The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, MS recently enhanced its headquarters building, highlighted by the deployment of audio-visual displays in the center’s atrium. The Corps of Engineers’ objective for the upgrade was to educate visitors on the role of the ERDC, and enable them to learn about government research. Rather than static displays, visitors are treated to multiple video walls that operate on AV-over-IP technology.
ERDC enlisted the services of M3 Technology Group, an AV integrator based in Nashville, to create a unique AV experience not seen in other government facilities. M3 created the dramatic atrium display environment to maximize appeal to visitors. The display environment contains an immersive pavilion and mosaic video walls, all of which are driven by RGB Spectrum’s Galileo video wall processors. “M3 Technology chose Galileo processors for their unmatched display layout flexibility, ability to output multiple walls, and superior image quality,” RGB said when it announced and described the ERDC project.
The Galileo processors receive feeds from digital-signage players, media servers, and PCs with custom-created content. In the immersive pavilion, a single Galileo processor outputs this content in portrait orientation to two OLED (organic light-emitting diode) video walls—a 2x5 video inside the structure and a 1x4 video wall on its exterior. Two additional Galileo processors drive 32-foot-high, 15-monitor mosaic video walls presented vertically.
“The Galileo processor delivers real-time throughput and superb image quality, unlike other PC-based systems that can drop frames or cause image tearing,” RGB said. “Its sold-state drive and dual redundant power supplies add an extra level of reliability.
“Advanced features include a unique ‘wall mimic,’ whereby the entire video wall or any region of interest can be encoded and streamed for live viewing elsewhere, HDCP [High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection], scripting for third-party system control, and automatic IP stream discovery for RGB Spectrum’s Zio AV-over-IP encoders.”
The mosaic video walls at ERDC posed particular challenges for M3 Technology Group. First, the images feeding the displays needed to be rotated in a variety of angles. Secondly, the processors had to support two different display sizes—55 and 45 inches—intermixed in the digital-signage mosaic. Thus, the processors had to scale the output for each display and properly align them to form a seamless image. “The result is stunning,” said RGB. “Galileo produced a seamless, contiguous visual across the multi-screen mosaic with dazzling visual appeal.
“The Galileo processor supports input and outputs at up to 4K resolution. The processor offers the flexibility to output in rotated and portrait orientation and display content in any size windows, anywhere on the video wall. Display layouts can be changed instantly to focus on particular areas of interest. Operators can select preset display layouts, switch and route sources, and size and position windows.”
RGB pointed out that in addition to unique venues like the ERDC, the Galileo processor is a solution for conference rooms, security operations centers, control rooms, command centers, entertainment and sports venues, board rooms, education, corporate lobbies, and digital signage.