AlloSphere

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The AlloSphere Research Facility
Elings Hall.jpg
Elings Hall which houses The AlloSphere, August 2013
Established2007;12 years ago (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]

University of California, Santa Barbara Public university near Goleta, California, United States and part of the University of California system

The University of California, Santa Barbara, is a public research university in Santa Barbara, California. It is one of the 10 campuses of the University of California system. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the University of California system in 1944 and is the third-oldest general-education campus in the system.

Contents

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]

California NanoSystems Institute organization

The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is an integrated research center operating jointly at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Its missions are to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for discoveries in nanosystems and nanotechnology; train the next generation of scientists, educators and technology leaders; and facilitate partnerships with industry, fueling economic development and the social well-being of California, the United States and the world.

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]

JoAnn Kuchera-Morin is a professor of Media Arts & Technology and of Music. A composer and researcher specializing in multimodal interaction, she is the Creator and Director of the AlloSphere at the California NanoSystems Institute and the Creator and Director of the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kuchera-Morin initiated and was Chief Scientist of the University of California Digital Media Innovation Program (DiMI) from 1998 to 2003.

Selected publications

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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. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Marriage of Science and Art". www.ucsbalum.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-02. 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.

Coordinates: 34°24′57″N119°50′23″W / 34.41578°N 119.8398°W / 34.41578; -119.8398

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