopewell Junction facility as a "Factory". He then went on to detail the advancements they've made i.e. yield, downtime, extent of the portfolio, lead-time to delivery. Those are tangible improvements we can hang our hat on. He said "consumer is slower than hoped" but military and commercial are there. For now military is the "core business". And that's not a bad thing.

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Apple AR glasses: News and rumors about ‘Project Mirrorshades’

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-project-mirrorshades-news/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

that's a stubborn infection, did they try IV antibiotics?

these elbit target acquisition handhelds have always been eMagin displays so ...yup...

Darwin Award...Vuzi folks talking about Six15 as a revenue stream, ok then

wut happened to the agreement with Wounded Warriors?

yup, minimize the damage

Great Idea Selling eMagin Displays to Aselan Turkish Government Owned Defense Conglomerate. Now They Can Make Their Own. Luckily Turkey is sort of a NATO "Ally". Consider When Selling F-35 Please...

Not good. Another Marco Polo route to the East.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/science-technology/turkish-defense-giant-develops-innovative-new-screens/1222762

Uh oh...the "O" word is creeping into headlines....

F-35’s HMDS will be switching to OLEDs so that novice pilots can land onboard carriers


Wednesday, August 29, 2018

You do not want to see your prestige program saturating media with stories like this coming at you at 1.5 times the speed of sound...

Kopin's "contribution" to the F-35 (helmet bug) is almost trending on Twitter but not quite...

Hopefully they are all expert but why take a chance...

you get paid for raising expectations

Why China and Russia Will Totally Hate the 'New' F-35 (Because it will be able destroy any moving target in ANY weather or light condition)

so obviously degraded visual environments can represent no obstacles to the F-35's capability.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-china-and-russia-will-totally-hate-new-f-35-28982

From Defense-Tech Article on the F-35's New Helmet "an elegant solution" and "the industry who wants to participate." eMagin is not going bankrupt as the market would have us believe but sometimes it sure feels like it. It's a luminance mismatch.

With the new helmet using OLED, "when you want it to work, you turn it on and raise to the level you need, so when it's not working -- when you don't need it -- it's off. So it's not creating that background glow," Horan added.
Horan called the fix involving organic LED an "elegant solution."
"From my perspective, there have been a lot of rumors and concerns and issues; they tend to sound insurmountable when you first talk about them," Horan said. "But when you get sailors out there that want to solve the problem and industry that wants to participate and a country that says 'we need this aircraft,' you tend to solve problems."


Tuesday, August 28, 2018

are we having fun yet?



But remember guys, be back before dark...

so no alternate scenarios?

Ok, then...

Army Moves Fast to Implement ENVG-B as Follow-on to ENVG III ENVG-B (Enhanced Night Vision Goggle – B), an enhanced version of ENVG III, will work together with the Family of Weapon Sights – Individual (FWS-I) or can be used independently. It will replace ENVG-III.|

headline and sub -headline only

subscription required

https://maxtech-intl.com/Content/Army-Moves-Fast-to-Implement-ENVG-B-as-Follow-on-to-ENVG-III-jul2018.aspx

Good Metaphor Mr. Lemons. Sounds like Kopin, TV on, no signal. Yeah, I know Pot Kettle, all too aware, but this is something else. Joint Special Operations Command interested...

Greg Lemons, Lockheed Martin’s missions systems expert for the F-35, compared the glow to a TV that’s on with nothing on the screen in a dark room. It’s not bright, but there’s still a noticeable glow, and it was plenty to impair the pilots’ ability to operate in dark conditions, he said.
The solution the companies found centered on a technology change from AM-LCD to organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, which shut off much more quickly and completely, eliminating the offending green glow.
Another issue involved latency in the tracker. Eliminating as much latency as possible is always a concern for something that is going to be ever-present in pilots’ vision so they can receive visual data and react. Air-to-surface gun strafing performance, in particular, was not meeting requirements thanks to latency with the helmet tracker, according to LemonsRockwell Collins is also considering other applications. The Joint Program Office isn’t the only group interested in an advanced piece of helmet technology.
“We're looking at special mission aircraft,” Ray said. “The JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) guys are very interested—and not just airborne applications but also maritime and ground applications. We actually received some information, believe it or not, from the Department of Interior where they're looking at an application of using something like this to fight fires on the west coast.”
The trick there is just to make sure to find the balance between the important capabilities — the wide field of view, the situational awareness, the comfort — and the price. The DOD can pay $400,000 for what Ray calls “the Ferrari,” but firefighters can’t.

Magic Leap One vs Hololens: 2 AR VR developers contribute unbiased impre...(Magic Leaps clips and has the jitters and useless outdoors)

Monday, August 27, 2018

Azuma from March

Somewhat concerning is this talk by Azuma...Delays?

Four challenges facing VR/AR/MR displays
Ronald Azuma, Principal Engineer and Research Manager, Intel Labs

Speaking of Google: MRpalooza, Lanman, Carollo, Azuma (Intel)

https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/industry-events/ar-vr-mr-2019/talks--speakers

Google: FREEFORM HEAD MOUNTED DISPLAY

https://trea.com/information/freeform-head-mounted-display/patentapplication/97e61341-12c1-49c5-a2cb-ba707a3f94c0

Hey Garce, since my scenario is "as good as any", that means you believe there are other interpretations, I'm sure there are others, might other Citizens of eManistan offer alternate scenarios that makes sense in light of what we learned on the recent CC? Seriously would like to hear as I know I have gaping holes in my knowledge.

Other perspectives might offer new points of view that could add to the hive's collective understanding. After all you are geographically and culturally close to the action.  TIA

No Wrist-Worn PDA, No Flip Computer on the Chest But A Head-Worn Microdisplay and Since It's an eMagin American Made AMOLED It's Described in News Stories as Just a Microdisplay! Stealth!

SWAP
https://i-hls.com/archives/85013

Re-visit as the F-35 is having problems and unnerving pilots..Is the F-35 In Trouble Again?

Helmet Display Issue

An example of a Category 1 “must fix” deficiency involves the pilots’ helmet display system, which shows information needed to fly the aircraft, the Pentagon’s test office said via email.
Although deemed safe for day and night operations, there are restrictions placed on using the system for landing aboard a ship at night because of a dim green backlight on the helmet’s display that “can decrease the pilot’s ability to detect visual cues,” according to the test office. The program is developing a new light-emitting diode display and software improvements to address the issue, the test office said.
F-35 program office spokesman Joe DellaVedova said via email that, as with past GAO assessments, this one was completed with the office’s “full cooperation and unfettered access to information. There were no surprises in the report and the items mentioned are well known,” he said.
“The program already has actions in work for the GAO’s recommendations to address deficiencies and identify steps to meet reliability and maintainability requirements,” he said. Officials expect the F-35 Program “to resolve all critical deficiencies prior to entering” combat testing “with either a fix,” a service-approved work around “or a formal acceptance of the deficiency,” he added

Magic Leap is a Tragic Heap (Luckey is not a fan)


http://palmerluckey.com/magic-leap-is-a-tragic-heap/

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Here's my rosiest scenario. The reason for the particular emphasis in the last CC is that Satella & friend is dedicated for that particular task...


elsewhere is the "other line" that AS has alluded to in the past. It is good that he is evasive on particular defense related programs because...

Every question seemed to come back to the military and it's needs. From Lucas saying "ENVG is ONE of our larger programs" and Sculley saying "the (manufacturing ) auditors, government and prime contractors gave us glowing reports"

IMO this is their mandate for now.

I hear ya MW...The shift in tone was dramatic to the military side. And I get it. Never minded for a minute that there was their emphasis realizing the importance of these displays....

amid the need for rapid soldier mod for US and Allies. There is no doubt that these displays have enabled the current and next gen systems and beyond. F-35, next year and beyond, F Fighters retro-fit, ENVG/RTA next gen and beyond, LWTS same, Javelin, same, Stinger same, JTAC same, Long Range Target Locators same, Apache same. And 53 applications for what I take to be military programs in the pipeline. It's in the realm of possibility that Uncle Sam, NAVAIR, Mantech called in their chit and told them that "we paid for the development and continue to pay for these displays  and these are OUR priorities." They agreed to allow eMagin to commercialize but they are not above saying we turn off the $$$ spigot unless you get with OUR programs. The money presumably for these forward looking programs are in the Defense Authorization recently passed by Congress. So with limited manufacturing capacity it could be working for the man every night and day as a necessary national security priority. So Sculley said" the military was first with AR" absolutely true. First with remote viewing with Army Telemedicine. First with VR in small squad tactics, Quantum 3D. The roots are deep. As a patriot I say great as an investor not turning cartwheels. That may be our near future. They and us could trundle along with these programs and the high margin avionics programs but until people see an avenue to larger markets we shall remain largely unnoticed but doing something crucial for the national defense. We may get a solid return over time but unless this is all "Fog of War" disguising a buyout or big boy partner that looks like our fate near term. Lucas is not the kind of guy to hide under his desk, strange he won't get back to you. Like to hear from others who can imagine a rosier scenario. Eugene there is no one in France working with them. They have a friendly rivalry with Fraunhofer in Germany but no formal ties.

And to all those who are fascinated by eMagin's ability to infinitely regress...

If any of you guys are at the Spa, King Zachary is a real threat in the Travers at generous odds.

Really, Sculley wanted to talk to Jim about tiled displays. Lucas told Sculley don't get into the weeds on tech. How about make Sculley CTO and find somebody that can speak coherently about the business? How bout that?

What do you think MW? You spoke to these guys recently face-to-face.

Could somebody unpack this for me? What changed? From previous forecasts of "millions of displays a month" to this. Previously they mentioned a new shooter in the game. But the reference here seems to imply that the company they opened with (speculation being Intel, Session 40 ) remains viable as THE manufacturing partner in the ongoing negotiations. But the delay...Sculley did that interview with Charbax. The "virtual reality is first" interview. What does that mean for AR? These guys are as clear as mud. They are too smart not to know what they are doing for good or ill or is that giving them too much credit?. They have always been terrible on timelines and forecasts. EVF, Depo Machine, time to market for new displays and the latest doozy, "Millions of displays a month in 2020.". Occam's Razor would seem to indicate they are just to eager ("be there for the success"), shoot from the lip and damn the consequences or are they sowing confusion on purpose. More stealth BS. "Don't want others to know what were up to." Sorry/not sorry shareholders you are only collateral damage.

Andrew Sculley
Yeah, certainly by urgency we meant that the next generation headset that will have our displays in it isn't going to be as soon as we had hoped. And therefore, the work with the mass production partner is slower than we had hoped as well. The one that we have talked about for a while, who did due diligence on our technology, et cetera, that's we're still talking to them. And the other ones we're talking to are more likely to be a licensing-type arrangement.
Michael Malouf
Got it. And you would do one or other, is that correct?
Andrew Sculley
Well, I think if you - if we made the one to be our real partner, it would be in our best interest, joint best interest, not to license everybody else.

Friday, August 24, 2018

here's the Javelin upgrade

https://www.upi.com/Raytheon-Lockheed-receive-contract-for-Javelin-missile-upgrades/8591535128485/?rc_fifo=2

or a signal from these guys

The Origin of Your GoldenI?

http://blueradios.com/Kopin_Complaint.pdf

Right, Blue Radios vs Kopin

Meanwhile KMC continue their Jim Carry and Jeff Daniels Bromance.

Didn't Lucas say it was to be partners not rev that would build investing interest? Jeff?

Apple's the wild card. Could change everything with an aside of some sort.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/18/the-four-waves-of-augmented-reality-that-apple-owns/

Then I felt that the joy boys were not THAT excited or they were sandbagging us. More and more mentions of 5 years to mass market. Basically it's all military and some commercial until it's not. If those delays and challenges are real, the impression they gave, those delays and challenges will kill off the competition, everyone but Sony. So I'm not holding my breath on Mass Manufacturing and Mass Volume. $4 PT sounds reasonable based on the Military and some deep prosumer niches. What were those lawyers doing for all that time and all that $$$?

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Apple acquires German company that may hold key to AR future

https://www.cultofmac.com/489532/apple-acquires-german-company-may-hold-key-ar-future/

Elbit Systems / CLEARVISION/SKYLENS

Elbit Systems, Universal Avionics Focusing on Display Fusion as One...This snuck up on us. Elbit acquired Universal Avionics Past April. UA is the "owner" and inventor of Flight Management Systems. Elbit's desire was to be able to sync the symbology of the pilot sees in Skylens with the symbology displayed the flat panel in front of the pilot. Anything short of that would be confusing. Pilots don't like confusing. Was only aware of ATR's testing. They have accumulated prestige clients since.

And like the military the "retro-fit" is coming. eMagin Displays in Skylens.

Elbit’s SkyLens HUD has seen adoption from ATR, Dassault Falcon Jet, Embraer, Gulfstream and Leonardo across a mix of business jets, commercial airliners and military aircraft as well. However, all of those adoptions were in line-fit equipage for in-production airframes.

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2018/08/17/elbit-systems-universal-avionics-focusing-display-fusion-one/

https://www.uasc.com/home/nextgentechnologies/nextgenroadmap

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

And this. Turkey's acquisition of the F-35 would diminish it's impact as Russia and China would have easier acess to it's secrets. Space Force!..A 'Space Force' Will Make The F-35 Fighter Indispensable To Air Force Relevance

The F-35 can perform a host of operations that no other air-breathing or orbital system can accomplish, and many of those operations are crucial to winning a war. For instance, it is the only plane in the NATO inventory that can safely penetrate Eastern European air space during the early days of a war to suppress Russian air defenses and surface fires. Without it, all of our satellites and last-generation tactical aircraft won't be able to save the U.S. Army from devastating defeat.

Pretty clear that Trump is using the held American pastor for bigger things, Turkey's blackmail of Italy, Germany et al to stop the flow of migrants from North Africa and as Turkey has become a Islamic state forsaking Ataturk and it's founding document.

Friday, August 17, 2018

Know it's Hololens, display unknown but AFRL was the first to integrate an eMagin display into an A/R platform (IMO just a matter of time until eMagin and Hololens are joined...)

https://defence-blog.com/aviation/u-s-air-force-uses-augmented-reality-nondestructive-inspections-aircraft.html

Tomorrow’s Computers: More Moore? (DARPA and Research Partner, Intel, Silicon & Moore's Law)

you may be on to something there...

WATCH: China's Military Just Released a New Video Showing Off Its Most Powerful Weapons (would not appear to be the ideal time to partner with a State-Owned entity on Defense related technology)

IMO it's saber-rattling for domestic consumption as Xi faces some internal dissent from highly placed Party members. Even so, perilous for a US company with a history of selling to the US DOD. Cough.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/watch-chinas-military-just-released-new-video-showing-its-most-powerful-weapons-28267

Test Driving Magic Leap's Augmented-Reality Goggles (Goal is to reduce SWAP in future MLs)

Pentagon report claims Chinese bombers training for US strikes



Thursday, August 16, 2018

FBL is widening the circle on Reddit

Mr. Sculley can be somewhat confusing from time-to-time...(B rhymes with Three so maybe he mis-spoke)

Prepared Remarks:

With respect to the U.S. Army Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular or ENVG-B program, we supported a number of prime contractors with the displays for preproduction and expect this program to shift to full production early 2019.


Answer to Question re ENVG-B:

To start, I had mentioned that there'll be one display in the system and then possibly in a few years, they're thinking about two displays, but I can't guarantee that that would be the case. So I think of 190,000 over seven years.

Tripping the Light VR

Spot-on analyst predicts Apple AR glasses and an Apple car within 2-5 years, but I hope he's wrong

Because you don't want them to look like Blaze Torch?
https://www.macworld.com/article/3297964/consumer-electronics/apple-glasses-car-prediction.html

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Cable Industry Gearing up for the High Bandwidth Needs of Light Field Displays

https://www.displaydaily.com/article/display-daily/cable-industry-gearing-up-for-high-bandwidth-needs-of-light-field-displays

The Vise is getting tighter on anyone who thinks they can make a living on tech transfers to China particularly in the Defense realm. Looking more and more like a fool's errand. BTW, Kopin's lone interlocutor at their recent CC sounded like his questions were ghost written by DZ. Sockets and GG and all that crap.

DARPA Unveils Research Partners

many of these names, Intel, Qualcomm, IBM floating around speculation as to potential e Tech Partners. None would seem to have a problem  fitting into a Defense, Consumer, what have you, advanced ecosystem. Could "The Project" as Sculley called the "One Display to Rule Them All" involve to some degree all these DARPA Bros?:

https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333502

Magic Leap One is Now Out in 6 Cities

US tightens investment regulations

https://www.janes.com/article/82362/us-tightens-investment-regulations?from_rss=1

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

the tariffs and trade is stuff they may anticipate as any other company trading in the far east. The only entry that they could KNOW for certain which is problematic, as of today, is EXPORT COMPLIANCE

why include it in the Safe Harbor if it's preventable and potentially very damaging? How about "We won't do that, we are aware, OK?" The fines are prodigious and reckoned per unit. Ouch.

too good for me not to steal FB. IMO the greatest vulnerability in the Kopin Safe Harbor is not tariffs, trade policy but something they are already aware off...Cough, Cough



       EXPORT COMPLIANCE

Fan, still no recognition that their days are numbered in the F-35 and recipients of a portion of FWS-I, no mention of Crew and Sniper. No mention of ENVG and

speaking slowly, very slowly. Must feel that it lends gravitas to the proceedings. What detracts was that he seems to be choking on something or is being strangled by someone off mic. One questioner. "What's the deal with Google Glass?" "Don't know, go ask them." Seems to know next to nothing about their VR venture with Pico Interactive. Obfuscation to the max. Softball question to end. Alludes to 5 RULES to finish. Heimlich maneuver next on the agenda.

Monday, August 13, 2018

Potential Solos customers...believe Elbit Raptors are killer sunglasses, great demographic for Kopin here, baffle them with BDS/BS, won't be difficult, Solos boycott does not require advocacy, grass roots movement

Elbit CEO makes a nice case for Modernization re F-35 around 7:20 mark, not staying in place, constant renewal is key to suceess, example cited, changeover to Raytheon DAS

sad but true, that's why the hurry-up on ENVGIII & Bino, RTA, Tactial Augmented Reality (TAR), TALOS etal, lessons learned from Fallujah

retro-fit fixed wing, multi country, multi-service and then "other airframes" = helicopters

190k envg, wow

my mind is still in the Canadian Maratimes but sculley making relatively small military sales i.e. Javelin, F-35 the headline was an attempt to shovel even more fog of war as the big stuff is happening in the fog bank

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Rockwell Collins-ESA to provide 120 head-up helmet-mounted displays for jet fighter-bombers (same crew at NAVAIR/Pax River NAS that gave us the new F-35 Helmet)


https://www.militaryaerospace.com/articles/2018/08/helmet-mounted-displays-jet-fighter-bombers.html

Frank cuts to the chase...great

https://www.reddit.com/r/eMaginCorp/comments/93ympw/patent_app_color_filter_array_on_directly/

Rockwell Collins To Provide Helmet Mounted Systems For US Navy, Marine Corps F/A-18 Squadrons

http://www.defenseworld.net/news/23103/Rockwell_Collins_To_Provide_Helmet_Mounted_Systems_For_US_Navy__Marine_Corps_F_A_18_Squadrons#.W2LxLdhKjuQ

I told you years ago...Qatar

Thanks Don, refinement to a DPD that allows for...me to not understand this at all. I'll leave it to Don or Jim to explain the benfits if they like...

Optics am not easy

this is some lofty science. Directly patterned color emitter on a sub-pixel.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

congrats derrick, you accomplished the impossible...you scalped a bald man

would somebody check their math please

I think Jim or Don put this up, here it is anyways, the Microlens Patent App

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US224021355&recNum=1&maxRec=106&office=&prevFilter=&sortOption=Pub+Date+Desc&queryString=FP%3A%28eMagin%29&tab=PCTDescription

Microsoft Patent-OPTICAL DEVICE TO IMPROVE IMAGE UNIFORMITY

for AR/MR i.e. Hololens, describes a diffractive waveguide for image uniformity. The discussion of microdisplays seems to dismiss the family of Liquid Crystal displays which require backlights and high optical energy densities. I'm probably just biased, that's the way it reads to me. We see a lot of this language in these apps and patents but it is invariably there in descriptions of head worn devices. Because we know Size, Weight and Power are key to the acceptance of mobile devices from people jumping out of planes to people wearing a head mounted device in more mundane surroundings, Ikea, Lowes, translating a sign, playing a game.

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US223783535&recNum=1&maxRec=52&office=&prevFilter=&sortOption=Pub+Date+Desc&queryString=Microsoft+eMagin&tab=PCTDescription

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