Miraikan Museum Visualizes Global Issues with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton December 16, 2022
0 Comments
Like Earth, museums are in a constant state of change. Attracting new visitors and inspiring repeat visits requires attention-grabbing exhibits and regular updates to existing installations. With this in mind, the Japanese National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) in Tokyo launched its spherical earth installation Geo-Cosmos in 2001, which it's since renovated three times. The latest iteration of Geo-Cosmos elevates the museum-goer experience with 1,500 nit display brightness, exquisite high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut (WCG), and high frame rate (HFR) visuals. More than 70 experts through a joint venture from Miraikan, Dentsu, Mitsubishi Electric, GK Tech, and Go and Partners collaborated on the project, which involved the replacement of 10,362 LED display device panels and the development of a new audio, video, graphics, and control system. The team built the solution with AJA technology at its core to ensure rich colors, extended luminance, and smooth video.
The new Geo-Cosmos paints the planet in a more realistic light than previous exhibit iterations, with vibrant imagery and video that instantly capture the attention of patrons. Its goal is to shed light on modern environmental challenges, such as climate change concerns, and help museum-goers better understand their impacts. New to the exhibit are vivid cloud images powered by weather satellite photo data that visualize Earth's ever-changing appearance. A division of base map background imagery illustrates seasonal color changes, including polar ice and vegetation fluctuations.
Geo-Cosmos is a project with purpose and uniquely marries art with science, shared Go and Partners Executive Producer and Chief Technical Producer Tsuyoshi Go Hotta. Between abnormal weather caused by global warming and ecosystem interference, Earth is reaching a breaking point, and the new Geo-Cosmos depicts these changes in a way that's easy to comprehend. Naturally, we were thrilled to be a part of the initial installation and subsequent upgrades, and our AJA gear proved key in creating a wow effect.
Miraikan knew the renovation would require a deep understanding of the latest video specifications for content production and systems integration. With a rich technical knowledge base and a team that excels at out-of-the-box thinking, Go and Partners proved a perfect fit for the job. In talking with the Miraikan team, we knew that conventional SDR technology wouldn't cut it for a project like this. Accurately depicting the clouds that hover above Earth, the ice fields that blanket the Arctic and Antarctic, and fluctuating cloud luminance would require high dynamic range, Go Hotta explained. Yet, working with HDR can be challenging because content often doesn't look as expected due to differences in creator intent and the production environment. The technology behind it is complex, and very few products perform as we expected, which is why we looked to AJA gear for assistance.
AJA FS-HDR proved essential in allowing artists to make subtle corrections to the content in the projection environment. The creative team leveraged its fine correction and preset functions to switch out images for content and adjust imagery as needed depending upon ambient brightness variations in the museum environment. Go Hotta added, FS-HDR and our other AJA equipment suited our project specifications while also giving us the stability and reliability required for the job, plus the developer SDK is great. It helped save us time.
An impressive technical feat, the new Geo-Cosmos supports 8K playback of video files output from an 8K recorder/player. Content is produced as OpenEXR still image files in 6,204 x 3,102 resolution, HDR (HLG or PQ), Rec 2020, 59.94 Hz. The system's HP workstation converts still images into a Geo-Cosmos panel layout with 8K resolution and transforms them into HEVC (H.265) .mp4 8K video. Using computer application software, audio is then added to the HEVC (H.265) .mp4 file, which is transferred to an 8K recorder-player developed with ASTRODESIGN. The sphere plays back the upper half of the 8K image, and two 4K single-link SDI [2 Sample Interleave (2SI)] outputs run through an AJA KUMO 1616-12G router.
The two KUMO outputs are input to two AJA FS-HDR HDR/WCG converters equipped with SFP modules (HDBNC-2TX-12G), which output four Quad Link 3G-SDI signals. The SDI embedded audio signal is output from a separate KUMO channel and sent to a de-multiplexer. The 4K UHD monitors connected to the KUMO are used for video quality control. Eight 3G-SDI signal outputs from the FS-HDRs are converted to fiber, sent into the sphere via optical fiber, and finally displayed on the LED panel.
Geo-Cosmos also supports real-time video playback from external connections, such as a high spec laptop PC. For this use case, an external PC HDMI signal is output in 4K UHD (59.94 Hz or 29.97 Hz) with a 10-bit, 4:2:2, Rec 2020, HDR (display peak brightness 1500 nits), map projection equidistant cylindrical projection. HDMI signals from an external PC are input to an AJA KONA HDMI capture card on an HP workstation, converted to panel placement within the workstation, and output via an AJA KONA 5 I/O card on two 4K SDI (2SI) channels, which are then input to the KUMO.
Go Hotta concluded, The world is rapidly changing, and installations with cutting-edge technology like Geo-Cosmos will soon be commonplace in museums worldwide. However, working with these tools to take the museum-goer experience to new heights requires the ultimate agility and flexibility, which AJA solutions provide.
###
Enjoying the news? Sign up for the Creative COW Newsletter! Sign up for the Creative COW newsletter and get weekly updates on industr
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Miraikan Museum Visualizes Global Issues with AJA Gear 
