NASA Buys Perspecta 3-D System

BURLINGTON, Mass., Jan. 16 -- Actuality Systems Inc., a developer of spatial 3-D visualization technology, announced it has completed the sale of its Perspecta 3-D system at the NASA Ames Research Center in California. The 360-degree display will be used as part of the center’s work in 3-D imaging of scientific data in the fields of earth science and astronomy.

The Perspecta 3-D system, which allows 360-degree visualization of objects, organisms and data, consists of a dome-like spatial display and a programming interface. Perspecta takes standard 3-D imaging data and illuminates 100 million volume pixels within its transparent Lexan dome -- more than 100 times more data than what can be displayed on conventional computer displays. This is unlike 3-D displays that require special goggles or lasers to simulate multidimensional imagery, or flat-screen monitors that render 3-D data into flat 2-D images, Actuality said.

In the past year, Actuality received a number of key patents related to its work on rendering and imaging 3-D images in space for the Perspecta system, and it recently enhanced the 3-D display by incorporating projection technology based on Digital Light Processing (DLP) products from Texas Instruments. The state-of-the-art projector uses DLP technology and an optical semiconductor with as many as 1.3 million microscopic mirrors to manipulate light digitally and generate a picture.

The company said applications for the Perspecta 3-D system could include drug discovery, such as visualizing protein structures; visualizing angiogram data or working to understand the exact location of a tumor on an x-ray, CAT scan or mammogram; air-traffic control; 3-D games; and security.

For more information, visit: www.actuality-systems.com