Prototype measurement setup to assess near-eye display imaging quality

Near-eye displays - displays positioned in close proximity to the observer's eye - are a technology steadily gaining significance in industrial and defense applications, e.g. for augmented reality and digital night vision. In the light of the increasing use of such displays and their ongoing technological development, a specialized measurement setup is designed as a basis for evaluating these types of displays as part of the optoelectronic imaging chain. We developed a prototype measurement setup to analyze different properties of near-eye displays, with our primary focus on the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) as a first step. The setup consists of an imaging system with a high-resolution CMOS camera and a motorized positioning system. It is intended to run different measurement procedures semiautomatically, performing the desired measurements at specified points on the display. This paper presents a comparison between different MTF measurement methods in terms of their applicability for different pixel structures. As a first step, the measurement setup's imaging capabilities are determined using a slanted edge target. A commercial virtual reality headset is then used as a sample display to test and compare different standard MTF measurement methods, such as the slanted edge or bar target method. The results are discussed with the goal to find the best measurement procedures for our setup.