VISUALIZATION

Swansea University Research Centre to Study Climate Change Features 8 Megapixel Display Wall for Visualization of Supercomputer Data: Mechdyne Corporation has announced that it was selected to integrate and install an 8 Megapixel (MP) display wall at the Mike Barnsley Centre for Climate Research, a collaborative research facility opened today in Southwest Wales. The Centre, which is a joint venture between IBM, Swansea University and Technium Pembrokeshire, includes Blue Ice, an IBM supercomputer that researchers will use for research into environmental sciences and renewable energy utilizing high performance computing and a top-end visualization environment. The new centre went “live” Friday on the occasion of a day-long conference on climate change hosted by the Pembrokeshire County Council that featured presentations from leading university and business researchers, including representatives of Chevron Corp., RWE nPower, and Swansea University. Mechdyne worked closely with OCF plc, the systems integrator for the climate change centre, on planning, design and installation of the HD-quality display and integrated stereo audio system. “Visualization plays an important role in climate modeling by providing dramatic imagery that makes environmental science meaningful to policy makers and the general public, as well as scientists,” said Chris Clover, president and chief executive officer of Mechdyne. “This is one of many policy and business environments where decision makers without technical training can better understand complex subjects when the information is brought to life in computer models.” The wall size display system includes four separate 1920 x 1080 pixel image “cubes” that are capable of displaying one single computer-generated image or four unique images simultaneously. Each cube houses a rear-projection DLP display with high brightness, 1000 to 1 contrast ratio and wide viewing area. With a 70-in diagonal size, each cube has a screen area of approximately 61 in. x 34.3 in. (155 cm x 87 cm), creating a full HD-quality display with 10 ft x 5.7 ft (3.1 m X 1.74 m) screen area.