Insight Media has released a new white paper called “Measuring Resolution in a New Way.” It can be downloaded for free by registering at this link.
The paper describes some of the metrology issues with measuring a flat panel display that uses non-RGB stripe pixel architectures along with the difficulty in determining the actual resolution of the panel using the established contrast modulation method.
To address this, a new metric based on Structural Similarity (SSIM) has been developed. SSIM is a technique used for evaluating the fidelity of a compressed image compared to the original. As far as we know, this is the first time such a technique has been adapted to try to evaluate resolution.
The paper describes the technique and resulting metrics, along with some user evaluation studies to try to correlate results.
Since this is a new technique, display metrologists are encouraged to look at the method to try to duplicate results and/or improve the technique.
Ultimately, this method will be considered by the International Committee on Display Metrology (ICDM) for standardization. However, while the new technique provides metrics for evaluating single-pixel-wide patterns, how these metrics are interpreted to define resolution remains on on-going discussion.
Chris Chinnock, Insight Media