3D space imaging lands at the CNES, Paris

Founded in 1961, CNES is the French space agency responsible for shaping and implementing France’s space policy in Europe. The agency’s task is to invent the space systems of the future, bring space technologies to maturity and guarantee France’s independent access to space.

The agency performs its work in a number of locations and maintains core launch systems activities in Paris Daumesnil, and it is in this facility that the projectiondesign 3D solution has been installed.

“CNES wanted the room of the Future to be designed where specialists and experts as well as space scientists and other qualified academics could view real-time data of complex space systems, missions and other activities in 3D. It was a real pleasure to work with this great customer” explains Johan Besnainou, Director, Spain and Scandinavia at Antycip Simulation, which carried out the audiovisual system design and integration for the project.

“Our solution was to specify a pair of projectiondesign F35 AS3D active stereo DLP® projectors with specially designed lenses, ceiling-mounted parallel to one another and firing onto a front-projection surface measuring 6m wide by 1.8m high. In front of this is a bespoke, horseshoe-shaped boardroom table at which the scientists can sit and view the image with the help of Xpand 3D glasses.”

Each of the 14 delegation stations at the table has its own laptop tray and, thanks to the installation of four ART TP tracking cameras, the scientists can use a ‘flight stick’ to move around the computer-generated scenes being displayed. The viewable data is derived using Techviz software, while a pair of permanently installed laptops with in-built video capture cards deliver images to the projectors.

“The customer had a requirement for very high-resolution rendering of 3D data, so with the F35 AS3D’s ability to deliver the required 3648 x 1200 pixel resolution at full 120Hz refresh rates, without any data compression, made it the obvious choice.

“The projectors were easy to integrate with the rest of the room systems and their output quality and reliability are beyond reproach. The results are excellent and the CNES are delighted with the immersive projection system we have delivered enabling the CNES team to work at just two meters away from the screen and with no shadow.”

Anders Løkke, Marketing Director, projectiondesign, adds: “When we launched the F35 series as the highest-resolution DLP projector available for commercial use, scientific visualisation of the kind used at the CNES was one of our main target applications. Now, with the F35 AS3D, we can deliver these same fantastic levels of image detail in 3D, without any of the artefacts normally associated with data compression.

“The CNES is a pivotal player in Europe’s space programme and a major source of initiatives that help to maintain France’s and Europe’s competitive edge in this global industry. We are therefore delighted that they have chosen projectiondesign for this important new research installation, and are confident that this is the beginning of another great new end-customer relationship for us.”