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understanding of human perceptual processes, from the retina to the higher cortex, based on current published and unpublished neuroscience research.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.

Successful archiving of data requires a storage medium capable of persisting for times measured in centuries, and providing an absolute trust in supportable and permanent hardware. While all media decay, data on magnetic media, solid-state drives and conventional optical disks must be cyclically refreshed over relatively short time frames, requiring energy and labor resources. We have developed a “Write-Once, Read Forever” (WORF) module specifically engineered for long-term preservation of digital data. It uses a novel high-density data storage medium based on silver halide, which has been demonstrated to last for more than a century under normal ambient environmental conditions. Once data is written to WORF, energy is needed only for reading—no periodic refresh is necessary, and data is both immutable and truly permanent. Human readable text and images are embedded in the WORF module adjacent to the digital data. This text and imagery contains meta- information about the media’s content, and instructions for decoding for future generations. WORF digital data is stored as microscopic, metallic interference gratings (representing wavelengths or ‟colors”) embedded in a modern, super-resolution, dye-free, photosensitive emulsion. Wavelengths encode multiple states per data region; current spectroscopic technology makes 400 states per 2 micron diameter data region feasible. Multi-state data architecture within each domain enhances data integrity, error-checking, and accelerates writing and reading for the entire media module.

WORF is currently in development in collaboration with New York University Libraries, University of Pennsylvania’s computer science department and library system, USC Digital Archives, Smithsonian Digital libraries, National Archives and the Penumbra Foundation.