Advanced Media Technology:
Demonstrations of Art and Science from Duesseldorf
Period: 3rd Sep. 2005 - 9th Sep. 2005
The opening ceremony including lectures will be held on 3rd Sep. 2005, 14:00.
From 4th til 9th Sep. 2005 you can visit the exhibition from 10:00 to 17:00, daily.

Localities:
University-Business Innovation Center (UBIC)
University of Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan
Map
Languages: Japanese / English
 

The exhibition/demonstration will be organized in conjunction with HC'2005 8th International Conference on Humans and Computers.
 
HC´2005
8th International Conference on Humans and Computers 2005
31st Aug. bis 3rd Sep. 2005
 
The HC´2005 is a forum which addresses all aspects of research related to human and computer. It will be held at the University of Aizu and the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, featuring for the fourth time a Network Conference connection to enable participants in Aizu-Wakamatsu and at the Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Germany, to join the conference.
Multi-Screen-Installation: Duesseldorf
Prof. Dr. Welkert-Schmitt email home, contributions
The multi-screen installation Duesseldorf has utilized high technology to present life in the city, which is the state capital of Northrhine-Westphalia:
Using the latest 3D technologies, virtual sets, animations and video projections (along with specially composed audio tracks, some in surround sound), information about Duesseldorf and events in the field of science is being presented in a variety of ways and media formats in a multi-screen installation running several large screens alongside each other and / or making use of single screens at the same time.
Besides images of the virtual and real city of Duesseldorf, large-format images of people from different countries are also being presented. People who reflect on their lives, their studies and / or scientific work and who also reveal their personal motivations. This creates an emotional link to the individuals and through them to Duesseldorf while also establishing a technical and dramaturgical counterbalance to the stylized 3D models. The multi-screen installation displays an unusual combination of virtual and real elements and consequently draws viewers into the stories.
Various layers of information and storytelling overlap or complement each other in, for instance, a variety of different storylines. The installation's effect is no longer exclusively achieved through the films and the reality they reflect, but also through the combination of the different forms of presentation and what viewers associate with them.
The principle underlying how the project has been organized only gradually reveals itself to viewers and therefore triggers different subjective impressions and sensations that are aimed at underpinning the intended messages and statements.
The multi-screen installation Duesseldorf is breaking new ground by using innovative technologies to communicate information and presentation contents as impressively as possible. The simultaneous nature of the virtual design aspects, 3D elements, spatial audio, the over-dimensional multi-screen displays and the corresponding contents about Duesseldorf supplements the DVD: "Touch the Future" about Northrhine-Westphalia as a location for the sciences.

CONTROL-NET: Build a Car – Live on Web

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Langmann email home, contributions

The PLC Remote Lab (http://www.telelabor.de) makes available an authentic assembly station as learning environment in the internet, at which users can work practice-oriented and action-based. The users develop individual IEC 61131 programs for pre-determined tasks and control the assembly of a model car by remote data access and video cameras. By this, programming and automation knowledge are studied and more deepened. An user requires only a PC with internet connection to work with the station.

The PLC Remote Lab consists of three main parts:

E-LEARNING & SIMULATION

In the operating mode SIMULATION the learners can test their developed control programs in a 3D simulation model of the assembly station. The 3D model behave like the real installation. It is represented in a controlled 3D viewer on the web page. In simulation mode many learners can access to the PLC Remote Lab and  can learn simultaneously. Each user works independently from other users with his specific programming environment. There is the complete remote lab with simulation also as a CD-ROM. So a user can work off-line  by means of a webbrowser in the remote lab also without Internet .

LEARNING the BASICS

An interactive and multimedia tutorial, with which the users can familiarize themselves  with the basics of the control programming by the international standard IEC 61131, is integrated into the PLC Remote Lab. Syntax and semantics of the IEC 61131 programming languages are explained on the basis of interactive models. Questions and self tests prepare the user for the work with the remote lab. The basic learning tutorial can be downloaded by the user also on his PC.

E-LEARNING & DOING

The core system of the PLC Remote Lab is a Java-based IEC 61131 programming system and a web-programmable logic control (WebPLC - runtime environment for the control programs). Programs are developed in the languages Instruction List (IL) and Function Block Diagram (FBD) and tested in the station. It is supported bit instructions, arithmetic instructions and comparison instructions as well as standard function blocks (RS/SR flip flop, counter, timer) with 16/8 digital in/outputs and 2 analogous in/outputs.
 

Complete website for task 1 in the learning mode

3D model of the assembly station

Interactive model of a IEC 61131 counter modul

Modul 2 of the assembly station (assembly of axis)
 
 
 
 

Virtual Environment of the People Cargo Mover – An Innovative Transport System

Prof. Dr. Eng./Univ. of Tsukuba Herder email home Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wörzberger email home, contributions
The "People-Cargo-Mover" (PCM) is a high speed train, which runs on a stretch built on the centre strip of motorways. The PCM runs at the side, enabling traffic in both directions. The PCM is applicable for public transport in local and long-distance traffic as well as for cargo. Visualization, combined with techniques of virtual reality, produces an interactive presentation at high level.
Image 1: Video texture lighting of interior within a real-time visualization. Red surfaces are parts, which are directly illuminated.
 
 
Different visualization methods demonstrate idea, construction and function of the PCM in detail. In order to increase the immersion of the audience, a scene from the inside of the PCM will actually be "accessible" on an interactive level. The high level realism will be increased by an additional stereo projection.

The illumination within this real time visualization is realised through programmed shaders, in which a video texture with scenery shots is used as source of light.

Image 1 demonstrates the illumination of the surfaces using a video texture. Red parts illustrate surfaces which are mainly illuminated via the window gap. Blue parts are stronger influenced by the reflection of the interior light.
The Art and the Science of Audio:
Wave Field Synthesis as a Next Generation Technology for Audio Applications
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Leckschatemail home, contributions

Today´s "surround sound" techniques suffer from the big disadvantage that the listener must sit in a "sweet spot" to enjoy the full atmosphere of a movie or piece of music.

A principle called Wave Field Synthesis can overcome this important restriction by constructing the same acoustic wave forms that are produced by real sound sources such as speakers or musical instruments. For a spherical wave, for example, the sound source is always located in the same place, whereever you walk in the room!
A new loudspeaker system consisting of a larger number of channels achieves this overwhelming improvement. The great advantage of Acoustic Wave Field Synthesis systems is the much more realistic spatial imaging properties compared to all audio systems currently in use.
Hearing a WFS system for the first time is a spectacular and convincing experience. However, the number of channels required is significantly higher than in conventional setups. Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences has developed a WFS system with very affordable high-quality audio components.
Essentially, a standard PC feeds about 60 loudspeakers each with a dedicated signal. - Within the last year, there were already some music and feature productions made on this system.
It turns out that the highly improved capability of employing realistic room ambience and stable distance imaging gives a lot of new possibilities which can be used in a new creative, artistic approach.

 

  
Principle of rendering virtual sound sources with Acoustic Wave Field Synthesis.
Comparison of the usable listening area (green) for a conventional system and for a Wave Field System.
WFS Setup in the Duesseldorf Audio Lab. The system consists of 72 loudspeaker channels.
 
 
 
Hoichi´s Dreaming - A Composition for MultispeakerSystems
Dipl.-Ing. Schaffrath email home Dipl.-Ing. Jewgeni Birkhoff email, contributions

The sound composition "Hoichi´s dreaming" draws upon a number of essentials of the ghost-story of "Minashi Hoichi". It was written by a European, Lafcadio Hearn.The content of the story is told in a most abstract fashion. Music, background noises, and atmospheric impressions are meant to form images in the listeners' own minds.
They will, on the one hand, listen to the scenes from the objective point of view - on the other hand they should experience them as seen by Hoichi.

This concept seemed to be most suitable for eight-channel Surround production. Key to the dramaturgy of the overall sound-composition was to implement many elements of everyday Japanese life in order to create the atmosphere of a late summer in Japan. The choir of singing children on the beach was recorded for this production at the Duesseldorf EKO playschool, contrasting the somewhat uncanny impression of the story. It is, therefore, not left to chance that the choir forms a circle to sing the old Japanese nursery rhyme "Kagome, Kagome".
 
8 channel Surround-Composition and -production combined with Videoproduction "Hoichi´s Dreaming"
 
 
Contact
Fachbereich Medien, FH Duesseldorf,
Jens Herder
Tel: +49 (211) 4351-810
Fax: +49 (211) 4351-803
email: herder_AT_fh-duesseldorf.de
www.medien.fh-duesseldorf.de
Address
FH Duesseldorf
University of Applied Sciences
Josef-Gockeln-Str. 9
D-40474 Duesseldorf