HIGH RESOLUTION TILED DISPLAYS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

HIGH RESOLUTION TILED DISPLAYS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE

By Nathan Bourgoin

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Bruce Segee

A Lay Abstract of the Thesis Presented
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science
(in Computer Engineering)
May, 2010

This thesis examines different approaches to low cost high resolution tiled displays that are being investigated at the University of Maine.

To create a high resolution tiled display, multiple smaller displays (such as monitors, LCD televisions, and/or projectors) are placed next to one another in order to create a larger total display. The integration of these displays to act as one larger display is the primary area of research as this is the most difficult problem in this area.

First, many commercial and academic high resolution tiled displays are compared and the shortcomings of these solutions are outlined. In particular, these displays are so expensive that they could not be used in the target market of small business or primary/secondary education. A set of requirements is created that will solve these shortcomings. The author's methods are then compared to these requirements.

Three different approaches are discussed. The first is simply using a single computer to drive as many displays as possible. This is very similar to normal “multiple monitor” computers. The second uses software to break the display up into different computers that each drive a separate section of monitors. The third allows tiled displays to be created using laptop computers with a web service allowing for the creation of tiled displays when needed, rather than a single permanent installation.