Creative Technology, LLC

Ctech’s patented programmable full-spectrum light engine prototyped at

Penn State University’s Applied Research Lab

Ctech has been working on a project sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to prototype a full-spectrum imaging sensor and display. This system is based on a novel theory we developed of how the human perceptual mechanism works using electromagnetic wave dynamics. Ctech’s design goal is to have an optimal impedance match with the human visual system at the retinal and cortical levels. Collaborators include the University of Delaware's nano-technology lab for chip fabrication, and Penn State University (PSU) for prototype assembly and human response research. Several patents have been issued on the sensor and display design.

CTech’s patented full-spectrum programmable light engine has been prototyped at PSU. This light source, programmable in nanometer increments, is capable of generating complex spectra several orders of magnitude more precise than more conventional light engines. CTech’s light engine may be configured to enable detection of the true spectral signatures of disguised objects, it can enhance visualization under difficult or strange environments, and it may be used to simulate countermeasures against IR and visual systems. The device is a basis for collecting more accurate human spectral response data for a better understanding of retinal neurological circuitry. In spectral-line mode the light engine can be used to stimulate fluorescing mediums for microscopy.

In our work for ONR, DARPA, NSA, the Naval Research Laboratory and NASA over the past several years, we have come to the conclusion that the conventional understanding of how visual perception works is incorrect. For over a century, researchers designing image capture and display equipment — film or electronic — have based their parameters on flawed psychophysical assumptions about color, motion, and object recognition. CTech has approached designs for realistic imaging devices in a systemic fashion that incorporates a better understanding of human perceptual processes, from the retina to the higher cortex, based on current published and unpublished neuroscience research. Our Wave Theory of human vision has emanated from this work, with major implications for the design of imaging technology, from sensors to display, storage and compression.