EWING, N.J., 18 June 2012. L-3 Display Systems (L-3 DS) and Universal Display Corp. (NASDAQ:PANL) delivered an AMOLED display system prototype—a knee-mounted display system with an unbreakable, full-color, phosphorescent OLED display on a plastic substrate—to the U.S. Air Force for use on a pilot’s knee in tactical cockpits. The ejection-safe electronic flight bag (EFB) system, designed with touch functionality by L-3 DS and Universal Display’s UniversalPHOLED technology and materials, replaces paper maps and checklists traditionally held on the pilot’s knee.

The system’s flexible OLED technology can mitigate the hazards of traditional glass-based displays. “OLED technology is driving a new, brighter era in thin, lightweight, and unbreakable displays. Our collaboration has forged advances that can improve pilots’ capabilities and their safety during flight, which may, in turn, benefit a myriad of consumer display products in the future,” says Steven V. Abramson, president and chief executive officer of Universal Display.

“This technology provides the warfighter with superior portable situational awareness due to its unmatched ruggedness, readability, and reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP), resulting in limitless product applications,” Bruce Coffey, president of L-3 Display Systems, says.

Designed and built under an Air Force Research Laboratory Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II program (“Low-Power, Direct-View Flexible Displays”), the prototypes are rated at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 and use a 4.3-inch diagonal, 480-by-320-pixel, active-matrix OLED display. The AMOLED displays were built using Universal Display’s high-efficiency UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED materials and technology on a plastic substrate system.

The displays were assembled into a ruggedized package with touch functionality provided by L-3 DS. The delivered systems will be evaluated by the U.S. Air Force.