Pico Projectors – Powerful Projectors That Fit in Your Pocket!

When you think of projectors, the first thing that comes to mind are large, ungainly boxes and a bunch of cables. That’s not always true though. While larger projectors obviously have better quality outputs, there are pico projectors that can sometimes match or even exceed full size projector quality. So what are pico projectors exactly? They’re simply miniature projectors, either embedded with another handheld device, or just by themselves. Also called pocket projectors, mobile projectors or handheld projectors, these devices were developed as a result of the miniaturization of all devices. Here’s all you need to know about pico projectors!

History

Pico projectors as such don’t have too much of a history. Introduced as a concept only in 2003 by Explay, they went into production only in late 2008. There was the obvious challenge of making such a device smaller, while dealing with power consumption and heat dissipation. Mostly used in business environments, pico projectors have since gained popularity even as portable media devices for home users and more. The idea of being able to project screen sizes upto 150 inches from a tiny device that can fit into your pocket is definitely cool, to say the least. They are now estimated to be selling in the millions all over the world, and have biggies like Asus, Acer, 3M and more making products as well. Texas Instruments started producing chips for better pico projection systems in 2011, miniaturizing their world famous DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology, which is also used in commercial movie projectors. Since it pushes for power efficiency, these chipsets have also paved the way for pico projectors in mobile phones, cameras, PDAs and more.

How do they work?

In the simplest sense, pico projectors are simply small projectors in a smaller package. However, the size does it make it much more difficult to create efficient output. Anyone who’s used a full size projector knows the amount of heat dissipated, and that’s something that obviously will not do at sizes like these. So there’s mainly three technologies which power pico projectors. One of which we’ve already mentioned above and many are aware of, is DLP by Texas Instruments.

• DLP (Digital Light Processing): Created by Texas Instruments, DLP is a technology that basically involves using tiny mirrors on a chip that directs light, from a white light source. Each tiny mirror controls a pixel on the target picture, and depending on how long it’s on, the target pixel gets brighter or dimmer, since it has only on and off states. Between the light source and the mirrors, is a color wheel, that splits light into the three primary colors (red, green and blue), which finally translates into color on the screen. Again, each mirror controls both the brightness and color of the pixel.

• LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon): LCoS projectors basically control how much light each pixel gets by a small LCD. There are two ways to do this, the first being Color Filter (CF-LCoS), which uses 3 subpixels with the primary colors to create finished images, and Field Sequential Color (FSC-LCoS), which uses a dynamic color filter and faster LCD which refreshes the colors rapidly. The light source is again, white light based, and can be either LED or diffused laser.
• Laser Beam Steering (LBS): Finally, we have Laser Beam Steering, developed by Microvision. As the name suggests, it uses laser beams to create the image, one pixel at a time. There are 3 primary colored lasers that are combined using optics and guided using mirrors to create the finished image. To get rid of the scanline effect, however, the image should be scanned at over 60Hz. It’s used only by Microvision pico projectors though, and is rather expensive compared to its counterparts. It is much better in terms of size, power consumption and focus constraints though.

How many types are there?

Pico projectors are not limited to just being miniature projectors, they’re also sometimes embedded in other devices, or devices on their own, that work in tandem to create something of a portable media device. Based on size, power and devices required, there are a few types of pico projectors:

• Standalone: Simple pico projectors that work by themselves and required input to display images. They are mostly self powered by batteries.
• Embedded: These are the type of pico projectors that are embedded with other mobile devices, and derive their power and input from them. Common devices include mobile phones and cameras.

• Media-player: Pico projectors that have onboard storage and minimal processing power, as well as external storage support that can be used as media devices for playback independently.
• USB Projector: These are the type of pico projectors that use USB for both power and input. They’re the smallest since there’s no battery, but they can’t be used just by themselves.

Where are they used? Projectors aren’t really used too much other than in business environments, but there are applications outside that realm as well.

• As portable media devices
• As devices attached to other electronic devices to enhance their functionality
• As part of gesture control systems, in combination with webcams/laser pointers
• As home entertainment devices
• As gaming devices

Conclusion If there’s two things humans can’t seem to resist doing with technology, is making everything bigger, in case of displays, mobile phone screens, storage options and much more;  or smaller, in case of computer chips, devices and more. Pico projectors are a result of the second, and while not many would agree to their usefulness, in the near future we might just completely abandon full size projectors if pico projectors keep getting powerful. There might be a time when offices use only pico projectors, and movie projectors, instead of being huge and bulky, might just become big enough to fit in a suitcase. Just so you know, an IMAX projector can weight upto 2000 kg, and be over 6 feet tall and high! So for now pico projectors might be the unattended offshoot of projectors, but could quickly become the primary technology for broadcast if we have our way with miniaturizing technology!