Department of Ferrous Metallurgy, Aachen University

3D visualization to enhance understanding, communication and collaboration

Advanced research requires advanced visualization. So renowned research and design institutes around the world use Barco technology to visualize and promulgate their concepts and ideas. The Steel Institute at Aachen University (Germany), for example, installed an OverView OLS-721 active 3D stereo display in its seminar room, to enhance students’ understanding of the complex data.

Active 3D stereo display
The Steel Institute is active in teaching and research in the fields of steel production and processing as well as the industrial application of metallic materials. All four research groups aim to correlate microstructure and mechanical properties in order to forecast material behavior. “Our research field is very complex as we aim for improved understanding of complicated multiphase microstructures,” explains Dr. Ulrich Prahl, head of Materials Simulation group. “So we have to rely on cutting-edge technology to gain better insights into our fields of study. For our seminar room, we wanted a visualization solution that would allow us to show 3D images of simulation data to our students. After seeing a Barco OLS-721 video wall at work at the Fraunhofer Institute of Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS) in St. Augustin, we got in touch with Barco. The demo of the OLS-721 immediately convinced us.”

Sharpest pictures
Dr. Prahl: “The 70” OLS display that Barco set up in our seminar room provides the sharpest possible pictures. Moreover, we love the maintenance-free LED technology. The display truly enhances understanding, communication and collaboration in our seminar room.”

Barco's OverView OLS series of LED-lit video walls bring 3D to video walls. They are the first choice for 16:9 mission-critical control rooms that require a guaranteed uptime and the need to show stereoscopic images (using active shutter glasses). The modules’ high level of redundancy (not only of the individual LEDs, but also of the LEDs' power supplies and their even inputs) ensures nothing can go wrong, giving users the peace of mind they need. Featuring a configuration that can be tailored to the customer’s requirements, the OverView OLS series knows virtually no limits in size.

5-sided, active stereo CAVE
By the way, do you remember that other Barco project at RWT Aachen University Center? In August 2012, the Center for Computing and Communication at the RWTH installed the world’s largest, most sophisticated virtual reality environment: a five-sided, active stereo CAVE of almost 30m², powered by 24 Barco NW-12 Galaxy projectors. Read the full story!