Engineers at the University of Washington are working on a new type of contact lens which based on semi-transparent array and embedded LEDs would work as a display forming images in front of the eye, or to be used as biosensors to double as a unit to deliver reading of the wearer’s vital signs. Dr Babak Parviz has readied a working prototype of the lens.
This prototype runs using 330 microwatts power generated from a radio frequency transmitter and has been used as biosensor to show the body’s vital signs. The wireless power is picked here by a loop antenna embedded into the contact lens. To develop a lens to form heads-up display in front of the eye, the researchers will integrate it with communication circuits, and miniature antennas into the lens using custom-built optoelectronic components and hundreds of LEDs for higher resolution pictures.
