32 monitors make up the videowall that was implemented in the research center in bioinformatics and bioengineering located in the city of Manizales and installed by the company Innvector.
Richard Santa
The Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology of Colombia, BIOS, is the leading supercomputing center for the research and development of biotechnology and bioprospecting of the country's biodiversity resources, which emerged as a response from the national government (MinTIC and Colciencias) and private enterprise, represented by Microsoft, for high-level research in Colombia.
According to Diego Ceballos, BIOS IT Manager, some bioinformatics research requires the visualization of large data sets and in some simulations in computational biology at a high level of detail it is necessary to better explore and analyze visual information. In addition, the bioengineering team needs visualization environments with a high level of immersion.
To respond to the needs of visualization, which includes the activities of collaborative work, education and in the near future real-time visualization, BIOS required a videowall solution. That is why he contacted the integrator Innvector, a Colombian company that offers customized interactive solutions that include the design, construction and automation of control centers.
Challenges of the solution
Rodrigo Suárez, manager of Innvector, stressed that "the great challenge as a technology integrator is the pace at which it advances. To capture and visualize the different sources, we look for the appropriate performance that involves response time, resolution capacity and the number of channels, as well as processing capacity. That's why we rely on a company like Matrox, which is always offering cutting-edge technology in its products."
For Diego Ceballos of BIOS, the main challenge was to find a suitable space where the videowall fit due to its dimensions and guarantee an adequate viewing experience, which led them to designate an entire room as a visualization laboratory. Another challenge was to implement a solution that could be adapted to offer innovative ways to interact with the video wall.
Due to the contents that are displayed, BIOS preferred a curved videowall, to give a higher level of immersion to the public and researchers. The final solution required 32 LG 55-inch FHD monitors in 8x4 array, integrated by Matrox Mura MPX cards. In addition, the installation was integrated with third parties through network communications and video capture, and even with wireless communications in some cases.
Video Processing
"The video processing system consists of two Mura MPX 4/4 and six Mura MPX 4/0 in order to cope with 32 outputs and 8 video inputs. It also involves an unlimited number of remote clients over the IP network with Vuwall software. Everything was carried out in Advantech chassis of eight cards, "said Rodrigo Suárez.
The system allows a maximum of 8 digital video sources captured via HDMI that are displayed on the video screen without problems.
In addition, Vuwall was the software used for video processing. It is the solution to handle with different sources, no matter if they are video through HDMI, DVI or resources encoded using IP networks. It is flexible enough to handle different content and allows operators to collaborate from their own workstations.
"For this particular project, Vuwall allows users to manage the content of their desktops and video capture sources to be treated with native quality and resolution. It also allows the remote control of the different contents in the videowall, dividing the total active area into the different regions, working with groups of windows and even limiting the operation to certain areas for each operator, "added the Manager of Innvector.
Matrox Mura cards were used to build a video processing system. This centralized system simplifies the operation and processing of content based on high performance of the CPU and integrated video cards with flexible and intuitive software.
The full implementation of the project took three months from design to final testing and required the intervention of two industrial designers, three engineers and two Innvector technicians.
The results
On the technologies used and the integration carried out, Rodrigo Suárez commented that "BIOS was looking for a high-performance solution to manage its multimedia content, Innvector offers state-of-the-art technology for control room solutions and Matrox technology represents the state of the art in video processing. Mura cards have the right features to work in high-demand applications and demanding environments, especially those related to response time and resolution."
He added that one of the main challenges was to design a curved structure to install the screens. But it was also difficult to correctly perform the alignment of the 32 screens and at the end of the installation and configuration of the Mura cards, in comparison it was simple, of course without neglecting the engineering and experience necessary in this type of projects.
Finally, BIOS highlighted that the installation was a precise solution that serves to meet their demands in scientific visualization.
