Thursday, 15 Aug 2019 15:28 GMT

Giant sphere lands in Australian university

A university in Australia has transformed the atrium of its Education Precinct building with a 5m diameter LED globe and a 4.8m-wide interactive digital LED video wall screen.

Pro AV Solutions oversaw the installation, which has been described as “a technology-rich showpiece”, at Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

Due to the scale of the sphere, which took up two floors of the atrium, the installation was not without difficulties.
The globe is made up of 1,040 individual panels, a total of 12.7 million 3mm pixels, with each pixel an individual LED light, and weighs 3.5 tonnes.

Believed to be the only one of its type, the sphere’s 3mm LED 4K resolution allows it to operate fully in full daylight.

We’re preparing and equipping teachers to thrive in a rapidly changing digital world, to be able to incorporate technologies and innovation into their teaching

Sourced from Leyard-owned Linso, the gigantic globe was tested in China and then dismantled and shipped to Brisbane to be installed by Pro AV Solutions.

As well as its size, the globe has impressive technical capabilities such as the ability to replicate virtual, reality-developed content.

This was made possible by QUT teacher education and early childhood researchers who worked with QUT’s Visualisation and eResearch (ViseR) team. Together, they created a custom video processor to merge the PC signal which is sent to the sphere in two halves through customised video transport over fibre.


The final component being added to the sphere. Image: QUT

Executive dean of the Faculty of Education, professor Carol Nicoll, says: “We’re preparing and equipping teachers to thrive in a rapidly changing digital world, to be able to incorporate technologies and innovation into their teaching so they can inspire students and provide the best possible learning outcome.”

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