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| Billboards of the future could show astonishing 3D effects, thanks to a new technology developed in Austria. |
A new invention opens the door to a new generation of outdoor displays.
Different pictures can be seen at different angles, creating 3D effects
without the need for 3D glasses.
Public screenings have become an important part of major sports
events. In the future, we will be able to enjoy them in 3D, thanks to a
new invention from Austrian scientists. A sophisticated laser system
sends laser beams into different directions. Therefore, different
pictures are visible from different angles. The angular resolution is so
fine that the left eye is presented a different picture than the right
one, creating a 3D effect.
In 2013, the young start-up company TriLite Technologies had the idea
to develop this new kind of display, which sends beams of light
directly to the viewers' eyes. The highly interdisciplinary project was
carried out together with the Vienna University of Technology.
Together, TriLite and TU Vienna have created the first prototype.
Currently it only has a modest resolution of five pixels by three, but
it clearly shows that the system works. "We are creating a second
prototype, which will display colour pictures with a higher resolution.
But the crucial point is that the individual laser pixels work. Scaling
it up to a display with many pixels is not a problem," says Jörg
Reitterer (TriLite Technologies and PhD-student in the team of Professor
Ulrich Schmid at the Vienna University of Technology).
Every single 3D-Pixel (also called "Trixel") consists of lasers and a
moveable mirror. "The mirror directs the laser beams across the field
of vision, from left to right. During that movement the laser intensity
is modulated so that different laser flashes are sent into different
directions," says Ulrich Schmid. To experience the 3D effect, the viewer
must be positioned in a certain distance range from the screen. If the
distance is too large, both eyes receive the same image and only a
normal 2D picture can be seen. The range in which the 3D effect can be
experienced can be tuned according to the local requirements.
Hundreds of Images at Once
3D movies in the cinema only show two different pictures -- one for
each eye. The newly developed display, however, can present hundreds of
pictures. Walking by the display, one can get a view of the displayed
object from different sides, just like passing a real object. For this,
however, a new video format is required, which has already been
developed by the researchers. "Today's 3D cinema movies can be converted
into our 3D format, but we expect that new footage will be created
especially for our displays -- perhaps with a much larger number of
cameras," says Franz Fiedler, CTO of TriLite Technologies.
Compared to a movie screen, the display is very vivid. Therefore it
can be used outdoors, even in bright sunlight. This is not only
interesting for 3D-presentations but also for targeted advertisements.
Electronic Billboards could display different ads, seen from different
angles. "Maybe someone wants to appeal specifically to the customers
leaving the shop across the street, and a different ad is shown to the
people waiting at the bus stop," says Ferdinand Saint-Julien, CEO of
TriLite Technologies. Technologically, this would not be a problem.
Entering the market
"We are very happy that the project was so successful in such a short
period of time," says Ulrich Schmid. It took only three years to get
from the first designs to a working prototype. The technology has now
been patented and presented in several scientific publications. The
second prototype should be finished by the middle of the year, the
commercial launch is scheduled for 2016.
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