Hi-tech Plymouth manufacturer Plessey has stuck a deal with Facebook to develop augmented and virtual technology “smart glasses” for the global social medial giant.
The Roborough-based company, an embedded technologies developer at the forefront of microLED technology for augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) displays, will be working with Facebook to “help achieve their vision of the next computing platform centred around people”.
Under a new commercial agreement, Plessey’s LED manufacturing operations in the Ocean City will be dedicated to helping Facebook prototype and develop new technologies for potential use in AR and VR including so-called “smart glasses”,
Such tech specs can take pictures and videos, and flash up graphics, data and images onto the spectacles’ glass so wearers can view it while looking straight through to the real world.
With consumer devices such as VR headset Oculus Quest and a continued legacy of breakthrough research, Facebook is one of the companies best-positioned to make consumer-ready AR glasses a reality, Plessey said.
The firm, which had a turnover of £3.5million and more than 160 staff in 2016, said it shares Facebook’s vision of “a future where technology and the barriers between people disappear”.
During the past two years, Plessey has been hard at work making the pivot from its initial semiconductor business into micro LED’s for AR displays, garnering numerous accolades and industry recognition.
In working with Facebook, the firm said it is charting an exciting path forward.
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Dr Keith Strickland, co-chief executive and chief technology officer, said: “We are delighted to announce this new commercial agreement with Facebook.
“Plessey has been at the forefront of micro LED display development and this agreement recognises the significant advances in our capabilities that we have made in recent years and we very much look forward to working with Facebook to help bring their vision to life.
South West manufacturing news
Plessey is an award-winning provider of full-field emissive microLED displays that combine very high-density pixel arrays with high-performance backplanes to produce very high-brightness, low-power and high-frame-rate image sources for head-mounted displays (HMDs), and AR and VR systems.
Plessey operates leading-edge 150mm wafer processing facilities to undertake design, test and assembly of LED products, and a comprehensive suite of photonic characterization and applications laboratories, all at its Plymouth factory.
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In 2018, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) stated that headsets and eyewear outfitted for AR and VR applications were set for record sales of US$1.2billion in the American market alone.
Research consultancy Yole Développement has forecast the market could reach up to 330 million units by 2025.
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At Display Week 2018, an international trade show in Los Angeles, Dr Strickland delivered a paper looking at the future of microLED displays using next-generation technologies and Plessey was also named Tech Company of the Year at the National Technology Awards 2018.
In 2017 Plessey was awarded the highest accolade at the Elektra Awards with Company of the Year and won the coveted Grand Prix award at the British Engineering Excellence Awards.