What applications are you exploring using the DLP Discovery kits?

There is a great conference coming up in January.  SPIE sponsors the Photonics West symposium and exhibition every year in San Jose.  This includes one of the best MOEMS-MEMS conferences I have attended.  This year, the MOEMS-MEMS conference includes a conference titled, "Emerging DMD-Based Systems and Applications."  It is dedicated to new applications using the DLP Chip.  You can see more information about the MOEMS-MEMS conference at:

http://spie.org/x7795.xml

There will be about 20 great papers presented on a wide range of topics including: (1) Photomedical Applications for Advanced Research and Improved Patient Care; (2) Hyperspectral Imaging and Multi-Object Sensing; (3) Optical Techniques for 3D-Metrology, Calibration, and Microscopy; and (4)  Advanced Micromirror Projection Applications.

Photonics West runs from 24-29 January in the San Jose Convention Center.  The conference on DMD (or DLP Chip) appliucations is on Wednesday, January 28.

This could be a great way to see how others are using DLP technology.

I attended the photonics west hyperspectral imaging session. It was ok, but not very detailed in terms of actual specifics of the DLP devices (SPIE conference is more heavily focused on the application results). The highligh was a presentation with a video of a surgery using real-time spectral imaging for estimating hemoglobin saturation. People have done that before using RGB cameras, so it wasn't a very unique application for DLP's.

I found that the DLP session didn't help evaluate how long it would take to get started, or the relative chance of successfully using the DLP device in our projects. Overall, none of the technical difficulties or intricacies of working with the DLP kit were discussed during the session talks I attended. For that reason, it wasn't a particularly interesting session to me, even though I do find the DLP an interesting technology. Likewise, I visited the TI booth, and wasn't able to get useful feedback from the engineers at the booth (who were too busy babysitting the DLP pico demos that other spectators were constantly messing up). Basically, I was told to look to community.ti.com to get support and feedback for DLP applications, but DLP-related posts seem pretty scarce here.

I'm surprised that the datasheets and manuals for the kits aren't made more accessible through the DLP design center web page (http://focus.ti.com/dlpdmd/docs/accessdesigncenterlanding.tsp?sectionId=61). It almost seems like TI isn't interested in helping people get started with these kits (surprising, considering the cost of the DLP device kits). It's unfortunate, but  I guess the part volumes for any non-projection application are considered of negligible commercial interest.

Hi Francis,

Welcome to the TI Community.  Sorry you did not get much out of the SPIE conference.  It was our first one and it's always difficult to gauge what level of detail the audience needs/wants.  It's also difficult to get into too much detail in the 20 minutes the authors are allotted for their talk.  I'm sure the authors would be willing to share more information with you if you have specific questions.  I can get you contact information if you want.  I actually found the conference overall to be very interesting.  I was not aware of all the applications using DLP technology.  There were some very creative uses that seem to provide some advantages not offered by other technologies. 

I understand your comments about the TI booth.  They were overwhelmed with interest.  This is a good thing and a bad thing.  Obviously it was bad for you because you couldn't get anyone to answer your questions.  Let me get someone online for you so they can address any specific questions.  Same with the datasheets and manuals.  I understand they will be available shortly.  I think the product beat some of the documentation by a little.

Hi Francis,

I can understand some of your comments regarding how busy the booth was at Photonics West.  The Pico Projector Development Kit had just been released and it created quite a bit of buzz - more than some anticipated. 

For the documentation, if you look under each of the product pages (such as www.dlpdiscovery.com/pico or http://focus.ti.com/dlpdmd/docs/dlpdiscovery.tsp?sectionId=60&tabId=2238) the Technical Documents are listed on the right hand side.  Wizard is correct that the product did beat some of the documentation.  The team is working to make additional information available.  If you have further questions, please let us know.

Hi

I have a question :

As far as I know  a DMD mirror when set  to "OFF"is tilted 10 deg and a DMD mirror when set "ON" is tilted -10 deg or visa versa , is it also possiable using a regular projector (having DLP chip inside) or using some special kit to park a certain mirror to 0 degree while other mirrors are "ON"\"OFF"?

Best Regards

Boaz

Hello Boaz,

I document that you might find helpful is DMD101, which describes a lot of the basic characteristics of the DMD.  Here is a link.  The document is located on the www.DLPDiscovery.com website.

http://focus.ti.com/pdfs/dlpdmd/DMD-101.pdf

The mirror have two stables states: ON = +12 degrees and OFF = -12 degrees.  The "Park" or "Flat" state is only nominally 0 degrees, and in general is not a usable state of the DMD mirror, because the actual deflection of the mirror in this condition is not stable, as it is meant only as a state used just before powering down the DMD.  Because of this, there is not a mechanism in place with any DLP kit or projector to enable the "park" state to be used for some mirrors, while continuing to operate other mirrors in the ON/OFF position.  The Park condition is only used for the power off state of the DMD.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Thanks,

JRT