The mission to move virtual reality into a realm above the standard TelePresence and Access Grid videoconferencing has been led by Professor David Roberts, scientific director of the Centre for Virtual Environments at the University of Salford.
The £1.6m project has a number of stakeholders including Electrosonic, who successfully tendered for the integration. For their precision engineering requirements they turned to Paradigm Audio Visual, who constructed the rear projection rig, provided the large mirrors from which the projection beams are folded and a number of their dnp high-gain fresnel lenticular acrylic simulation grade screens.
Said Prof. Roberts, "We were very pleased to get Paradigm's expertise because we needed to have a really professional rig builder - and they also had a significant part to play in the design."
Electrosonic project manager Chris Ostler says his company frequently calls on Paradigm for sophisticated engineering solutions such as this. "The available space is restricted and Paradigm not only had to create a quickly-reconfigurable series of screens but all are built around identical core frames [measuring 2600mm x 1969mm] so that if they want to expand, they simply need to add more mirrors and projectors."
(Jim Evans)
