W5170124C0118

Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase I

Low-power Smart Contact Lens for High-accuracy Eye Tracking and Monitoring

We propose a mobile smart contact lens system that allows fast, accurate, binocular eye tracking, pupil size measurement, and blink monitoring which can operate on its own power in rugged and highly mobile environments. The system can be readily integrated into Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) to enable users to control and select virtual objects displayed in the environment, i.e., Extended Reality (XR), directly by their eyes in a fast and intuitive way. The proposed smart contact lenses will have the same thickness and diameter as traditional prescription soft contact lenses, enabling comfortable long-term wear. The proposed system will operate on minimal power, with greater than eight hours of operational life on a single battery. The system will be comprised of smart contact lenses in both eyes as well as system elements in either the HMD or a headset, similar to a pair of glasses. The sensing mechanisms will be a combination of RF and optical sensors. The headset will have the option to provide head tracking for use cases where a user is interacting with a display not affixed to the individual s head. The proposed smart contact lens system can be used in multiple wartime dynamic scenarios to enhance Command and Control capabilities, provide intuitive control of multilayered XR User Interfaces (UI), enable optimized training and cognitive monitoring. The proposed team will work closely with the transition partner, the Army Ground Vehicle System Center (GVSC), to identify and achieve critical functional requirements. This Phase I project will include tasks for design and simulation of the proposed system, fabrication of simplified demonstration prototypes, and testing of those prototypes to verify functionality of the proposed sensing mechanisms.

The goal of phase I is to establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of proposed R&D efforts and determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee organization.

A244-002

A244-002-0005

24.4

Russell Hoffing