AlloSphere

The AlloSphere Research Facility

Elings Hall which houses The AlloSphere, August 2013
Established 2007 (2007)
Field of research
 Technology, multimedia, sciences, art, design
Director JoAnn Kuchera-Morin
Location Santa Barbara, California, United States
Campus University of California, Santa Barbara
Website http://www.allosphere.ucsb.edu/

The AlloSphere is a research facility in a theatre-like pavilion in a spherical shape, of opaque material, used to project computer-generated imagery and sounds. Included are GIS, scientific, artistic, and other information.[1] Located at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) the AlloSphere grew out of the schools of electrical engineering and computer science, and the Media Arts & Technology program at UCSB.[2]

The AlloSphere is housed at UCSB California NanoSystems Institute[3] building, "CNSI," or Elings Hall, a 62,000-square-foot (5,800 m2) facility that opened in 2007.[4] The AlloSphere is intended to integrate technology and media.[5]

The AlloSphere includes a three-story cube that has been insulated extensively with sound-absorbing material, making it one of the largest echo-less chambers in the world. Within the chamber are two hemispheres of 5 meter radii, made of perforated aluminum. These are opaque and acoustically transparent.[6]

There are 26 video projectors, to create as much of a field of vision as possible.[6]

The loudspeaker real-time sound synthesis cluster (140 individual speaker elements plus sub-woofers) is suspended behind the aluminum screen resulting in 3-D audio. Computation clusters include simulation, sensor-array processing, real-time video processing for motion-capture and visual computing, render-farm/real-time ray-tracing and radiosity cluster, and content and prototyping environments.[6]

The AlloSphere was developed by a team of scientists, led primarily by Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, a professor in the field of Composition, of the Media Arts & Technology Program of UCSB.[6]

Selected publications

References

  1. ↑ "The AlloSphere Offers an Interactive Experience of Nano-sized Worlds | NSF - National Science Foundation". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  2. ↑ "JoAnn Kuchera-Morin: Stunning Data Visualization in the AlloSphere - Blog". Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  3. ↑ "California NanoSystems Institute | UC Santa Barbara". www.cnsi.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  4. ↑ Van De Werfhorst, Melissa (August 2007). "UC Santa Barbara Engineering Facts Brochure" (PDF). UCSB College of Engineering. UCSB College of Engineering. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Marriage of Science and Art". www.ucsbalum.com. Retrieved 2015-09-02.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "The AlloSphere at the California NanoSystems Institute, UC Santa Barbara". www.allosphere.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-02.

External links

Coordinates: 34°24′57″N 119°50′23″W / 34.41578°N 119.8398°W / 34.41578; -119.8398

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