March 10, 2011 –
A 4K visualization of a tornado.
What do a cinematic opera performance and a scientific visualization of a Midwest tornado have in common?
The answer: a super high-definition (SHD) 4K digital video projector.
Attendees of the 2011 CENIC (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California) conference held earlier this week at UC Irvine saw a variety of 4K content when they visited the CALIT2 Building auditorium. Content ranging from artistic performances to scientific visualizations to a cinematic capture of baby sea otters in their natural northern California habitat were shown to the group of networking and information technology experts.
The demonstration was a debut of the next-generation, cyber-infrastructure technology for the Irvine campus as a result of a collaborative effort with the institute’s partner division at UC San Diego.
The real-time transmission utilized CENIC’s gigabit Internet Protocol (IP) optical-fiber network to link the two divisions with the 4K content being sent from San Diego to viewers in Irvine. 4K images have roughly 4,000 horizontal pixels – offering approximately four times the resolution of the most widely-used HD television format, and 24 times that of a standard broadcast TV signal.
A 4K cinema video of an opera performance.
The diagram on the right outlines the demonstration process.
In addition to the auditorium 4K demonstration, many of the CALIT2 labs were open for CENIC participants to view other research projects. This was the first time the group visited the institute’s UCI location.
The self-guided tours included stops in the microscopy and bio/nanometrology labs on the first floor. Demonstrations on the second floor included active space and telepresence, distributed art collaboratory and musculoskeletal dance science research projects in the eMedia studio; Hiperwall systems in the visualization lab; and cognitive MANETs for dense signal environments and a smart, interactive robotic wheelchair training system in the wireless communications lab.
Prof. Jeff Russell (sitting) demonstrates musculoskeletal research.
The eHealth Center on the third floor offered demonstrations of bionic and assistive technologies, Telios system, iMove projects and micro/nanoscale fluidics applications. Also on the third floor was a room filled with various computer games and virtual world projects that research teams are developing.
The attendees then found their way back to the building’s first floor atrium where a reception hosted by Cisco Systems was held. The CENIC conference lasted three days on the Irvine campus with the majority of activity held at the student center.
View a higher resolution of the above 4K diagram.
–Shellie Nazarenus
