The preposed project addresses the problem of glare from the sun and other optical sources. The concept is to adaptively block sources of bright light in a scene while allowing the light from dimly lit areas to pass through with relatively little attenuation. The technical approach, based on a prototype of a patented technology, is to image the scene with a low cost CMOS imaging sensor. After the scene is scanned, areas of high light intensity, compared to some threshold, are identifed and the 2-diminsional coordinates are transferred to an addressable lens. The lens, a light transmissive liquid crystal display with addressable pixels, is direced to blank out the areas in its array that correspond to the bright areas in the original scene. The effect is to eclipse the bright light sources in the scene while leaving the balance of the scene clear. The project will have the assistance of the Kent State Liquid Crystal Institute. NY State will be providing funding support for development of the CMOS imaging sensor by the Center for Advanced Technology in Sensor Systems and Technologies at SUNY Stony Brook.
