SGER: Analysis of Solution Space to Achieve Ubiquitous Pixels

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Ubiquitous pixels is a grand vision shared by many researchers in graphics, vision, and HCI. Conceptually, ubiquitous pixels envisions pixels being lit everywhere and anywhere around the user and are used both as information carriers and interaction agents. A system of ?sea of projectors and cameras? has been identified as the right medium to push the envelope to achieve this vision. But even after a decade, only a small part of the vision has been realized. The reason for this is the complexity of the problem and a common belief that many parts of the problem are intractable. This project involves an analysis of the feasibility of achieving ubiquitous pixels under various conditions of known and unknown display and device (projectors and cameras) parameters. The project will identify the aspects of the problem, if any, that are theoretically intractable as against those that are limited by current technology. Intellectual Merit: The project will identify constraints and guidelines that would make ubiquitous pixels realizable to those on display surfaces, projectors, cameras and other sensors that are used in interactive environments. The project will specify the theoretical constraints that should be imposed on these devices that will make this problem tractable. The project will set a research agenda by identifying the fundamental set of physical features that need to be provided in the device and the environment to make ubiquitous pixels feasible. Broader Impact: The primary long-term impact of this proposal lies in advances made to realize ubiquitous pixels - pixels anywhere and everywhere. Ubiquitous pixels have a tremendous potential to change the way we interact with the environment in the future. Specifically, the project will advance the frontier of research to create pack-and-go high resolution displays where one can pack multiple display units at the back of their car trunk, deploy them on any environment in minutes, dismantle them and take them elsewhere when needed. It can also make advances for next generation visualization, training and simulation systems that are entirely seamless with an order of magnitude greater resolution than current displays (from millions to billion pixels by using hundreds of projectors) and can scale easily to accommodate the incredible rate of the growth of data in the recent years.