After initial discussions and a meeting with NASA, it was apparent that NASA's interest in this project is primarily for purposes of improving commercial transport aircraft safety, as opposed to any internal NASA project or NASA aircraft or spacecraft. Nevertheless, the technology will potentially be of benefit in NASA aircraft and spacecraft cockpits for purposes of increasing situation awareness, as well as in NASA telerobotic applications, such as the space station based manipulator arm and Robonaut, where display in stereoscopic 3D is of proved benefit for human controlled robot systems. During discussions NASA personnel have also expressed interest in glasses free 3D for workstation applications, especially those that require viewing of complex representations of data sets like atmospheric information obtained by satellites. Scientific workstation applications have long been recognized as a potential market for glasses free 3D displays, and therefore is one of the markets that DTI will seek to license into. DTI's strategy is to license to major monitor manufacturers who can commercialize and mass produce 3D displays with DTI technology inside, making them available to NASA and others at low cost for a variety of applications. DTI is partnering with Boeing on the Phase II project for development of a prototype glasses free 2D/3D display for testing in their 787 cockpit simulator during Phase II/Phase III, ideally leading to licensing. The display developed under Phase II could have wider application in the avionics industry - a successful Phase III program could result in the opening of other avionics markets. The US Army Tank Command also has an interest in 3D technology for remote controlled vehicle use. An automotive company and a point of sale display company have already expressed interest in DTI's full resolution face tracking display technology. The following long term potential markets have been investigated by DTI: Patient Education - The 150,000 dentists in the U.S. could generate an annual volume of 10,000 3D units. Student Education - Market Research has determined that 3D content yields a 30% higher retention rate than 2D content in an education environment. This could lead to a annual demand for 250,000 3D monitors for each of the following five years. Medical - 3D visualization systems in the operating rooms are estimated to be a $2 billion market annually, including stereoscopic endoscope systems. Consumer games and Television - The home television market is expected to have great demand for glasses-free 3D. Variations on DTI's face tracked display that could providing 3D to more than one person are a potential solution.
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